Why Travel?

Categories: Anything Goes, Voyager;
Author:

I have always viewed the world as this big, vast place that I will never ever get the chance to see.  If you have read some previous entries, you would have seen that I dream of one day going to Paris.

But like any dream, it is fueled by passion.  I have a natural love for travel…and everything that goes with it.

What is travel?

Well technically, it’s just about moving from one point to the other. Technically, if I moved 5 meters to my right I would have travelled already.

You see, this getting from one place to another is something we always do.  It’s as natural to us as breathing and blinking.  We go to school, church, work, the mall and wherever it is we normally go to.  We always make all these journeys but we never see any importance in them.

When we think travel, we think of vacations, out-of-towns, plane rides and beaches.  We save up for them because they ultimately come with a price tag, whether it’s a budget trip or luxury getaway.

But why?

Because it makes us feel good.  We feel we are entitled to it.  We earned it.  We want to experience something new.

Personally, I travel because I know that there is just so much beauty out there.  Going somewhere involves meeting people, taking in the sights and sounds of the place.  It’s about observing how life is and how people interact, what’s the culture like, what’s the same and what’s different.  It’s not all about being pampered and cam-whoring and letting everyone know about it.  Because apart from pictures, what do you really take out of it?  You leave with memories of things like how the sunset in Batangas and Boracay are just awesome.  You remember the smiles you get from the nice and friendly people of Bohol and Sagada.  You look back on how your feet hurt because you wore wrong shoes when you went to the interconnected malls of Robinsons and Limketkai in CDO.  You will know what it feels like to walk along the streets of Old Manila in Binondo.

A Boracay Sunset

Staff from Bohol’s Butterfly Conservation Center

Ongpin Street in Binondo, Manila

Literally everywhere, especially here in our own country, the Philippines, presents you with so much to enjoy, experience and learn.  It’s this aspect of learning, I think, that we should always keep in mind.  Because the more open you are to it whenever you go somewhere, the richer the experience becomes for you.  If your mind were a bank and the number of steps you took represented a peso, each step you take going anywhere ultimately makes you richer.  And the amount you learn with each step magnifies it and helps increase its value.

Crispy Pata, anyone?

That’s why we should travel.  And why Philippine travels are the best to start on.  It can be as simple as observing around your own neighborhood and looking for funny signs along the road, or trying out a different cafe from your usual one and just doing small talk with the barista.  It’s easier to appreciate other cultures when you understand your own.

Again, we travel to learn.  To learn languages, different cultures, ways of cooking.  To develop better appreciation for things, to improve ourselves, to have more to share.

This is my entry to the Let’s Go Sago! anniversary contest and I hope this helps give you a different way of looking at how your next planned travel will be.

 

I try to take in and document as much as I can of anywhere I go (shot from the Loboc zipline courtesy of the talented Audrey Binay)

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11 comments

  1. […] gusto kong ma-experience ang mundo na kasama ang mga taong mahal ko sa buhay Love Lynne Esguerra Because apart from pictures, what do you really take out of it?  You leave with memories… Ria Abella Jose …a person not just collects memories but also lessons which hopefully […]

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  3. yuli says:

    hey kudos for winning! 🙂

  4. […] know you wanted to get something going for your passion on food, travel, writing, and experiencing ordinary things in an extraordinary way, so I thought this would be […]

  5. […] Why Travel? – The Blog Post that Won the Let’s Go Sago! Travel Blog Contest […]

  6. Sumi says:

    This is really super late, but still, congratulations! 😀 I love this article and it somehow encouraged me to travel more. I haven’t been to a lot of places yet, but I have a passion to see, appreciate, understand and learn new cultures. Hopefully 2012 will open up more travel opportunities for us 🙂

    • lynne says:

      Haha, thanks all the same. The year that I wrote this, I had to come up with a list 28 different things or places I have tried for the year. That was my 2010 birthday post content. I think it’s something worth aiming for. It drives you to just keep looking and just keep going. 🙂

  7. Stephanie says:

    Why I wanna travel? For a taste of the foreign, the exotic, for the thrill and adventure. 🙂 Nice post!

  8. […] Read about why we think travel is important here. […]

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