Why We Travel

I have read several posts about why to travel alone, or travel with a group, or travel with family. All of these make their own points to why they prefer each method of traveling, but don’t really drive the point home of why they are traveling in the first place. For starters, I am not going into this pretending to be a travel expert, or even claim that I have traveled more than 5% of the earth, because I haven’t (yet). What I am going to share are my reasons to travel with another person, and like the title says, why we travel.

I have never been a stranger to traveling, but until a year and a half ago I hadn’t been out of the country. To some people that is a huge deal because there are so many places outside of the US, and while I totally agree, there are plenty of things to do within the US as well. But since that is not the point of my post, I will start with why I prefer to travel with others.

Lately, I have had my travel experiences alone since it has been mostly business trips. Every time I snap a photo, enjoy a beautiful scene, or stop by a local coffee shop, I think how much I wish Dave, my mom, or my sister were with me. I wish they were able to soak up every bit of this new moment alongside me, instead of me telling them about it, or showing them the experience virtually. I spend most of my free time on this trips endlessly wandering (or trying to find a Target). Experiencing a new area is a lot of fun, I would just enjoy it more if I had someone with me.

Another bonus, there are several in my opinion- but I won’t share them all, to traveling with someone else is sharing the cost of things such as a hotel room, cab ride, meal, etc. This can go either way though. If you opt for public transportation, you will each need to pay the fare or pay extra for two beds, but I would rather spend the extra money on things like that and be able to try some of two meals at a new restaurant instead of one (I just really like food, okay?).

After deciding how you want to travel, you should think about the why you want to travel. Personally there are two main reasons I like to travel, the experiences in new places and leaning more about yourself. Each new place holds a new experience, whether it be something minimal, like seeing 60 deer in one small front yard (I am looking at you Marble Falls, Texas), or something enchanting like chatting with the locals at a cafe in France.

Every travel experience holds something new for me, and teaches me something about myself. Whether something calms me, stresses me, captivates me, or intrigues me, I am always feeling some sort of emotion while I travel. For example, I had no idea I would get so upset when the bike rental wouldn’t take my card, but I also didn’t know seeing the area of Mont Martre would bring tears to my eyes.

Up until I met Dave my mom was by far my favorite travel partner. We have been to California 3 times just the two of us, and those will remain some of my favorite vacations. We always have so much fun together, enjoying the beach one minute and then hiking the Hollywood hills the next (not really that close since the traffic is always terrible). Both of us are adventurous and get bored easily so we try and squeeze as much into a vacation as possible. We have our favorite spots and an endless list of new places we want to visit.

California will always be our dream destination when we are together. The reason for these trips is to remind ourselves how blessed we are to have each other. Whenever we have been arguing, or simply not seeing each other a lot we have planned a trip to California. It really brings us closer, and holds us off another few years until we can go again.

Then there are the reasons Dave and I like to travel together. We have a very long list of “Travel Wants”, like the ones I shared here and here, and we are always adding more. Our main goal at this point in our lives is to learn more about each other, and the best way to do this is to travel. We get to see each other in new situations, experience new things together, and learn about the world at the same time. That is the reason I travel.

Traveling is a huge eye opener and brings so many other experiences to light, and I only wish others could travel more often. There is nothing like being out of your comfort zone in a new area and needing to adapt to your surroundings, or driving through the mountains and watching the snow roll over the top. If you have ever thought about taking a trip somewhere, do it! If you have a vacation in mind, take it! And if you are one of those lucky travel bloggers that has been able to make a life out of it, enjoy it! Traveling is the best way to experience a life full of wonder.