Why we travel

Every traveler, having experienced the bliss of traveling, at one time or another asks themselves this question. So why do we travel? There is no one answer – rather there is no real answer – to this.

Many have ventured to get to its root with pen upon paper. Born to Indian parents, British writer Pico Iyer has written a masterpiece of an essay with the same title that delves deep into this addiction for traveling. But once the proverbial bug has bitten, we don’t really need a reason to travel, we only need an excuse.

So what is it that moves us to pack our bags and move out of our comfort zone into foreign lands and among people we don’t know? There is adventure, yes. But what lies beyond the adventure? What hooks us on even after the adrenaline buzz has died down? There is curiosity, yes. But what edges us forward once our thirst for knowledge has been quenched?

A line often quoted in travel articles about sums it up for me: First we travel to lose ourselves, and then we travel to find ourselves. Because when you lose your way in a strange land, you tend to forget your troubles and the life you left behind while trying to get back on the right path. 

And when you finally find your way, in many ways you have found the answers you have been looking for. Because when you leave your life as you know it behind and peek into a new culture and someone else’s way of life, you learn something you hadn’t learned from your history or your geography textbooks. You realise that you’re too insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

So go forth and discover the world - one person at a time.