I’ve been reading many blogs and articles regarding why people travel. Is it a way to fulfil a void in our daily lives? What are we seeking on these excursions to the outer rims of our own reality?

Curiosity was a common theme - what do other cultures have that our home does not?  You run with the locals to learn the food, the customs, religion and find what makes them tick. You take that knowledge home and see what parts could help to improve your life, or it makes you appreciate what you have.

Stepping out of comfort zones is another. Finding that adrenaline rush from achieving something that someone or no one has tried. Climbing the highest peaks, trekking across a range, or walking across the wall of China can lead to a feeling of achievement. You go home feeling a sense of satisfaction.

Seeking that romance appeal that other countries may have can be a draw to travel. The fantasy and fairytale surroundings that the storybooks have been showing you since childhood are epic to mind control.  The thought of finding your true love riding across the glen on a white horse or on a ship sailing across the Atlantic you have watched in movies.

I have been travelling since a young age, my father’s military career taking us over Europe and the United States. He had the idea that while in Rome do as the Romans do. We were taken to the back streets, meet and greets with locals, volksmarching every weekend and learned the languages.

One theme that always revolves around what I took home with me - history, culture and people. When trekking castle walls I wanted to understand the make-up of the society that lived there. In Paris I had to go to Painter’s square to observe their techniques and galleries for their art. In Italy it was architecture and religion for the basis of what made their history so alive. In the United States I sought out what involvement my family had in the makeup of it.

My husband has never left Australia because he feels he hasn’t seen enough of his own country to learn others. Some of my family in West Virginia never left the holler we have been in since 1832, they were satisfied with where they were, why find out about what else is out there.

Each person has a different reason for why they travel or don’t. Each seeks out what is needed in their subconscious for surviving their reality.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” stated St. Augustine.

This is my philosophy since reading that line in the 5^th grade. I painted it on a plain piece of paper and framed it above my bed. I seek knowledge like a sponge regarding the places I visit. When editors have asked me what is my field of expertise to write about... I am a seeker, wandering through this world to grow in knowledge, master of none.

Why do you travel?