Why indeed? Travel is in man’s blood. Am alive, will travel. I will go on a private vacation or a very public one.
Seeing is Believing
You have seen the seven wonders of the world in photographs and in videos numerous times. No one could blame you for the boredom that sets in after a while. You may not exactly be keen to go Up on the Cripple Creek with The Band for company on YouTube after a couple of thousand times but wouldn’t you die to be at their live show? That is travelling: a live show! That is as private a vacation as you can get. To stand in front of the Pyramid of Cheops and feel the exhilaration is not the same as the lengthy videos put out by the BBC or something.
The atmosphere in your living room can never compare with the very presence of the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall of China that stretches into nothing on the horizon. Man-made or designed by nature, to see something firsthand is what travel is all about. Not to forget is the relishing of the authentic local food whether you eat it at the street vendor’s where the sky is the roof or in a fancy restaurant where the price goes through the roof. Private vacation or in a group, you can enjoy your travel the way you choose eat the way you prefer.
Nostalgia as a Catalyst
Longing for days long gone by is more than a feeling. More like falling in love. You can fall in love as many times as you see a pretty girl. Going back in time to reminisce events and places is a sweet way to spend your time. What if you could actually go back to the place though not to the actual period in time? Time machines might not be there for you to take a trip on it but for now, you can catch a bus or something to return to the place that you love.
Even a blade of grass that had been green a year ago when you first saw it but has turned the colour of an orange can do things to you. Every place has its own place in one’s heart. The backyard of the house you grew up in but no longer live, the hillside where you and friends stole a smoke, everything has a million dollar memory attached to it. You are actually lucky that you don’t have to spend so much. Travelling expense is all you need for a very private vacation of this kind.
Travel Writings
Some of the world’s famous travellers have left their experience behind in the books they wrote. Reading their accounts kindles the passion of even a lackadaisical traveller to seriously start thinking of packing his bag and be on his way. In recent times, the Harvard Professor George Santayana’s praise for travelling should have inspired thousands to embark upon a journey.
Sea, the land’s Rival
The expanse of the sea, to countless land-living men, is an attraction like no other. To walk on the promenade deck on a liner with the cool breeze caressing your whole anatomy with the evening sun shining on the blue sea and making it golden is what heaven is all about. Every man, woman and child is transformed into a true blue sailor while sailing. Why not? Aren’t sailors some of the jolly good people?
Get Away from it all
No one except the Beatles can have an eight-day week but the work you do for 5 days in a week makes you feel you had an eight-day week. You want to take the road not taken till now to places where no man had gone before. You do not have to pore over travel statistics to learn that the travel around the world increases significantly whether it is a private vacation or a vacation undertaken with every relative and friends.
So, why do we travel?