Traveling is a choice. So why do some people choose travel even if there’s nowhere they really want to go?
Photo by gluemoon
I was traveling in northern Vietnam when I first noticed the phenomenon of the dutiful backpacker.
It is nearly impossible to travel in Southeast Asia without parallels being drawn to what the locals call “The American War,” and my fellow travelers and I would often make jokes in poor taste about the duration of our “tours of duty” or going for some “R&R.”
But with some of my companions, I got the impression these were not entirely light-hearted remarks.
The “duty” part of their tour seemed to loom pretty large considering that none of them had been drafted against their will to take an extended budget holiday after college.
“I’ve got my photos,” one guy said to me over breakfast.
“I’ve seen the [Cu Chi] tunnels, I’ve fired the AK-47, I’ve taken the Reunification Express. I’m done.”
One girl I befriended confided that she desperately missed her boyfriend back home and wished she could go back to him.
When I asked why she couldn’t, she told me, “Oh, I could. I’ve got an open ticket, it’s just - there’s lots of stuff on my list that I haven’t checked off yet. I don’t want to go back with it half-finished.”
I gently pointed out that, presumably, she had decided to travel in order to fulfill some personal desire, and that if she was no longer happy then surely it was time to go home?
“But I might miss something,” she said anxiously. “Like, Laos is meant to be amazing and I haven’t got there yet. I couldn’t stand having everyone going on at me about how great it is and how they can’t believe I didn’t see it because I went home to see my boyfriend instead.”
I asked her if she thought she would even enjoy Laos, being so homesick.
“Probably not,” she shrugged. “But I’ve got to go, haven’t I?”
Photo by Aguapfel
I’d rather be building latrines…
I noticed the same attitude in an Australian friend, Maggie, who recently returned from teaching in South Korea.
“I’m getting out!!” was the subject line of the e-mail she sent, telling me she would soon be returning home. The first time I spoke to her after she was back in Australia she kept sighing gratefully and saying things like, “I’m so glad it’s done.”
“Didn’t you enjoy it?” I asked her.
She paused. “No,” she said eventually. “No, not really, if I’m honest.”
I asked her why she hadn’t returned earlier. Her contract at the school had only been for three months initially, and she could have left after that time with no ill will on either side.
“I told everyone I was going away for a year,” she said (by “everyone” she meant family and friends, not her Korean employers). “They would have asked me why I was back early, what had gone wrong, was it awful?
“And was it?” I asked.
“Not - not awful exactly, just…” she sighed again. “I’d just rather have been at home, you know?”
Photo by *Solar ikon*
Everyone travels now.
A gap year before or after college, once something guaranteed to make you the cool, interesting one at freshers’ parties, is now so commonplace as to be almost obligatory.
And there seem to be a growing number of people who are traveling as much to keep up with the crowd as out of any genuine desire to see new places or experience new cultures.
“I’m not a traveler,” Maggie admitted in the end. “I could have stayed at home and taught or done volunteer work, but then you run into someone from school and they’re all, ‘Oh, I’ve just got back from 18 months building latrines in Indonesia or whatever,’ and you feel such a dork saying, ‘Yeah, I work at an after-school club down the road from where we grew up.’”
“I guess I thought traveling would make me an interesting person, but it didn’t. I was really homesick and just used to sit in my bed, surfing the net and phoning my mum and all my mates. I don’t feel like I learned anything - except that I don’t want to go traveling again!”
Just don’t get left behind
Ask 100 travelers their reason for traveling and you will probably get 100 different answers: “to find myself”; “to learn about other cultures”; “to get some great photos”; “to get a tan.”
And none of these answers is more or less worthy than another.
Photo by dweely
But next time you ask someone why they decided to travel, keep your ears open for the telltale signs that their truthful answer might be:
“Everyone else was doing it, so I thought I should too.”
COMMUNITY CONNECTION
Have you ever traveled just because you thought you should?
Or stayed longer than you wanted because you thought you shouldn’t “give up”?
Have you ever quit a journey sooner than you planned, but had misgivings about your decision?
Hal Amen did, and wrote about his experiences eloquently in the blog, Quitter, which inspired a conversation among other travelers who were grateful to Hal for articulating his feelings.
Share your thoughts and experiences below in the comments.
