Why I Travel

It seems laughable to me to ask why I travel. However, many people find it unpleasant to travel outside the United States because of the hassles - passport and visa applications, or the jet lag, or the airport waits, or the terror alerts or the luggage required to tote the kids along (this last one I wholly understand). So, the question does require self-reflection. I have never known how to tackle the question "what are you passionate about," but travel does come the closest to an answer I could give.

One, I love to learn new things. In grade school, my favorite part of history class was the age of the Explorers - Columbus, Balboa, Cartier, de Soto, etc. I imagined myself to be an Explorer. New experiences and old histories combine to expand my knowledge of the world. You can't truly get a sense of the people of a country without meeting and conversing with them even if you are bargaining over souvenirs on the side of the road in South Africa. You can't truly understand a culture unless you become completely absorbed in the surroundings, such as sipping coffee on Les Ramblas in Barcelona.

Two, there is the adventure aspect. A travel experience is never the same twice as each locale offers a fresh look at another person's normal mode of life. For someone with my short attention span and quickly changing interests, traveling is the ideal way to keep me entertained. With the way I overload my itineraries, my mind never has a chance to rest. I traveled the long flights from Rio to Iguazu Falls to the Amazon on a 12-day itinerary because I didn't want to visit the country and not see everything that I could. I knocked off Iceland over a long weekend with a Golden Circle tour and a visit to the Blue Lagoon.

Three, I like to pick up the languages. I never took Spanish in high school but I take pleasure in being able to understand words here and there when I was when I was walking around Sevilla or dining in Buenos Aires. In Paris, I was thrown by the speed with which everyone spoke, but I was able to understand the majority of what was said thanks to my five years of studying French. Even more rewarding is when in Mumbai, I could make why way around because I know enough of my family language to ask native people for directions.

Four, I enjoy seeing the Art and Architecture that I've studied in textbooks in real life. Italy was not my ideal place because of the long lines and rude people, but I would never pass on the chance to see the paintings and sculptures I studied in European History class. Craning my neck to take in the Sistine Chapel, recognizing Botticelli's work at Uffizi, and racing through the Accademia Gallery to view David are among my favorite travel memories.

Five, I am obsessed with planning and details. When my college friend P. and I traveled through Spain, I printed scores of information off the Internet and meticulously cut out maps and site descriptions and created my own travel guidebooks with thorough comments about our schedule. I even ordered the sites in terms of importance and the most time effective manner of visiting. When I visited Australia, I had a day by day itinerary, with every detail about our hotels, dinner reservations, tours, and must see sites.

I cannot imagine a life without travel. I hope my son adopts this passion. I've decorated his nursery with safari animals, a globe, an aboriginal painting from Australia, a Moroccan rug, a map of the London tube, and a poster of the '98 World Cup in France. I know it's tough to travel with one's parents, but I hope to see the wonderment in his eyes as he discovers new things and gains a perspective on life.