Like Zwackus, I can't relate.
For me, travel is above all about seeing places.
I do notice that for many people, travel is about getting from point A to point B, and then have experiences of whatever kind (people/fun/food/culture/places) at point B. But for me, seeing places goes as far that the actual journey (getting from A to B) is the highlight. One of the reasons I won't drive cars and prefer trains: I would have to watch the road instead of the landscape. But this can get me into trouble if I travel with other people, or if my co-passengers are of the type for whom travel is about talking to strangers :-)
As can be surmised, the concept of travel to relax is alien to me, and I don't like the false tranquility of resorts either. I also don't like pre-arranged group travels: when I travel, whether alone or with friends/family, it's usually me who does some organising: and that doesn't just mean hotels/camping places, but seeking out routes and interesting sights along the way and at stops. (I guess I differ in that from Zwackus: I usually know in advance what's to see.) Oh, and a good map is always a necessity.
A special thing about travel is the languages spoken around me. Not understanding a word can be fun, creating a strange detachment allowing observation from outside, but everyday use of languages one normally only reads or sees on TV is also fun.
Without getting too personal or mawkishly sentimental, has life fulfilled your youthful dreams, was it ever meant to, were they not supposed to be hopelessly unrealistic, and all the more fun for that, or have you had to taper your expectations rapidly downwards in order to make emotional ends meet, so that you border on the cynical when you see today's younger generation indulge in something of the same?
Well, being the flaming leftie and the career changer, I of course (1) am way short on fulfilled dreams, (2) tapered my expectations to stay sane (OK that's debatable), (3) didn't taper the dreams themselves...
I must admit I do react with cynism to youthful enthusiasm (and also fear that that enthusiasm could turn into a negative once confronted with reality). *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
Each group or sub-group has his constraints in "social noises" that keeps the group coherent, but distracts you from the view (It is impossible to take a decent picture when someone is talking to you)!
But then maybe the "Holidays" are necessary, either to escape those socializing structures or on the contrary to find new bonds ? Usually, holidays are exhausting... The change in one's pattern and schedules, plus the climate and exotic food, sums up in keeping some time at home to rest from the holidays !
The word itself, has some meaning, as in english it seems you're about to deal with some pilgrimage, while in french, "vacances" (as in vacancy) tends to indicate the unplugging of ones hard disk...!
Traveling is quite new, as a social behavior, and goes in par with the sightseeing stuff, while enlarging our CO2 footprint! The old "Kilroy was here" sort of graffiti is renewed by the postcards we send to team workers, and we wouldn't be able to sustain our rank in society if we didn't "see" (like in "seeing Naples and die") such fashionable site!
Isn't it strange to consider that our grandparents didn't even know about holidays and that most of them still lead full lives ? Do we really need that "organized break" for our mind's health, or is it another form of "spending spree" that goes with some discourses on global economy?
I've often been "on the move", since I was a toddler (not my choice), and lived in several countries (as many here)...Travel is usually for work reasons, and holidays is for another sort of work, filing in what couldn't be accomplished in "work time" !
In fact, my "holidays" are when I can look around me with curiosity... Whatever the place or time.
Maybe it's because, after spending some time in an hospital bed after an accident, listening to the wind rustling tree leaves while sipping some wine at a café terrace, still seems to me a fantastic goal... "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
That's a powerful sentence! *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
seeing places goes as far that the actual journey (getting from A to B) is the highlight.
It's not about the destination, it's about the journey!!!
Your way of traveling sounds a lot like how I prefer it, especially when travelling with a group. I took my family through South Africa past year, and me having been there previously, I pretty much became the guide and "tour" organiser for that time.
I also enjoy a more spontaneous way of travel:
DoDo:
a good map is always a necessity.
I love maps. Poring over them, hunting for names that make a (un)conscious connection, that awaken an intrigue to see what's there? - to set forth on that whim and find there is generally nothing, or sometimes the rare Columbus: discovering something unique by accident without knowledge in advance.
In 2005 during what I've termed the Chill-Out Tour (after my stressful MSc period) that's what we did in our first days in Germany - and we found Geilenkirchen (not that great) and Marburg (bloody fantastic) and the Edersee (great for hiking). Then we stopped and, well, headed for Prague. Because we felt like it.
Misty gauze on Edersee
The dam holding the Edersee was one of those successfully hit by the "Dambusters" in 1943. So I went to the "Edersee" and "Operation Chastise" pages. But I found that the Wiki articles were wrong in their account of victims in the floods caused (an error which, shame shame, goes back to a BBC article), now corrected. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
It's a bit of a challenge keeping myself properly stocked, though. I read rather quickly, a mixed legacy from grad school, so I finish a novel after a couple days of casual reading, less if I really like it. In some countries, it's easy to find books - Chiang Mai, in Thailand, had some solid English bookstores, and the UK was obviously not a problem. However, in China and Japan, it's a bit more of a challenge. When I visit the US, I routinely bring back ten to twenty books, and ration them out.
