why do humans travel

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• THE BIG IDEA

Why travel should be considered an essential human activity

Travel is not rational, but it’s in our genes. Here’s why you should start planning a trip now.

In 1961, legendary National Geographic photographer Volkmar Wentzel captured two women gazing at the surf off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. This and all the other images in this story come from the National Geographic image collection.

I’ve been putting my passport to good use lately. I use it as a coaster and to level wobbly table legs. It makes an excellent cat toy.

Welcome to the pandemic of disappointments. Canceled trips, or ones never planned lest they be canceled. Family reunions, study-abroad years, lazy beach vacations. Poof. Gone. Obliterated by a tiny virus, and the long list of countries where United States passports are not welcome.

Only a third of Americans say they have traveled overnight for leisure since March, and only slightly more, 38 percent, say they are likely to do so by the end of the year, according to one report. Only a quarter of us plan on leaving home for Thanksgiving, typically the busiest travel time. The numbers paint a grim picture of our stilled lives.

It is not natural for us to be this sedentary. Travel is in our genes. For most of the time our species has existed, “we’ve lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers moving about in small bands of 150 or fewer people,” writes Christopher Ryan in Civilized to Death . This nomadic life was no accident. It was useful. “Moving to a neighboring band is always an option to avoid brewing conflict or just for a change in social scenery,” says Ryan. Robert Louis Stevenson put it more succinctly: “The great affair is to move.”

What if we can’t move, though? What if we’re unable to hunt or gather? What’s a traveler to do? There are many ways to answer that question. “Despair,” though, is not one of them.

In this aerial view from 1967, wall-to-wall seaside sunbathers relax under umbrellas or on beach towels in Ocean City, Maryland .

A 1967 fall festival in Guadalajara, Mexico , starred traditionally costumed musicians and dancers.

We are an adaptive species. We can tolerate brief periods of forced sedentariness. A dash of self-delusion helps. We’re not grounded, we tell ourselves. We’re merely between trips, like the unemployed salesman in between opportunities. We pass the days thumbing though old travel journals and Instagram feeds. We gaze at souvenirs. All this helps. For a while.

We put on brave faces. “Staycation Nation,” the cover of the current issue of Canadian Traveller magazine declares cheerfully, as if it were a choice, not a consolation.

Today, the U.S. Travel Association, the industry trade organization, is launching a national recovery campaign called “ Let’s Go There .” Backed by a coalition of businesses related to tourism—hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, airlines—the initiative’s goal is to encourage Americans to turn idle wanderlust into actual itineraries.

The travel industry is hurting. So are travelers. “I dwelled so much on my disappointment that it almost physically hurt,” Paris -based journalist Joelle Diderich told me recently, after canceling five trips last spring.

(Related: How hard has the coronavirus hit the travel industry? These charts tell us.)

My friend James Hopkins is a Buddhist living in Kathmandu . You’d think he’d thrive during the lockdown, a sort-of mandatory meditation retreat. For a while he did.

But during a recent Skype call, James looked haggard and dejected. He was growing restless, he confessed, and longed “for the old 10-countries-a-year schedule.” Nothing seemed to help, he told me. “No matter how many candles I lit, or how much incense I burned, and in spite of living in one of the most sacred places in South Asia, I just couldn’t change my habits.”

When we ended our call, I felt relieved, my grumpiness validated. It’s not me; it’s the pandemic. But I also worried. If a Buddhist in Kathmandu is going nuts, what hope do the rest of us stilled souls have?

I think hope lies in the very nature of travel. Travel entails wishful thinking. It demands a leap of faith, and of imagination, to board a plane for some faraway land, hoping, wishing, for a taste of the ineffable. Travel is one of the few activities we engage in not knowing the outcome and reveling in that uncertainty. Nothing is more forgettable than the trip that goes exactly as planned.

Related: Vintage photos of the glamour of travel

Travel is not a rational activity. It makes no sense to squeeze yourself into an alleged seat only to be hurled at frightening speed to a distant place where you don’t speak the language or know the customs. All at great expense. If we stopped to do the cost-benefit analysis, we’d never go anywhere. Yet we do.

