The Psychology of Travel
Have you ever wondered what makes people want to travel? Not the mundane reasons for getting from A to B (a trip to the shops for milk, or down the road to see a friend) or a week on the Costa del Sol every summer - I’m talking about the force that drives some people to don their backpacks, book a one-way ticket to a far-flung city, and set off to explore the world. Travel has become easier and cheaper as the decades have passed. The world has opened up. But there have always been folk who wandered – the old school explorers, adventurers and pioneers.
Cynics might say that people only travel because it’s the done thing - a trend, and each generation has its own: gap years for school leavers, round-the-world trips for retirees. And this surely holds water. But not everyone does it, so why do some people take these sorts of trips and not others? Of course money is an issue. Not everyone can afford to travel. But more people can than do, so there must be a driving force.
For many, it is pure escape. They are running away from something in their past. A new country or a journey represents a fresh start after troubled times. For others, it is pure curiosity. They realise that there’s a world out there; they’ve seen it in National Geographic, and now they want to see it with their own eyes.
Another pertinent reason why people rove is to gain a higher understanding of the world, themselves, and their place in it. ‘Finding oneself’ is a hackneyed phrase, but it stands to reason. Putting yourself in a foreign place can open you up to all sorts of situations that you would never encounter at home - haggling in a Marrakesh souk, walking through a favela, horseriding on a Mongolian plain…
By this token, the urge to travel often boils down to thrill seeking alone. Tired of a humdrum existence in the suburbs, many people decide to go abroad to inject fresh interest and stimulus into their lives.
So what sets travellers apart from people who are satisfied with a week in Florida? Perhaps it is a willingness to forgo the comforts of home, to take the risk that what is out there may be more exciting than what we are programmed to believe is the path that our lives ought to follow.
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