Why I travel

I have been traveling in South America for a bit now, and will be living out of a backpack for the next month and a half. Quite contrary to the way I am accustomed to traveling, I am attempting this time to let my intuition guide my itinerary.

I don´t feel I need to see very much at all, and until yesterday, I was feeling quite uncomfortable with my lack of curiosity about the things around me. So I asked myself, why do I travel? Why bother with those uncomfortable overnight buses, the sometimes disagreeable food and the feeling of constant unfamiliarity?

Then it came to me. I travel precisely because of the anonymity it accords me, and with that, the freedom to make unadulterated choices. Because I have no history and no loyalties, I need only to ask myself when I need to make a decision about anything, ¨what do I want?” We do not ask ourselves this question often enough, simply because it is rare for one to make unfettered choices without expecting some kind of reaction from someone or somewhere.

So the answer to the question posed in this title really is quite a cliche, but it is nevertheless still an illuminating one. I travel because I am given the opportunity to make choices everyday and in the making of those choices, I find out a little bit more about myself.

~ by huey on November 16, 2007.