The Sense of an Ending
2 days ago
Why I don't like to travel?
People often ask me why I don't travel as much as an average Indian does on his/her stay in the US or any developed country for that matter. People characterize me as too lazy or too nerdy or too stingy to travel and spend money on the pleasure of travelling. Yes, those are some of the reasons I don't travel but then, there's more to it.
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| Excuse me for my fine art. |
I read a book and I travel to the world that may be more beautiful than anyplace in the real world. I read a research paper and I travel to a world that can't be perceived by common sense. In this way, I travel all the time. And did I forget to mention, if you want to classify travel, you can either travel in space or time, or both. Most human beings will do very less time travel (they will live in the present, and enjoy live action all the time, seldom pondering about the past or the future) and their space travel will also be limited to a couple of orders of magnitude in length/distance (when they travel around the world, its some thousands of miles, and when they make love, they move a few inches).
But if you do the kind of travel I do, you can travel to any time period (access historic/science fiction art) or do space travel (study astrophysics for travelling to higher orders of magnitude in distance or pursue quantum mechanics for travelling to much lower orders of magnitude)
We must remember that all of us as living beings, can only experience limited amount of things due to the constraints of mortality. But its entirely up to us, in which direction and to which depth, do we want to travel.
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- Tanya
- My little body is aweary of this great world. An Indian PhD student horsing around in Europe.
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20 comments:
All of us are different.Me and husband are big travel freaks.I would say the reason is because there is time for 'US' during the travel....And the places we went were really beautiful (I wudnt say no).A new place,I feel keeps you refreshed and spirited throughout.Energetic us on a new place having to attend only US -The thought itself is giving me positive vibrations...
An interesting thought!Saves money Too..:)
loved it
So true. We all keep on traveling without ever noticing it.
Excellent observation on travelling aspect of life!
^^Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
being a huge travel freak myself i wanted to peep in to know why someone doesnt like travel ! well reasonable enough ur post justifies the title..but then passions vary right..its more or less the feeling attached to something that turns it an addiction or a habit..
^^maliny, absolutely, our ends are the same (pleasure), but the means different.
Tanya, to each his/her own I guess. But there is one thing. Ever since I started the Interstate42 blog, travelling to me has been about trying to find new stories in the established narrative. That is not easy when you travel inwards through books or art. Real people and places have so many hidden stories that actually visiting these places and meeting these people can be a rich source for tales. Though this is possible by reading about the common people, their aspirations and about the history of places, to extrapolate what has already been published to find a new narrative requires great imagination. Hat's off to you for being abe to do that.
^^Kirklops,
That's a good insight and I do agree, new landscapes do evoke muses in artists. But if you really think about it, people have always been the same since centuries and what can be found outside, can also be sought inside.
Now, if you just close your eyes, and imagine really, really, well, you can travel to anywhere you want, even the space outside our galaxy, and then you may write about it.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment and the ideas that it generated on this page.
Sorry to reopen this post. Many of us love to travel. I think that travel takes us away from ourselves. It opens up new challenges.
I do read and imagine. When I have the opportunity to explore something different, I seize it. Travel provides me that exploration each week.
I don't seek to be wiser from travel. I seek to enjoy that great day of my life. To quote Byron, "From these interviews from which I steal, what I can never express yet cannot all conceal."
Yes, travel does takes us away from ourselves. And we often do want to get away from ourselves, our mundane surroundings of which we have become so accustomed that we begin to get bored of them.
But then, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. We all want "change" and we get that change by different means.
Think about an astrophysicist who spends most of his life in a small lab and he doesn't really travel anywhere physically. But most of the time, he spends exploring collisions of galaxies, star formations light years away from his telescope located at a stationary point. Do you think he is not exploring?
And if you want to know more, think about those splendid dreams that you have at night. Don't you feel as if those dreams are fully real when you're in them? But then it's just that your power of imagination is too strong at that time.
Btw, I love Byron too (not his character but his poetic genius)
Thanks for your thoughts. The astrophysicists are exploring. I guess some of them like travel as well. It is because travel is a hobby, which some enjoy. If traveling were a job, then one would want to have a change from it as well. Travel expands my experiences, like some of the other things in life like math, physics. I agree that it is not the only way, but isn't it a great way (like say dancing or gardening)?
Ofcourse travel is a great way to expand your experience! I don't mean one way is "greater" than other. There are different ways, and people with different preferences and choices! :)
Now, a person living in a jail for all his life, too expands his experience in someway. We never cease to experience, no matter what we do, as long as we're alive.
I guess you do like to travel and hopefully your grad school is not a jail :D. If not for travel of the real kind, we would not have these lines, "When often in my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood. They flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude."
I agree that many of us do go to places to tick it off our list of places to visit. We do so with the expectation of finding something special there, which we have not experienced elsewhere. Just like watching that movie, or reading that book. Books and movies are just vicariously travelling and they do not cater to all of the senses. Travel in some sense is a sensual experience, and so is the chocolate fondue.
One form isn't better than the other, if we do not have an objective function. If our objectives are to relax, fill our senses, have a sense of belonging with nature/community, observe animals/birds/ rustle of leaves/ whispers of wind and gurgles of streams, nothing beats travel. (You can only imagine, the rest of the benefits :) ).
I was looking for posts or articles written by people who don't enjoy travel, as I feel that way but still kind of feel that there's something wrong with me. That's how I came across your blog. I loved your post, and my own views are much in tune with yours.
@Rangr,
I believe we've discussed enough, and we're looking from quite different angles. But I'd still say, if you believe that books don't cater to all our senses, you may want to consider finding such books. (they are hard to find, I agree, but they do exist). And of course, booking a flight to a hotspot destination is both easy and satisfying to all senses. It's just a matter of your preference to choose whichever method you look to experience that "change" in your life.
@Leire,
Well it's an immense pleasure to know that!
Dear Tanya,
I couldn't relate more to your thoughts on travel. Besides I hate to make preparations before travel, pack and then unpack. But most people I know love travelling so much that they look at me like I was out of this world when I share my views about travelling. I especially found your opinions on time travel to the past close to my heart because I am nuts about historical romance books.
All the best.
Mujgan
Thanks Mujgan...it feels good to know that we're not alone...
I admit that I dont enjoy travelling. I have health issues that make many aspects uncomfortable for me. I think traveling can be wonderful,but I don't feel it is a must for happiness. I do not travel, but I have a rich life filled with people I love and pursuits I enjoy.
I think that most people travel a lot because they need to escape... Why would you travel if you don't need to escape? If your life is fun in your city? Would you leave your girlfriend for a few weeks if you enjoy being with her so much?
So yeah, it all comes down to this society of working I believe... People work, they hate their jobs, they hate the traffic in the mornings, they need to escape their horrible and oppressing realities.
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