By: Mike Argyle

Around the World and Back or Vacationing for a Week… Tell us Why YOU Travel!

Although RTW trips and backpacking is becoming more popular, it doesn’t always sit well with the backpacker’s family. “What are you running away from?”
Most of us aren’t running away from anything, we enjoy travel for many reasons and here is 12 of them!

1. See Something New
Some go to the same all inclusive resort every year in the winter, but after a while that can hardly be called traveling. Most people, even if it’s the same kind of vacation, long for something different. Nothing inspires travel more than a break in the ordinary.

2. Get Away From Home
Home may be where your heart is, but sometimes you just need to get away. Jetting off for a week or two can be just what you need to appreciate what you have. The advantage of a bad vacation is it makes home life seem more appealing.

3. Meet New People
New places mean new people and for the social types, this can be a great chance to expand your social network. Whether it’s fellow travelers sharing a pint in the hostel bar or a local guide you keep in contact with after you go home, traveling connects all kinds.

4. Work/School
Taking a year abroad or a job overseas can open your eyes to the outside world. It not only allows you to get away while accomplishing something practical, but it may change your life altogether.

5. Challenge Your Worldview
Difference is good. A value you hold as non-negotiable may change once you see something or talk to someone and experience something you never considered before. You wouldn’t buy an untested car, so why subscribe to a belief unless you’ve questioned it’s validity?

6. Relaxation
Nothing beats just kicking back and relaxing, which is why all inclusive resorts are so popular with virtually everyone. Grab a drink, throw on some sunscreen and hit the beach – you’ve earned it.

7. Physical Challenge
At the opposite end of the spectrum, nothing makes you feel more alive than conquering mother nature’s harshest offerings. For those who believe there is no reward without risk, a vacation is a chance to prove just what your body is capable of. Everest, anyone?

8. Adventure
Not as hardcore as the physical junkies, adventure seekers long for the unknown and the thrill of discovery. Planned or spontaneous, this type of travel is the thing of great stories – get out there and live your own.

9. Witness an Event
Some festivals or phenomenon only occur at certain times and certain places, so it’s up to you if you want to be in attendance. Once in a lifetime concert? Rally for peace? Sports team final? You never know what will be a once in a lifetime event and sometimes, that’s what makes it memorable. You can watch them on TV or you can say ‘I was there’.

10. Cultural/Spiritual Pilgrimage
Belonging to something bigger than one person can make life worth living, but going to that special place can really put your faith into perspective. Some religions require their followers to make the spiritual journey, but even if yours does not, you owe it to yourself to see a place at the heart of your beliefs.

11. Take Pictures
You can buy a post card or you can make your own. Sometimes it seems like people only take pictures to show other people or as their profile pics… but what’s wrong with that?

12. Family
Maybe it’s to visit family who moved away or to find a long lost relation – or even finding out where your ancestors immigrated from – but travel breaks down the barriers that separate us from our kinfolk. Getting in touch with your roots by seeing, touching, smelling for yourself the places your family once did goes a long way towards figuring out who you really are.