Arthur Frommer on why travel should be more than mere sightseeing

“I’ve always felt that travel is a serious subject whose rewards go well beyond that of entertainment and recreation. The average magazine or newspaper editor looks upon travel as a subject of trivia, as something that you engage in to relax from stress, to reinvigorate you. I’ve never believed that.

“We all tell ourselves that we’re stressed out, that we’ve gotta have a vacation. We dream of going to a Caribbean island and just lying on the beach for two weeks and relaxing and getting away from the rat race. We go to the Caribbean and we lie down on the beach and after one hour we begin to fidget. We’re already as well rested as we ever need to be, and then we’re looking for something more profound to do. But of course by that time there is nothing else to do.

“I believe that travel is one of the finest methods of self-education, that travel pursued properly expands your horizons. I have always tried to emphasize that goal and to make explicit that the best form of travel is a learning approach.

Posted by | Comments (2)  | October 18, 2004
Category: Travel Quote of the Day


2 Responses to “Arthur Frommer on why travel should be more than mere sightseeing”

  1. Annette Says:

    It was interesting to note Rick Steves’ comment on his and Frommer’s differing views on what to do with those rare, special finds. Whether or not to tell their readers about them.

    I’m torn on the subject myself.

  2. phil Ross Says:

    In response to Mr. Potts’ Travel Quote of the day…

    I loved your book Vagabonding. I actually loved it so much that I left just like that for close to 3 years around Asia Australia and Africa. Traveling is a life style that not too many people from the westernized world can understand because it is not and never was a life style for them thus the whole self-education thing where learning about differences, seeing and living different realities can prove very rewarding in the sense that you will never learn some of these things anywhere else than on the road and whoever from the western world says that their way of living is the best… well might is not always right! It’s not a bad way, it’s just that there are lot’s of different ways of being out there, you just have to go out there and see them for yourself.