That’s one reason why I’m bullish on travel’s future. In fact, I’d argue travel is an essential industry, an essential activity. It’s not essential the way hospitals and grocery stores are essential. Travel is essential the way books and hugs are essential. Food for the soul. Right now, we’re between courses, savoring where we’ve been, anticipating where we’ll go. Maybe it’s Zanzibar and maybe it’s the campground down the road that you’ve always wanted to visit.

(Related: Going camping this fall? Here’s how to get started.)

James Oglethorpe, a seasoned traveler, is happy to sit still for a while, and gaze at “the slow change of light and clouds on the Blue Ridge Mountains” in Virginia, where he lives. “My mind can take me the rest of the way around this world and beyond it.”

It’s not the place that is special but what we bring to it and, crucially, how we interact with it. Travel is not about the destination, or the journey. It is about stumbling across “a new way of looking at things,” as writer Henry Miller observed. We need not travel far to gain a fresh perspective.

No one knew this better than Henry David Thoreau , who lived nearly all of his too-short life in Concord, Massachusetts. There he observed Walden Pond from every conceivable vantage point: from a hilltop, on its shores, underwater. Sometimes he’d even bend over and peer through his legs, marveling at the inverted world. “From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow,” he wrote.

Thoreau never tired of gazing at his beloved pond, nor have we outgrown the quiet beauty of our frumpy, analog world. If anything, the pandemic has rekindled our affection for it. We’ve seen what an atomized, digital existence looks like, and we (most of us anyway) don’t care for it. The bleachers at Chicago ’s Wrigley Field; the orchestra section at New York City ’s Lincoln Center; the alleyways of Tokyo . We miss these places. We are creatures of place, and always will be.

After the attacks of September 11, many predicted the end of air travel, or at least a dramatic reduction. Yet the airlines rebounded steadily and by 2017 flew a record four billion passengers. Briefly deprived of the miracle of flight, we appreciated it more and today tolerate the inconvenience of body scans and pat-downs for the privilege of transporting our flesh-and-bone selves to far-flung locations, where we break bread with other incarnate beings.

Landscape architects work in their Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , studio in 1955.

A tourist photographs a towering century plant in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1956.

In our rush to return to the world, we should be mindful of the impact of mass tourism on the planet. Now is the time to embrace the fundamental values of sustainable tourism and let them guide your future journeys. Go off the beaten path. Linger longer in destinations. Travel in the off-season. Connect with communities and spend your money in ways that support locals. Consider purchasing carbon offsets. And remember that the whole point of getting out there is to embrace the differences that make the world so colorful.

“One of the great benefits of travel is meeting new people and coming into contact with different points of view,” says Pauline Frommer, travel expert and radio host.

So go ahead and plan that trip. It’s good for you, scientists say . Plotting a trip is nearly as enjoyable as actually taking one. Merely thinking about a pleasurable experience is itself pleasurable. Anticipation is its own reward.

I’ve witnessed first-hand the frisson of anticipatory travel. My wife, not usually a fan of travel photography, now spends hours on Instagram, gazing longingly at photos of Alpine lodges and Balinese rice fields. “What’s going on?” I asked one day. “They’re just absolutely captivating,” she replied. “They make me remember that there is a big, beautiful world out there.”

Many of us, myself included, have taken travel for granted. We grew lazy and entitled, and that is never good. Tom Swick, a friend and travel writer, tells me he used to view travel as a given. Now, he says, “I look forward to experiencing it as a gift.”

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7 Personal Benefits of Travel

Forget milling around in your finest evening wear, Singapore Sling in hand: You'll be lucky to get peanuts. Flying isn't quite the party it was in Sinatra's days, and lots of time, energy, and money are expended to leave home, so why travel? How long do the  personal benefits of travel last?

Getting away from home and stepping outside of your usual routine is beneficial for both mind and body. The long-lasting personal benefits of visiting a foreign country far outweigh the costs and time to get there.

The great travel writer Pico Lyer said: "Travel is not really about leaving our homes, but leaving our habits." Here are seven ways that travel, especially  international travel, will enhance your life.

