Serendipity smiled. And now I’ve read the book “Why we travel” by Ash Bhardwaj https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781915798794/why-we-travel/ I’m smiling back.

Waiting to board a recent 7 hour flight from Auckland home to Perth, I opened my carry-on luggage and was instantly dismayed. The book I had been reading was inadvertently packed in my suitcase, which had already been checked in. Rather than mope, I traipsed through the airport to the bookstore eagerly scanning the titles. This long flight home was a rare opportunity to enjoy a relaxed, uninterrupted read.

After picking up a few possibilities, scanning the back cover and replacing them on the shelf, this book, “Why we travel” jumped out. As I love to travel, I was eager to gain an understanding (beyond my own personal theories), on why, once someone has been infected with the ‘travel bug’ they rarely stop. Even my Mum, at 84 still likes to travel, and although she may not find it as easy as she once did, she revels in “armchair travel”, voraciously reading books others have written about their adventures.

The subtitle of this book is clever ‘a journey into human motivation.’ I like the way Bhardwaj weaves his own life story and travel experiences into his dive into the literature of travel authors and psychologists studying human motivation. It’s an engaging insight. And one that brought me both to laughter and tears – a clear sign of a great book.

I also know it’s a ‘good book’ when I’m quickly reaching for a pen to annotate or highlight the sentences that resonate with me. And this book is liberally sprinkled with my asterisks, arrows and scribbles. I liked that the content was more than entertaining and informative, it gave me some ideas on how I could enrich my future travel experiences along with reminding me of some amazing travel moments I have been fortunate to savour. It reinforced the good memories I have, while helping me unpack and reframe some of the less than desirable moments.

The book is divided into twelve chapters, each one exploring a specific motivation for travel.

I’ve often said that during travel our five senses are stimulated – what we see, hear, smell, taste and feel is often novel, so much so that we are more present in it, and therefore removed from reminders of our everyday responsibilities and burdens. I love Bhardwaj’s take on this “the journey rips them from the mundane routine of daily life. It is pregnant with possibility and unpredictable outcomes”. (Bhardwaj, 2024, p18)

Getting out of the rut of daily life, off the treadmill so to speak, is the primary reason many of us plan holidays. While some people travel with pleasure and relaxation foremost in their mind, content to ‘float’ along, sleep in and be entertained, many of us travel with broader aims. We’re keen to learn about other cultures, and history comes alive when we’re surrounded by historic buildings, cobble stoned streets, and relics of times past. Equally, being immersed in nature, having arrived at a summit of a mountain or gazing across the ocean, our perspective shifts, our problems shrink in comparison.

There are chapters in this book on hardship and service. Some of us travel to hike challenging terrain, pushing ourselves physically and mentally outside our comfort zone, and with this comes the reward of endorphin’s (the natural high we experience when we overcome a significant difficulty), Or we may set off with the aim of helping those less fortunate.

On your next journey, whether it is to the next suburb or an exotic international destination I encourage you to set aside preconceived ideas and go with curiosity and an open mind. You will likely to be pleasantly surprised at who you meet and what you learn.

Bhardwaj begins and ends this book with the statement that in travel, he learned as much about himself as he did about the world. At the conclusion of my next adventure, I will be asking myself “what did I learn about myself” in this experience?

You might like to reflect on your own most memorable travel experiences, looking for common themes. What did you see, hear, smell taste and feel? Who did you meet? How did this place and time change how you lived in your own neighbourhood? What did you learn about yourself?

As this is a New Year, I also challenge you to consider the twelve months ahead as a journey. While you are planning your ‘itinerary’, and goals please leave space for spontaneity, detours and intriguing side streets. Smile at the people you meet along the way and seek to hear their story. Your life will be enriched.

May this be the beginning of a year brimming with vitality,

Esyltt