Why We Travel

The author brought up a variety of good points about the thrill and endeavors of travel. Traveling teaches us new things about ourselves and other people, allowing us to see and participate, as tourists, cultures different from our own. The experience educates us. A well traveled person is less likely to listen to their government when their government tells them they must go to war with them and fight them while the government demonizes them with propaganda, because a well traveled person may have the memory of the hospitality of those people. Though few tourists probably take the stance of a do it yourself anthropologist, I think that most people come away from the experience of traveling to a far away place with some sense of appreciation. Be it by airplane, train, motor car, or boat, and in some cases in the Midwest flying saucers, the whole experience of getting to a place while traveling is in and of itself and experience within the experience. Visiting people foreign to us stimulates our intellect, and in some cases, allows us to appreciate what we have in our part of the world.