Travel Sharpens the Mind

You've done your old routine for so many years that you could run through it on autopilot. Being dropped into a new environment engages a dormant part of your mind and gets those synapses firing again.

Suddenly, you'll be required to navigate unfamiliar places, read foreign languages , try new things, make quick decisions, and choose your new eating and sleeping schedule.

Unlike at home, all the new sights, sounds, and places will require mental processing and filing. Your brain will welcome the workout! Once you return home, you'll be sharper than ever for better organizing and sprucing up your daily routine.

A Shift in Perspective

"Nobody comes back from a journey the way they started it." — Unknown

Being exposed to new cultures and people will greatly shift your paradigm and create a healthier perspective once you return back home. Seeing different social classes creates compassion and really makes you feel more blessed and content. Large portions of the world's population have to deal with daily threats such as hunger, disease , and landmines .

A hard day at work suddenly doesn't seem so bad when you see people in developing countries toiling in sun-scorched fields from morning to dark, or begging for a drink of water.

A Chance to Try New Things

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

While you may branch out at home from time to time by trying new restaurants or splurging on expenditures, traveling kicks you out of the comfort zone and forces you, for better or worse, to try new things!

Even if you don't enjoy your first attempt at scuba diving , at least you'll be able to relate in a new way the next time you see it in a movie or hear someone talking about it.

Becoming a well-rounded individual enhances self-confidence and will help you find new material for conversation in social settings with a wider variety of people.

Who knows, you may accidentally discover your new favorite food or find out that you want to pursue a new career in karaoke!

Meet New People

"A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles." — Tim Cahill

You'll meet far more friendly people on the road than you will under ordinary circumstances at home.

Other travelers are always looking to share experiences, give tips on places to go, and meet people from all over. Striking up a conversation with other travelers is extraordinarily easy.

A polite "so where are you from?" breaks the ice quite easily and may lead to lasting friendships with people from all over the world.

See the Real Deal

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." — Aldous Huxley

Until you visit a place and form your own opinions, your understanding only comes from what you were taught in school, read in books, or saw on media, which may or may not be a complete truth.

Don't over-research your upcoming destination in guidebooks. Do your best to avoid building a bias toward a place or installing mental filters before you visit. Wait to form your own opinion, remaining objective until you can make up your own mind.

Exercise and Sunshine

Sure, you could just go sweat in the gym under fluorescent lighting, but chances are that you'll be much more active from day to day while on the road, regardless of whether your trip is an adventurous one or simply a relaxing beach trip .

You could be exploring new cities on foot, hiking , swimming, walking between places, and hopefully soaking up some needed sunshine while doing so. And it's guaranteed to smell better than the gym.

Come Home Renewed

After stepping away from home for a while, you'll return with renewed energy, a new set of mental filters, and ready to take on the next big project or challenge. Call it a life reboot.

Getting away for some time, even though it requires effort, will greatly enhance your attitude and productivity once you return home. Sure, you may have some mail piled up and matters to attend, but those are simple challenges easily knocked out.

Breaking up the monotony for a while is a great way to reduce stress and give your life an injection of excitement. Don't be surprised if shortly after your return, you're already counting down days until the next trip!

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The End of the Tour: Why Do We Travel?

Travel is commodity, a privilege, and a state of mind; a comfort to some and a trial to others. 

The 597-mile train ride from Shanghai to Tianjin, up the east coast of China, was one of the longest journeys of my life. What began as a cold the afternoon before had rapidly morphed into strep throat, complete with fever and agonizing pain. Swallowing was so difficult I cried every time I had to force down my own saliva. The blurred cities and towns that had so enchanted me on the way south now seemed like pillars lining my descent into the inferno, without the benefit of Virgil as my guide.

But even worse than the relentless burning in my head and neck was the prospect of what came next: a dorm room far from family and friends, prescription medicine whose label I’d struggle to read, a hospital with dirty floors where the doctor examining my throat would wave the inspection mirror through an open flame to sanitize it. Serious illness is unpleasant in the best of circumstances, when you can retreat to your bed and watch Netflix and drink hot soup while someone brings you the occasional box of tissues; falling ill while traveling might be the psychological equivalent of mild torture.

