The Travelers And The Travel Less

 Final Blog Post by Alexander Wiseman (H2)

For my Final blog post, I wanted to explore a topic that has been on my mind for a long time. A concept that I thought might be too vague, but looking at it through the lens of Philosophy, perhaps becomes a bit clearer. And that is the idea of two kinds of people in the world: those that go forth and see what the world has to offer, and those that are content with the place they originated.

For an opening example, I want to give an anecdote from my family history. On my Dad's mom's side, there's the story of my 3x Great Grandfather Arthur and his brother, Lewis. At 22, Lewis left the family farm in Upstate NY and lived the majority of his life in Alaska, Hawaii, and California. He even made it as far as Siberia. On the other hand, his brother, my distant grandfather Arthur, lived all of his life on that same farm, seeming completely content with just the small slice of the world he was born into.

As a sidenote, it can be inferred that Arthur wished he had traveled like his brother deep down, though. When his son, Frank, turned 18, Arthur forced him to go on a cross country journey of his own, where he ended up in New Mexico and Arizona. But when I say forced, I mean it. Frank truly didn't want to go on the trip, and much like his father, spent the rest of his life on the farm once he returned.

Why does this happen? Why are some people so compelled to explore unknown reaches of the world, and others want nothing to do with it? Aside from physical or monetary reasons, I think it comes down to the personal values each of us has, and the level of satisfaction that we gleam out of life. 

In this Insider article, the author goes over her reasons for not wishing to travel. She makes some very good points, especially in the statement that the idea of travel is over valued in todays world. But the most interesting points she makes are near the end. 

For one, the fact that the didn't even think travel was an option for her. Somehow, the smaller a community is, the more it feels like that is ones whole world. That's why I can see it possible to how it might not cross a person's mind in a community like that.

Secondly, she brings up the point that she's gained several valuable life experiences while never having left the country. She believes that travel isn't necessary to grow as a person or be well rounded.

Exploring the Philosophical angle, the idea of travel has come up many times across the years and across the pages of Philosopher's works. St. Augustine once wrote “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”. But others would disagree with that.

the Russian Philosopher Immanuel Kant famously never ventured far from his home town of Konigsberg his entire life. In this discussion, contributors note that even though he never did leave his home, he had vast knowledge of the world, in a time long before the internet.

This School of Life video does a great job exploring the deeper meaning behind travel and exploring as it relates to personal growth. 

In summation, travel means different things for different people. For some, it's their ticket into a new life. For others, it's a novelty that only happens to them on rare occasions, if at all. But one thing is true for everyone: there's something of value to find no matter where you are.