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15 Comments... join the discussion!
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This is a great article. I cannot say that I traveled because I "thought" I should. I'm sure there are millions of people who travel because it's considered the "in thing" to do. Talk about the epitome of keeping up with the Jones'. If people find out they do not like travel, they would be better off just coming home. Who cares what family and friends say. The one thing you can say is that you gave it a "shot" and it was not for you. Case closed!
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I really liked this, Claire! I've met the "duty backpackers"– mainly when I did the Oz Experience bus in Australia (I know, I know, super cheeseball– but it looked fun when I was 22), soo many of the kids traveling seemed to be running through a checklist of what they "had" to see and not actually experiencing it. Interesting!
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Spot on Claire! Lots of people travel for the sake of travel.
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Unique perspective! But oh, this is so hard for me to imagine. I LONG to travel so so much with every fiber of my being. But in the same way that the party scene or even being a house-wife/-husband isn't for everyone, why should adventuring/travelling be? Life is too short to devote a great deal of time to things that just make you more miserable and frustrated.
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I find a lot of travel writing to be self-congratulatory. I think it's inherent to traveling, a lot of backpackers are striving for independence and feel the need to not just get off the beaten path but show others they're not your typical backpacker. We don't want their experiences likened to that of a frat boy on a contiki tour of Western Europe, or some hipster with a trust fund hiking South America. Our journeys should be more glamorous and exotic than some trivial trek anyone can do, right?
I particularly liked this article, as it empathized with those who's soul might not be in travel, or maybe a particular trip, but are doing it anyways. I can relate to sticking to a plan, even though you might be miserable. Sometimes something clicks, you change, and it becomes one of those magical experiences, one of the reasons we bought that back pack. Other times, well, it sucked and it's nice to get home. I can understand how that girl in North Vietnam might not want to let a bout of homesickness cut short a trip she might not get to make again for years.
Getting back on topic, there has only been one time where I said "I'm done." I had a couple weeks of volunteer work in Peru followed up with a three more of personal travel. My trip was about 3 days too long. I had a frustrating experience in the remote village I was working in, and some pretty trying travel after that. I was stuck though. I was in between jobs and didn't want to spring for the fare change fee. Since I was unemployed anyways it was like I was saving money since Peru was so cheap, given I had a free piece of floor to sleep on. Normally I come back wanting more, and have more travel ideas than when I left. But I came back from Peru and wanted nothing more than to stay put and spend some time with my girlfriend and dogs. That was a few months ago now, and I'm ready to get back at it.
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Great post. I've never really thought of it that way although I'm sure I've met my share of these "dutiful backpackers". After highschool I had friends that went overseas (one for 5 years) but I never had that urge. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I had my first real backpacking experience, on my own terms (haven't really looked back). Peer/societal pressure plays a part in almost everything we do, and this is no different. Like going to uni right after highschool (or after a gap year), it's not necessarily something that the student REALLY wants to do, or they have no idea what they want to do (I still don't), but are just supposed to.
In the end, most young people will do what they think is the thing to do, not what they actually want to do. It's quite normal and something most (or some?) grow out of eventually. It's a great question to ponder though…what is the percentage of travelers out there that are truly there for the experience and not just because of other pressures?
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Very introspective. I must admit I have thoughts of going home while on the road, and getting back to the unfamiliar while relaxing at home. After four months in Japan and my first bad work-related experience, I was sorely tempted to give up. But, holding out and continuing my Japanese residency turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.
Now, no matter where I go, I do have a makeshift itinerary, but I don't let it control me - if I'm in the mood to run even if I haven't seen the "rare museum of infertile pigs" or something of the sort, I run; if I'm too tired, I don't always try to squeeze in a last hike before catching the ferry.
It's a balancing act, in a way; don't be a travel wimp, but know when it's time to pack up and go home.
