The Value of Traveling: How it Can Enrich Human Life

There are many scholars who would claim that humans are born to travel. Blessed with freedom of thought, movement and purpose, it is rare that individuals spend their entire lives within a single place,  and they often seek out new pastures, cultures and memorable experiences. There maybe many underlying reasons why individuals and families choose to travel, but at the heart of each lies an adventurous spirit and a desire to acquire a wider knowledge and level of awareness.

Backpacker Couple

The History of Traveling:
Why it is Has Been Valuable in Establishing Civilizations

While individuals have traveled since the dawn of civilization, their motivation has changed with the evolution of time. For example, while the earliest example of man would travel the land in search of food and sustenance,  it was not until the Middle Ages that famous explorers took to the seas armed with a growing sense of curiosity and a desire to discover new corners of the globe. Here we see the progression from traveling in the pursuit of survival to traveling out of a considered choice, and how increased awareness has encouraged people to seek out new cultures.

This change has occurred as technology and society has evolved, and empowered citizens to consider the world outside of their home and locality. While those that lived thousands of years ago were only concerned with survival and ensuring that their families were fed and secure, certain advancements through the ages encouraged people to seek out knowledge and fulfil as growing sense of adventure. This is where explorers like Columbus and Vasco de Gama emerged, and these swashbuckling legends helped to shape the world and introduce the first semblance of cultural integration.

A Traveler

The Future of Traveling:
The Reasons for People to Travel Today

Fast forward to the 21st century, and you find an entirely different set of circumstances. With no new countries or cultures to discover, and a vastly improved level of global knowledge and awareness prevalent among today’s citizens, it would be easy to surmise that the contemporary world offers little in the way of discovery. Not only this, but as concepts such as social media allow individuals to connect remotely without traversing the four corners of the globe, it would appear as though the desire or need to travel is a dwindling concern.

Despite this however, global travel remains an extremely popular activity. This is largely because there is a significant difference between theory and practice, and no matter how much we know about a specific place or culture, nothing can compare to actually experiencing it first hand. Our innate sense of adventure can not be sated by what we read in books or online, and compels us to explore lands that maybe foreign to us in order to gain genuine life experiences. It is this alone that will continue to encourage global travel, and ensure that the coming generations remain as adventurous as those that have gone before them.

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