I feel the itch to travel coming over me again. My Facebook didn’t help by bringing back ‘memories’ of my first solo trip three years ago to Italy. Relentless. Brutal. Two weeks of daily nostalgic updates. I wanted to pack up and waltz away again to someplace I’ve always dreamed off.
But the time is not now. What I can do is sit and ruminate about travel.
I read something today by Pico Iyer, one of my favourite travel writers, where he wrote about how travelling is fast becoming a form of consumerism.
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/writer-pico-iyer-on-why-theres-more-to-travel-than-your-instagram-feed
The title says a lot – but the crux of his argument is this – that travel has become about ‘tasting’ cultures not about entering them.
Having lived in a few countries, I make the distinction between travelling to a place and actually living there. Living there, learning the language, is obviously going to give a very different experience than visiting a place for let’s say two weeks. Japan, where I lived for four years, will always have a special place in my heart. I was reasonably proficient with the language when I left and I honestly didn’t feel like an alien in what may be one of the most homogenous, culturally unique places in the world.
Pico Iyer and other travel writers experience places in a far different way than most travellers. And though, I find myself agreeing that travelling is becoming more consumerist in the modern age with the advent of smartphones and internet – I don’t see that much of an issue in it. I just wish to define what I want out of travel. Not all of us can give our lives to travel and be purists.
I am not built to move to a place and live there for 2 months. Nor can I make a nearly year-long journey like Paul Theroux did, over land, across Africa. I know some people can. But I need the comfort of home after a while.
Travel for me involves learning about a place before I go. Being sensitised to its history – appreciating it – and opening my eyes to the reality that the culture of the place has. I would learn a few words of the language. I always have. It would be great to meet people but that is not something I’ve always done though I wish I had.
Russia was an eye-opener. I did my research and felt I could understand the place just a bit better for it. The weight of its history – and that history hangs heavy. I am all for visiting monuments and places of historical importance. But then I am fond of history.
What really stood out were the little things. Special moments that can’t be rehearsed that are emblazoned in the mind forever. Like just being taken aback by the beauty on display walking down St. Petersburg’s majestic streets.
I do feel at the end of the day travel is about making memories. Meeting people or sharing the experience with friends or family is wonderful. The food is something that has to be tried. Learning about a place, experiencing its rhythms involves effort and that is what ‘travel’ is. A week at a beach resort is a ‘holiday’. There is a distinction there that I make for myself.
Travel is a process about discovery – new knowledge about a place, its people or even yourself as you undergo this experience of something new. An element of challenge is necessary – it can’t all be lounging around.
I commit myself to travelling more – maybe not like the serial instagrammer or a legendary traveller like Pico Iyer but somewhere in between. Searching for meaning, for something new, but mostly in pursuit of beauty.
