• 9
  • comments
Post Image

 
Last month, I got a letter from Sven-Olof Lindblad, the owner of the Lindblad Expeditions travel group, discussing why, as Henry David Thoreau once wrote On Walden Pond, “we need the tonic of wildness.” 

It’s a good question.  Lindblad primarily argues that travel will make you happy (even nicer!), but this may not always be the case and certainly not always for the reasons we suspect. 

Many will say they take vacations to relax or “escape,” but that certainly hasn’t been my experience.   We’ve taken two “trips of a lifetime” with Lindblad: one to the Galapagos and Peru, and another to Egypt.  Both were amazing and I felt fortunate to witness those extraordinary landscapes and cultures (see me at Machu Picchu in the picture above). 

Both trips were also exhausting.  This certainly isn’t the fault of Lindblad.  On a personal trip to Paris, I made a list of sites I wanted to visit, organizing them by morning, afternoon, and evening.  Sadly, I hadn’t anticipated my stamina running out, and I skipped Versailles in favor of going home early to finally relax.

I don’t think I’m alone in this behavior.  I’ve heard many people mention they need a vacation after their vacation.  So why do we go and what do we get out of it? 

If you can bear the bad formatting, check out this article by Jonah Lehrer over at The Frontal Cortex.  He suggests there may be a distinct cognitive benefit to travel, assisting us in solving problems, not just escaping them.  For example, he cites experiments where researchers asked students at Indiana University to perform a cognitive generation task where they had to list as many different modes of transportation as possible.  Students who were told the task was developed by researchers in Greece came up with significantly more answers than those who thought the test was developed by Indiana University faculty.  

Apparently, even psychological travel helps break down the walls of the uninspired.

In a true test of a good blog post, the most insightful thought came from the comments section.  Alex Crockett from Broken Postcard sums it up like this: I used to paint a lot. When I painted I would often have to stand at a distance from the painting in order to not add too much detail to one single area at the exclusion of the whole. It seems that faced with immediacy of life we all too readily get involved in details at the exclusion of what may be a better perspective.

So there you have it.  We travel, consciously or not, to get a better perspective, which helps to solve the stubborn problems we left behind.  

While I’m prone to having a-ha moments just walking down the street, I can certainly attest traveling a bit farther from home helps open my mind, if not also my pocketbook.    And if that doesn’t make you happy (or even nicer), I don’t know what will.  Well, that and a trip with Lindblad Expeditions.  You’ll just have to trust me on that one.

 

  • Liked this post? Click here to subscribe to
  • Everyday Bright Logo
  • Add Comment
  • A Chance to
  • Speak Your Mind

9 Responses to Perspectives On Travel: Why We Need To Go

    • On
    • April 16, 2010 at 8:01 pm
    • reader2rider
    • Said...

    My favorite topic. To me, it’s as if the US is your spouse and you’re cheating on it with another country. The motives are curiosity and the desire for variety. Some tourists can’t leave so they stay forever, like the American woman managing the little boutique in the basement of our hotel in Madrid.

    • I love your metaphor! LOL. Should I feel guilty when I travel, and then plant flowers upon my return?

      Now I don’t want to take your already insane envy to new heights, but I don’t know how closely you looked at that picture. Talk about the trip of a lifetime. In fact, I don’t know if it could be replicated. How many people can you see behind me? One of the big benefits of traveling with Lindblad is the top nocth hotels, which in this case is the one right there at Machu Picchu. So when a big rainstorm hit the afternoon of our arrival, all the other tourists left. It was just our group wandering among the ruins. Amazing!

    • On
    • April 16, 2010 at 8:02 pm
    • reader2rider
    • Said...

    Btw, Jen, I am insanely envious of your Machu Picchu trip.

  3. Pingback: Travel With A Conscience: An Interview With Sven Lindblad Everyday Bright

  4. Hi there. I enjoyed your post enormously. I agree entirely. I feel like my life has been dominated by the need for a little bit of the wild. Submerged in the monotony of living it is true that distance can often be our best friend. A reminder that the world is varied, wonderful and exciting. And at a distance we can remember to see those things that so often escape our attention.

    An inspiring post and thank you for the reference. You’ve reminded me that it is high time I plan my next adventure.

    • Alex,
      Glad you found this. I should have sent you a note of thanks, because goodness knows you can’t just count on finding terrific insights by trolling the comments section of blog posts! :) I’m in the same boat, so to speak. I sent my husband on an awesome ocean water sailing trip this year, but we have yet to go on another big vacation like this together due to work demands. I desperately need to get away, and if I can justify it as “inspiration,” all the better!

      Glad to “meet” you and hope to see you around these parts more often.

      Jen

  5. Pingback: Tweets that mention Perspectives On Travel: Why We Need To Go Everyday Bright -- Topsy.com

  6. Glad to meet you too. I am certain you’ll be seeing more of me this part of town.

    Regarding travel there is an old adage that might be worth noting “any excuse will do” :-)

    • Excellent point, Alex. I should follow that advice!