People that I meet consistently ask me “Why do you travel so much?” While traveling is not my full-time occupation, I try to visit new places as much as possible whether that is a new place across town from where I live, or a new country thousands of miles away.
The primary thing that drives me to travel is that I am a naturally curious person. I simply enjoy seeing and experiencing new things. I enjoy things like learning about the Mayan culture when I visited the Yucatan in Mexico. I also enjoy trying to learn how to communicate with someone who does not speak you own language such as when I visited China. The enjoyment of trying a new food such as arroz con pollo and it becomes a favorite throughout the years is irreplaceable. Each time you have that dish you will be reminded of that first place where you tried that dish (For me it was dinner at a 2ndstory restaurant in the middle of Madrid). Likewise, the experience of seeing poor people wash their cloths in the river while visiting Soufriere, St. Lucia gave me a new perspective of my own life compared to others in the world. Each one of these experiences changes you ever so slightly. My personality, art, thought processes, and even achievements are all partially influenced by the places that I have traveled, the experiences I have had, and the people I have met along the way. Travel builds a certain uniqueness or ‘flair’ to your personality that may not exist without those experiences.
I also grew up traveling. My parents took me as many places as they could and was also very encouraging of any travel I wanted to do. We went to our lake house each weekend, but we also went on numerous road trips, vacations, long weekends, etc. These trips consisted of local, national, and even international travel as I got older. I had managed to travel to almost 25 states and 3 international trips before I was 15 years old. This really shaped my desire to want to be on the move, see as much as possible, and experience all that I could.
Likewise, I also enjoy breaking out of the daily routine. Each day of travel brings the opportunity for a load of completely different experiences that sitting in the office or working any other job for the day could. The change in pace is really nice, and to be able to control your own schedule while traveling is really superb. I enjoy changes in location as well and enjoy seeing new things each day. Trips that have multiple stops and legs are even more interesting to me as it gives even more opportunity to see and experience even more. I also somehow enjoy the actual experience of the traveling itself. Whether that is the enjoyment of driving on a road trip, sleeping in overnight trains, or even hiking several miles to complete that trail or get to the that special destination. I recently had the experience of a trip that did not go as planned. While the original itinerary was not possible, we were able to change the itinerary on the fly and add some unplanned experiences that turned out to be almost as good as the original plan. As you can see, there is even enjoyment out of travel that does not go as planned. Traveling also puts me in a different frame of mind where I feel more creative, and I excel at things like my photography while traveling. WhereJoeGoes.com was born out of that frame of mind and creativity.
Travel is a great experience for those who enjoy it, and for a small percentage of us it is something that we cannot live without. The experiences that you get while traveling are truly irreplaceable, and the memories will be with you to share with your friends for the rest of your life. The longer the trip or the farther away the destination is, the more epic the trip becomes and the more ingrained it will be in your memory. Each trip is a truly once in a lifetime experience.
@traveleroninsta says it best “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You can take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
The journey has definitely changed me, will it change you?