Comments on: Thomas Swick on the true meaning of travel http://www.vagablogging.net/thomas-swick-on-the-true-meaning-of-travel.html Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:10:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Jonathan http://www.vagablogging.net/thomas-swick-on-the-true-meaning-of-travel.html/comment-page-1#comment-261 Jonathan Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:50:43 +0000 http://qs1937.pair.com/users/bootlabs/vagablogging.net/_wp/thomas-swick-on-the-true-meaning-of-travel.html#comment-261 The fact of the matter is that one of the main wellsprings of travel motivation is the ambition to achieve a certain kind of distinction. To go where few have gone, to see what few have seen, to brave what few have braved, to have done what few have done. This ambition animated many of the boldest exploreres, and I would bet that those people whose spiritual attitudes towards travel are nourisehd by stories of exploration and adventure are most suseptible to this kind of motive. I notice a consistent tendencey on the part of many people to deride this motive in favor of personally meaningful experinces, but I think this is misguided. We should recognize that travel is a complex phenomena motivated by a plethora of factors, and traditonally one of the most powerful spiritual incentives for travel has been this desire to achieve a kind of personal distinction. Yes, an encounter at the McDonalds can be enriching and full of insight, but this kind of experience simply isn't an adequate substitue for the kind of experience sought in other ways. As an additional element of travel, yes, by all means. Indisputably. But to suggest that it is an adequate spiritual substitute for the desire and need to feel oneself in a a strange and hard to reach place that few have been to is to miss the point, in my view, and to not understand the multifarious psychology of travel; or at best to understant only one aspect of travel motivation. But I think this consistent tendency in the travel literature to denigrate this desire for distinction in travel is misguided and quite missed the point. The fact of the matter is that one of the main wellsprings of travel motivation is the ambition to achieve a certain kind of distinction. To go where few have gone, to see what few have seen, to brave what few have braved, to have done what few have done.

This ambition animated many of the boldest exploreres, and I would bet that those people whose spiritual attitudes towards travel are nourisehd by stories of exploration and adventure are most suseptible to this kind of motive.

I notice a consistent tendencey on the part of many people to deride this motive in favor of personally meaningful experinces, but I think this is misguided.

We should recognize that travel is a complex phenomena motivated by a plethora of factors, and traditonally one of the most powerful spiritual incentives for travel has been this desire to achieve a kind of personal distinction. Yes, an encounter at the McDonalds can be enriching and full of insight, but this kind of experience simply isn’t an adequate substitue for the kind of experience sought in other ways. As an additional element of travel, yes, by all means. Indisputably. But to suggest that it is an adequate spiritual substitute for the desire and need to feel oneself in a a strange and hard to reach place that few have been to is to miss the point, in my view, and to not understand the multifarious psychology of travel; or at best to understant only one aspect of travel motivation.

But I think this consistent tendency in the travel literature to denigrate this desire for distinction in travel is misguided and quite missed the point.

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