I Travel Because...

Photo shot by Gustavo Quiros 

By Tava Hoag

I caught the travel bug before I actually started traveling. I knew that I wanted to visit as many places as I could, but it seemed like a far-off dream, a reality that I would never achieve. Then one day the realization struck me that the only thing holding me back was myself. There is a whole world out there waiting at my fingertips. All I had to do was make a plan, work hard, and find the courage to go.

From that day forward I have taken many trips, both abroad and within the U.S. and my favorite project was asking the people I met all over the world why they keep exploring. Although the question “Why do you travel?”  is rather broad I love some of the cool answers I got from all over the globe. Below are a few that I read whenever I feel like my chances of traveling are slipping through my grasp. Every time I see them my heart soars and I remember why it's all worth it. Why even if this goal of mine seems unconventional I will continue to do my best to achieve it. I hope these answers bring you some joy and fuel a little bit of the wanderlust in you.

Enjoy! 

“Why do I travel? I guess for me I grew up reading about all these different places in the world and to be able to see them is amazing.  Instead of seeing them through someone else’s eyes I’m seeing and experiencing them through my own. I also wouldn't have met all of you amazing people if I didn't decide to come to Scotland, so there's that too." 

-Hannah (Maine, United States)

“I travel for many reasons, usually I have a purpose. Very few times have I traveled only for pleasure. When I have something I need to do or a dream, that’s when I travel. It is mostly when I have a specific goal that I want to accomplish.”

-Ismini 26 (Kalamata, Greece)

“I travel because I’d like to see the world and I’m young. I’m only 18 so when I have some money from working I’d like to take it and go and see different places. Next, in the coming year, I will be going to Florida with my family. I’ve been there four times before, but I don’t mind it. I don’t know after that I might go away to Vienna or something, one of those Swiss places. There’s a lot of destinations I could go and that's what I love, but I’m here now so I will enjoy this.” 

-Colin 18 (Cork, Ireland)

“I travel because I believe my parents instilled it in me a love for it since I was young. I've always felt that urge to suddenly get up and go, there’s so much to see.”

-Nathan 20 (Brisbane, Australia) 

“If you notice you are happy at home, you have habits and a routine. When you travel you don’t have those familiar things, you just live in each real moment. It’s something that I would like to research about traveling someday. Traveling forces me to live my real moments. I don’t think about the future or the past, I just think now.”

-George 30 (Quebec, Canada)

“I travel to get to know myself and traveling to all these different places you can see all these cultures and different ways to live. It’s good because traveling allows you to see that we are not the center of the world, there is much more out there.”

-Esther 43 (Barcelona, Spain) 

“I actually am not really a travel guy, I am not interested in seeing the world in general. A year ago I never wanted to travel anywhere. I was happy to be in my home, content. I recently had some health problems and after that, I realized I have to think about myself in order to resolve all these problems and I felt that traveling would help me to understand myself better. I don’t think that I will travel much more than what I have done because it was kind of a once in a lifetime experience. I needed to go for myself, and so far it's been worth it."

-Christian 29 (Montreal, Canada)

“I travel to avoid growing up. It's like Peter Pan in Neverland. When you stay in one place you are expected to have a career, a family, a house. But when you travel people say, “oh he’s traveling.” It's the perfect excuse to stay young forever." 

-Maichak 37 (Warsaw, Poland)

“The reason why we all travel is why I love to explore. Deep inside us, we all have that curiosity to see the world, to say we’ve been to places we have seen in pictures or have read about. It is in our nature to want to explore, Buzz Aldrich said that and look how far he went."

-Gustavo 26 (Massachusetts, United States) 

“I travel because I like experiencing different cultures and seeing different historical sites. The roots that connect us to our pasts are just as important as who we are in the present.”

-Maggie 19 (Texas, United States)

“I travel to meet people and to see new things. I would be bored with the same routine year after year. Travel is so accessible now, it would be a shame to waste it.

-Allison 23 (Melbourne, Australia) 

“I travel to meet interesting people. I think the best way to do this is to go camping and hitchhiking. I do this for the experience. It forces me to become someone else for a while." 

-Joseph 31 (Western Germany) 

“I travel because I absolutely love it! I love seeing different places, meeting different people, young, old, it doesn’t matter; I just love it. And that’s what happens during the dancing. People get on the floor and I meet them, and we make it through the dance together. I’m lucky if I know it, but it is still so meaningful. You form a bond through something that is special to everyone involved.”

-Grandma Katherine 70 (Melbourne, Australia)

“I travel because I am still quite young. I want to discover other countries before it becomes time to settle down in the city and raise a family and I cannot travel often anymore. I need to make the most of the time that I have right now.”

-Julian 27 (Paris, France)  

“I travel to feel alive. I think that some of the best moments in your life come from being out of your comfort zone. I travel to immerse myself in different cultures, to learn about the people, their histories, and their values. I travel to find stories, to make my own and to hear the tales of others’. I travel to change myself and expand my views because I believe the knowledge we gain abroad is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.”

-Tava 23 (Massachusetts, United States)

Thank you to everyone who willingly took the time to have a conversation with me, for opening up and giving me answers that truly meant something to each of you. It was a joy to meet all of you.

x.o.

Tava 

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