Quote: (05-16-2016 01:31 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:
^ Travel should not be about seeking out and clinging to the safe and comfortable places.
...
Some of us still travel for raw adventure, for new experiences, to learn about other cultures, and to gain unique insights about the human experience and the nature of reality.
I think the issue that most people find is that this novelty driven excitement wears off in any destination after the 3 month mark or so.
After that, the new place that was once magical somehow reverts to being normal; but it isn't normal in the sense that home was. It's normal but filled with millions of people who you can't communicate with and whose culture and sense of home you do not share.
The travel novelty high essentially akin to a dopamine flood that is induced by any drug. The reversion to a sense of normalcy and non-excitement is the slow decrease of dopamine back to pre-novelty levels.
So, the game becomes chasing the high by moving around a lot; seeking new stimulation to get the high back.
Once you realize this, you begin evaluating destinations on a smarter level. You begin to see the poverty, corruption, violence, and risk and count those into your assessment of the place as a travel destination. You begin to seek comfort not because you are afraid of discomfort or unadventurous, but merely because in your travels you begin to respect and appreciate civilization and the people who can create it more. This only comes after you dismiss the travel high as a cheap parlor trick of your brain chemistry. Though, I also admit that there is a more legitimate and longer lasting feeling when going to an objectively better civilization than what you are used to.
Would I travel to most countries? Yes. But at the same time I'm not going to get a travelers sense of wonderment in the midst of squalid conditions in spite of the mountain range on the horizon, the spiced food, the easy girls, or the cheap accomodations. As a cultural experience, I'd rather drink whiskey in a hotel bar in Tokyo and go out with Salarymen than I would rent a cheap hotel in Phils and pick up locals.