Why I Travel and Where I’ll Wander Next

Having been out of commission with a leg injury and a crippled right hand, I haven’t been able to write much less travel in the last couple weeks.  Both are now on the mend thanks to physical therapy and prescription drugs.  While I haven’t been able to type, I have been able to think and as I convalesce I’ve been pondering the reasons we travel.  What motivates us to wander?

I’m not talking about those mandatory work-related travels or even those journeys dictated by obligatory family events.  I’m thinking more along the lines of the family vacation during which we set off for those special places or to points unknown.  Why do we go?

Often we say we’re getting away to relax from the stress of our jobs.  To enjoy ourselves and spend some quality time with our families.  Perhaps that’s it.  But is that all there is?  Sometimes we go to historic places.  Why?  To enlighten our children?  To feel what is was like to live in a frontier town in the 19^th century?  Perhaps to witness a bank robbery in progress? The visitors seem to be enjoying Temecula’s Western Days.

Some vacations stem from a desire to see new places and experience different cultures.  We’ve read about these places and now we’re curious to see them for ourselves.  To see if reality is anything like the documentary.   To see how we measure up compared to the real thing.  These tourists are touched by the massive stones and the mystery of Stonehenge.

Sometimes we just go to test ourselves in a foreign or strange environment.  Let’s try this!  I’ve never done this before.  And so we give it a whirl just to find out the answers to those all important questions:  Are we up to the challenge?  Can we do this? 

I’ve been rambling about a lot lately.  I’m not certain what has directed me.  I’ve just been going to local places out of curiosity.  Most of these places have been close by and I’ve never seen them.  But is that sufficient reason for the visit?  Are these visits fulfilling?

Have I traveled for the above reasons?  Of course, I have.  The above goofy photo shows that!  (And I want to thank the guides at the Black Water Rafting Co. in Waitomo, New Zealand, for the terrific photo.)  But as I sit here wondering when or if I’ll ever leave my house again, I begin to think that travel for me at least has to have some meaning.  I want to go to experience some magic.  So I ask myself about destinations that call to me.  Where do I yearn to go?  What am I most curious to see?  Why am I visiting the desert if I love the forest?

I now believe that I will focus on those places that bring my joy.  It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  Sure I want to photograph these places, but I don’t go just for the photography.  There must be joy in the going.  There must be joy in the place.  The photos are secondary.  The place must have the magic to touch me and to call me back again and again. Once I’m up and about, soon I hope, I promise not to waste time.  I’m going to be going where my soul takes me.