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This is an interesting article because it questions many of the basic assumptions made here at Matador. I find travel to be an often jarring, sometimes wonderful, always highly emotional experience. My life for the past five years has been shaped by it and undeniably, travel is the metaphor through which I see the world. That said, I do not believe that travel is inherently the most enlightening, low-impact, spiritual, ethical or sustainable lifestyle available in this world. My family, and most of the people I know at home in the U.S., do much, much more to create a sustainable, ethical world than I do on the road. They are the people that got Barack Obama elected, that buy fair trade, that bike everyday instead of using cars, planes, or trains, that defend the rights of immigrants and the poor. I speak several languages, and travel a great deal. Assuming that I'm naturally more informed, more ethical, more wise, more "one" with the tao of something, seems to me incredibly self-righteous. Travel (no matter how rustic, no matter how "in" one is with the locals, no matter how little one spends) in and of itself is not some sort of automatic golden path to wisdom, education and a good conscience.
One of the greatest ironies of many articles posted on Matador–and I'm thinking predominantly of Tim Patterson's guide to low-cost travel and Josh Kearns' the Tao of Vagabonding–is that they presume that long-term (really, non-stop), budget travel is the only ethical antidote to the vagaries of consumer capitalism, and yet, the people who live in the places these authors travel do not often travel themselves. Living their daily lives within set societies, these people are rarely considered unethical, ignorant, or blind. Rather, they are lauded for the way they stay put and contribute to creating a vibrant, healthy local community. Without them, what would travel be? Where would one travel? To see what?
It seems to me that this idea of travel and its role is one that is based in a very particular culture and class of people. What would the world be like if everyone, not simply middle and upper class white Europeans and Americans (sorry for the generalization, but these are the vast bulk of long-term travelers) decided to up and move around the world? How would the world function? Is this really an ideal picture of a sustainable, healthy, morally sound world made up of strong communities and connections to people and the Earth?
I'm sorry if this comes off as preachy and obnoxious, and I apologize for the lengthy rant! But, for as much as I love travel and think it has done wonderful things for many people, I think this idea that travel is an inherently educative and morally laudable process is a fallacy.
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Great response Sarah. I think it reveals that travel is not inherently beneficial. For a lot of people, they head out on the road and expect to come back completely changed. They realize that traveling usually means it's themselves…only somehere else.
Funny enough, this is the message I took from Alex Garland's classic "The Beach." Wherever you go, you can't escape yourself - your own issues. At its best, travel can be a fast-track to opening your mind if done with awareness. At its worst, travel is another form of consumption, only more insidious, since what's being consumed is at the expense of others.
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Great response Sarah. I think it reveals that travel is not inherently beneficial. For a lot of people, they head out on the road and expect to come back completely changed. But they quickly realize that traveling usually means it's themselves…only somehere else.
Funny enough, this is the message I took from Alex Garland's classic "The Beach." Wherever you go, you can't escape yourself - your own issues, your own mental state and habits.
At its best, travel can be a fast-track to opening your mind if done with awareness. At its worst, travel is just another form of consumption, only more insidious, since what's being consumed is at the expense of others.
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Sarah, you nailed it. When Blake talks about seeing "a world in a grain of sand," some people will try to change how they see things, and others will try to find that grain of sand.
Incidentally: MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!
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Thanks for those thoughts Sarah - I'm right there with you, and hate to think my articles promote the idea that budget travel is the only ethical antidote to consumerism. It's not! Not at all! In fact, as you suggest, travel is essentially unsustainable. Vegetable gardens, wood-stoves, bikes and strong local communities - that's where it's at long-term.
I think travel is inherently educative. Morally laudable? Sometimes, but certainly not always. Looking forward to more - I'm always excited to see your byline.
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Thanks for the response, Tim, and I apologize if I painted your writing in black and white. My point was really that travel can be educative, progressive, morally laudable, and it can–most importantly, I think–create much-needed connections that show people how their actions at home affect others abroad, but it can also be destructive, and it can perpetuate the same power relations and ideologies present at home. Like Ian said, it all depends on awareness–and, I think, how much people are willing to question themselves and their own assumptions while traveling. That was my point with the Inner Travel article on BNT a few weeks ago (sorry for the shameless self-promotion! Ug!)
Anyway, thanks for adding to the debate, and I think you're right about travel being inherently educative–although for some people it may simply reinforce what they already "know", while for others it might really open up whole new ways of seeing. As an example of the latter, I remember my stepfather, who is really anti-immigration and totally pro border fence in the U.S., coming to visit me here in Oaxaca and saying, with a new sort of glimmer of "getting it" in his eye, "wow, it's really a shame that people like Jorge (my Mexican husband) can't just come visit the U.S." (Technically, Jorge could if we paid enough money and crossed our fingers through all the interviews, but still…) He has started looking at Mexican workers at home, in the U.S., differently, and I think that's a huge progressive change.
