Do you like to travel? Probably yes. Many young people dream about traveling to remote places from home. Backpacking is one of the most popular dream activities college students do all over the world do. While traveling is simply associated with a romantic leisure activity by many people, it can be a very serious activity depending on the level that the traveler is involved in carrying out the journey.
In terms of involvement, three levels of journey can be distinguished. Tour does not require much involvement. It is usually organized by companies in the tourism industry. You buy the program which suits you most. You don't expect anything less than pleasure and comfort. When you experience discomfort, you complain and expect that to be taken care of by the company. Whatever you experience during the tour is not likely to affect your life much.
A more involved type of journey is travel. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Latin "tripalium" is regarded to be the origin of the term "travel". Tripalium is a three-legged instrument invented by the Emperor Nero to torture people. From that word, comes the French "travail" which means to work and travel. Thus, travel includes multiple activities unlike a tour. To travel, you have to have motivation to do it, the ability to plan, to execute, and to accommodate yourself to the new environment, and the determination to pursue it through.
During travel, you are likely to meet good people and bad people who sometimes meddle with your life beyond your control. During travel, you are likely to find yourself in situations you are not used to and you don't like to be in. During travel, you have to be often on alert for thieves, peddlers, cheaters, even robbers. Travel requires engagement and involvement in many aspects. Still far more involved than travel is a voyage. A voyage is an activity of living in which travel is extended in time and space to the degree that defies detailed planning. You meet people and events that may change your entire projection of your life beyond your imagination. You are very much on yourself in a stream of contingency during a voyage. That is why life is called a voyage.
Why travel? People do it for various reasons such as pleasure-seeking, curiosity-resolving, learning, earning, and/or living. Three benefits not often mentioned are worth to note. First, you get to know yourself better by exposing yourself to new surroundings. You will get to realize what your preferences are, how much you are capable of, and what you can't take by situating in new challenging situations. Second, you may set free yourself from many stereotypes you are so accustomed to. The stereotypes include those about yourself, other cultures, and other groups of people.
Some of the stereotypes reflect reality but many more are simplifications and remote from reality. Travel provides chances to empirically validate those stereotypes. Third, you may get to associate with people who will mediate totally new paths of life. The plausibility of these benefits is nil on a tour, and become larger in travel or on a voyage. Physical visits to different countries itself is not sufficient for harvesting such benefits. It is the people you meet and get to know intimately on the road that act as agents for such benefits and changes in your life. Meet people and become friends with them. College life needs to be much more than reading books and writing reports. Life needs to be a Bon Voyage!
#282 Editorial