Prelude: Why Do We Travel?

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ― Mark Twain

When I was a young child, my parents put an enormous map of the world on my wall. They would often point to each landmass and have me recite the names of the various countries that make up our planet. Even as a child, I was overwhelmed and mystified by how vast the world was. I quickly realized that I was only existing in a small sliver of it. From early on, I found myself completely enveloped in trying to make sense of the world around me. This small exercise helped to ignite my innate curiosity and interest in traveling.

It feels nice to be comfortable. In control of your environment and those around you. Basic things like ease of communication are taken for granted at home. There is also comfort in predictability and familiarity, we often prefer to be in the driver’s seat. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; it’s part of human nature. However, I’d like to argue that there is such a thing as becoming too comfortable. And that there is enormous value in making yourself uncomfortable and exploring an entirely new environment that challenges you to your core.

Travel has an ability to make you experience this distinct uncomfortableness, especially when it’s to a place which is vastly different from what we are familiar with. A place where many contrasts can be encountered: language, food, culture, norms, customs, religion, architecture, etc. Everything must be relearned, our known rules no longer apply. You feel like a toddler again, discovering how to successfully navigate this new environment you’ve been thrust into. Caught up in our daily routines, we often forget that there is a world outside of ours; many, many, worlds. Each with entirely distinct features and attributes that make it unique and beautiful.

While this feeling of being out of place can be extremely stressful, I challenge you to change your perspective during these situations. Not being in control, and being vulnerable, can open your mind to entirely new perspectives on the world and the people that make it up. While it can certainly be frightening to not know the local language, for example, it can also be reframed into an exciting mental exercise. Making you work and learn to do things that are entirely seamless in your world.

So then, to address our question at hand: Why do we travel? Of course, this question can bring many different answers, and there are no right or wrong ones. There are many different types of situations that call for different types of travel. But most often I think we look to travel as a relaxing escape. Where we don’t have to think much or make difficult decisions. Where we may be waited on hand and foot. Visiting a fantasyland that is procured to put us at ease as we’re treated like some kind of God because we bought the deluxe premium package. 

Now, I’m not completely knocking this style, and we all do need to travel simply to relax and recharge. But I argue that we need to explore the other side of travel as well. The side that pushes you into unfamiliar territories with unfamiliar people doing unfamiliar things. You are certainly capable of having an experience like this and overcoming the various difficulties that come with it. Watch as you emerge from the other side as a more complete person, with a newfound perspective, a heightened sense of empathy, and a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

This is a prelude to my month-long journey and may help to explain why I am embarking on it. And why I feel that everyone reading should try their hand at something similar.

Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. The Exotic East: Each Asian nation offers something entirely unique. I will be completely out of my element in each. I intend not to show you only the glitz and glam side of each country, but also the real, raw, and unfiltered version. Join me along the way as I seek to uncover and share the various intricacies and realities of each society I find myself in.