5 Reasons Why I Travel

Posted by Mike Richard on April 24, 2007
Filed under: Odds + Ends

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Initially I didn’t post my answers to this question because it somehow felt a little odd to me to create and then answer my own meme. But I’ve now been tagged by Dave, Stacy and Timen. Thanks to everyone who tagged me and to everyone who responded!

I can think of a million reasons why I love to travel, but to boil it all down to just five was much more difficult than I thought.

#1 To “Find Myself”

Seriously. After I graduated high school, I went through a consumer phase. My well-paying job at the time went to my head and I splurged on a fancy car, $150 jeans from Nordstrom, and other meaningless, superficial filler. In short, I was a yuppie a-hole. Since the lead-up to my RTW trip, I’ve shed all of that nonsense. My trip is well over a year away but already the planning for it has changed me in ways I never imagined. It’s changed how I live and think about what’s really important to me. I’m hoping my actual trip will “complete the circle” and reveal things about me that even I never knew. In reality, it’ll probably pose more questions than it answers, but I can hope!

#2 To Do What I Love

Ironically, there’s no other time in my life where I feel more “at home” then when I’m away from it; when I’m headed to some far off place to which I’ve never been. I’m comfortable in the unknown and all of its possibilities.

#3 To Capture My Stolen Youth

Okay, maybe that’s a bit melodramatic. Unlike my old classmates and friends, I skipped the “college experience” (read: alcohol-fueled frat parties) in favor of getting a real job right out of high school. While this was great for my bank account, I unintentionally robbed myself of the opportunity to travel and do other young, stupid things.

#4 To Push My Own Boundaries

Being in a completely alien environment always gives me a real head rush - a slight tinge of that naive (OK, stupid) immortality most of us felt during our teenage years. That sense that I’m willing to try just about anything, consequences be damned. Last year, K and I received our dive certifications in Key West. After three days in the water, we were both dying to see and swim with sharks. Back home, in the safety of our little Ikea nest, this is something we’d never have considered!

#5 To Educate Myself

I like to keep politics out of my blog as much as possible but outside of here, I’m a pretty political person. It irks me that so many people, myself included, sit from on high and philosophize about laws, cultures, and wars in faraway countries to which they’ve never been and, worse, know little to nothing about. If I’m going to discuss the people of Zimbabwe or Timbuktu, I better damn well know at least a little bit about them. And what better way to learn than to travel there?

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Vagabondish editor, Mike Richard, lives in Rhode Island - a spit of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.



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Comments

Stacy
April 24th, 2007 - 9:52 am

All great reasons, but I really like #5. I always like hearing different perspectives from people who live in other places. People/governments can get so focused (and arrogant) on their own concerns they don’t think about the other side.

Rita from Tales of a Female Nomad wrote about that a lot, and it was so interesting to read, especially regarding the U.S. and the people in Nicaragua.


Global Chameleon
April 24th, 2007 - 9:31 pm

Great questions, great answers. I particulary relate to “I never feel more at home than when I’m away from it.”


TravMonkey
April 25th, 2007 - 2:12 am

Yeah I like #5 too… I think another one of my reasons would have to be like stacy’s… for the history element.

Cambodia was pretty amazing and harrowing in that respect, Vietnam was a bit of a let down for me.


Asmat
May 1st, 2007 - 3:46 pm

Great reasons and nice explonation! I love reason #2. It pushes me to go every year to new places. Yemen is my new destination for this summer.


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