"Why We Travel"

One reason I travel is to experience new things.  It is good to do something that is not part of your normal daily routine.  Another reason is to learn new things about different cultures and places.  It is more fun to go out and learn something instead of just reading about it.  Another reason is to have fun.  After stress at school it is nice to get away and have no worries for a little while.  I think that some of my reasons align with lyer's essay.  He believes we should travel to learn more about the world, rather than just learn about the world through newspapers.  He also says we travel "to become young fool again". I really like his ideas about why we travel.

lyer says, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places, but in seeing with new eyes".  I think that this means a voyage should change the way you look and the world and open your eyes to things happening all over  the world.  When we go on the trip we should be open to new things and take in all the things that we see and hopefully we will see things in a different perspective.

Lyer also says, "What gives value to travel is fear".  I think this means that when we travel we are free from all the things we normally hide behind.  A lot of people are afraid of the unknown and feel safer when they are hiding in their own little world.  When you travel it forces you to leave that world behind.  When we go on this trip, we are leaving our normal world and venturing to a place that is unfamiliar to us. 

Lyer talks about a traveler being a human "carrier pigeon", transporting ideas and culture from one society to another.  I think that travelers should share their knowledge and experience with all they visit and those they return to.  If travelers want to share their knowledge they are welcome to do so, but if travelers don't want to share their experiences that is okay too.  I think it is important to spread knowledge all over the world so that everyone is informed about what is happening around the world. 

One of my favorite quotes in this article is "It shows us the sights and values and issues that we might ordinarily ignore; but it also, and more deeply, shows us all the parts of ourselves that might otherwise be rusty"  I like that it shows that different sides of travel.  It says that we get to explore the world issues, but we get to find ourselves along the way too.