Why Travel?

Have you ever thought about why you do or don’t feel the need to travel? Every so often, I do. My recent trip to visit my family in Maine and the discussions that we had made me reconsider the question. Members of my Maine family are content to be where they are and have had relatively little interest in exploring the rest of the world. They are comfortable with their familiar surroundings and, when they do travel from them, have a strong urge to return to where they call home. My father was forced by circumstances to travel to Europe as a soldier during World War II, as were my uncles. Other than that, all of my Maine relatives have spent most of their lives in Maine with a little travel to other parts of the USA. A generation before, it was a different story. My mother’s father traveled by himself from Newfoundland to Maine at age 12, found work there, and settled. My father’s father, in addition to service in France during World War I, spent time as a ship’s carpenter sailing from Florida to Cuba. That was then. Family members of both my father’s and my generations tend to be content as “home bodies”.

It is obvious to anyone who looks at my father, my brother, and me that we are definitely related. My urge to travel does not seem to involve a genetic drive. For some reason, as long as I can remember, I have always been curious about what is beyond the horizon. (I think that’s why I am happiest living near a large body of water where I can’t see the distant shore and wonder what’s over there.) Since I have been an adult with the opportunity to travel, my curiosity has taken me to parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. There are many, many places left to visit on my “travel wish list” and places that I have been that I’d like to revisit.

I spent some time looking at the photos I took in southern Spain in January with a goal of choosing shots that made me want to travel again soon. It all basically comes down to a wish to try experience something different, even though I’m quite happy with where I finally made my home. Images of the land, culture, people in their daily lives, food, ways people have adapted to their environment-all of these make travel part of my life. With the exception of naming the specific location of the stalactites of St. Michael’s Cave in Gibraltar, I’ll let the other photos stand as representative of kind.

I recognize that none of these statements regarding why I travel are either profound or earth-shaking. The process did, however, remind me of why I feel the need to travel. I then had fun trying to choose five photos that would represent aspects of travel experiences that I enjoy. I have two challenges for you, if you‘d care to take them. The first is to go through the process, yourself, and determine why you do or don’t have the urge to travel. The second is for you to dare to go beyond your present horizon sometime soon-there may be something interesting waiting for you there.

Thank you for visiting, feel free to stop by again. If you feel inclined, I’d be very interested in reading your thoughts on travel. May your travels be interesting and enjoyable.

Kerry