Sorry for the rant! I'm off to eat chilaquiles.
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SARAH! You've absolutely nailed the discomfort I often feel about some of the attitudes in the "travel blogosphere" in general, and sometimes at Matador in particular: the idea that, as you say, travel is "some sort of automatic golden path to wisdom, education and a good conscience" — and that, conversely, non-travelers are part of the problem, almost by default.
In response to both the comment here and the one you left on my interview with Kelsey, I'd like to take a shameless moment and direct you to a blog post I wrote recently: http://matadortravel.com/travel-blog/canada/deva/...
I've been struggling to defend my friends and family (non-traveling 9-to-5ers, almost to a man/woman) in this forum for a long time, and I think in that post I may have finally managed to achieve some clarity on the subject…
Great rant!
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Eva–I really enjoyed your post and left you a comment there. I'm going to link to the same article here that I linked to on your blog, because I think it provides a really interesting, and thoughtful, opposing perspective to many pervasive beliefs about travel.
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/a...
Please, continue the shameless promotion! And thanks for your comments.
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Sarah, you couldn't be more right. Traveling is not the way, it's just a life style. And, if it were long-term, in my mind it would only be useful if the experiences obtained helped form a passion to make the "sedentary world" a better place, beginning with the local communities and real people within them.
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Thanks for all the comments everyone! Sarah, I think you've said what I was trying to say far more eloquently than I managed but I'm glad the sentiment came across!
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Great article. I hate travelers who feel they have to check off some list. If you are done, go home and relax. it's not about showing you have been to more places its about going for you.
"“I guess I thought traveling would make me an interesting person, but it didn’t. I was really homesick and just used to sit in my bed, surfing the net and phoning my mum and all my mates. I don’t feel like I learned anything – except that I don’t want to go traveling again!”"
People have this illusion of travel that I love shattering. I call it the beach syndrome- that traveling makes your life better. I think everyone should try to travel but its not for everyone. if you don't like it, don't do.
People still can't believe that i went all the way to australia and never went to Queensland- after 18 months on the road, i needed a break and when I got to Brisbane, I decided to go home. Travel is what you do for yourself not everyone else.
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I'm really glad to see that this article generate such passionate and thoughtful discussion– not only about this article, but about other articles we've published on Matador. I'm glad that this online community is big enough (and mature enough!) to welcome diverse opinions and experiences, honest conversation, and a careful examination of our own experiences and opinions, as well as those of others. Thanks for participating in the dialog.
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Great article! I love the way you get to know to this very interesting and fascinating group of people, who are traveling around some foreign country with a strange language and they aren't quite sure why they're there. Wonderful insights and I think the area deserves more exploration. It's a very enjoyable read.
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I can say that I used to have delusions about traveling. I thought that a certain place would make me happy or offer me wonder. As it turns out, traveling is just a part of life, and when it comes down to it, you will enjoy it as much as you enjoy yourself and you will be treated well by others and your environment if that is that energy you carry with you. Traveling can be both fulfilling and empty, bright/engaged and lonely, hard and easy…it all depends on your own passion and what you bring to the table. Traveling with a purpose, self-determination, and resolve - that's the best. Without the bright inner world, all those places you visit and people you meet will seem superficial and fake. The main difference, in my view, between living at home and traveling is that when you are in a foreign place there is more around you that is unusual and by virtue of that is able to challenge your self. But if you ignore all that and just focus on the destination, how would it be possible to enjoy yourself? It's like working all day thinking about the party your going to go to that night as if its going to be that much better than the moment, and then when you get to the party its lame until you get drunk and something delightful happens that gets you back into the flow that you secretly craved in the first place.
I agree with the article and others here…traveling has become so common that it has become impersonal and like a shallow objective to many. I've been there, talking to people in hostels who really don't know what they are doing in a place and seem to be sucking up the experience and not really living a full life while they are there. And I have been that person too.↵ -
Good Article, these things need to be said. I have thought these thoughts when on my travels many times. On the flip side as I sit at my work desk now, I wonder why I ain't on the road.
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