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And yet those moments of pain and suffering sometimes make the best stories (at least when everything turns out all right and we return home in the end). “Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit ,” goes the Aeneid , the story of the Trojans’ journey to Italy to found Rome: Perhaps someday we will look back upon these things with joy . Aeneas’ forced migration was full of hardships, but the triumph of overcoming those challenges resonates even today, as do the challenges Odysseus faces in The Odyssey .

Why do we do it, then? Why do we set off on voyages knowing full well that there will be discomforts and risks, that the experience will change us? The myriad travel stories we’ve explored in “Uncharted,” from an ice marathon across Antarctica to a dying form of transportation to men who disappeared on their treks, have taken us around the world and through the past. It’s been a fun tour that’s now approaching its end—but before we get settled back into the predictability of our lives, I want to explore one last question (well, two related questions): why do we travel, and what does that mean for the future of our world?

The somewhat straightforward—or at least more quantifiable—answer comes from evolutionary geneticists: DRD4-7R. The first half of the sequence refers to a gene that is partially responsible for controlling the chemical dopamine, while the second half–the 7R allele—is a variant carried by about 20 percent of the population . Associated with novelty-seeking behavior and extroversion, the allele occurs at dramatically different rates depending on where you’re from. Migratory populations , for example, have far higher numbers of people with the variation than those living in sedentary populations, suggesting that the variant is encouraging its carriers to take risks, to set off into the unknown in search of novelty. Of course, this single gene is hardly the only reason someone like Captain Cook sailed across all the world’s oceans. “More likely,” writes National Geographic , “different groups of genes contribute to multiple traits, some allowing us to explore and others, 7R quite possibly among them, pressing us to do so.”

For a touchy-feely, philosophical answer, we might turn to Mark Twain , who said that travel is a way to shake off bigotry—or to impress people with fantastic tales of exotic lands when returning home. For Pico Iyer , travel is about consuming and being consumed, the two-way road of seeing strangers and being a stranger to others. For Robyn Davidson , who walked across the Australian Outback, travel was a choice to use our fears as stepping stones, rather than allowing them to become stumbling blocks. The moral, it seems, is that different people travel for different reasons. To forget themselves or remember themselves, to better understand the world or to have all logic turned on its head, to discover new terrain, both internally and externally. The outcomes of travel are complicated and often contradictory—especially in a world increasingly filled with refugees, people who travel by necessity rather than choice.

In 2015, the United Nations Refugee Agency released statistics estimating that the number of individuals forcibly displaced worldwide had risen  above 60 million— about as many as the entire population of Italy. What does this mean to those of us who travel for the joy of the experience? As scholar Katrina Powell writes, the act of physically moving from one place to another results in a hybrid identity that incorporates new and old. “Displacement is a jolt to one’s sense of self,” she argues, and this jolt is felt by those experiencing it firsthand and compounded by outsiders accepting or rejecting them. In recreational travel, the travelers maintain some control of the narrative; in forced migration, their narratives are often silenced or diminished.

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Travel is an unusual beast, hard to define and make sense of despite thousands of years of written records on the subject. It is a commodity, a privilege, and a state of mind; a comfort to some and a trial to others; a method of alteration as effective as any chrysalis. Perhaps in 50 years travel will become more popular, and society will become more inquisitive, less insular, more compassionate. Or perhaps, as one Canadian newspaper suggested 50 years ago, we’ll simply be more crowded.

“What will happen by 2000 A.D. is something to think about,” the columnist says. “We will have more of everything, except space. Certainly we will have more free time. What will we do? Where will we go? What will be our pleasures? That is for the future to settle; but in the meantime, it would seem that all of us had better begin to get used to the proximity of other people. Or fly to the moon.”

Thanks for following me on these journeys, reader. I wish you transformative travels, to the moon and beyond.

Correction : An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the quotation from the Aeneid was its last line.

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Why Do People Travel?

I often get asked why I want to leave home and travel. Won’t I miss everyone and everything? Won’t I get lonely? What am I running away from ?

We all have our reasons for traveling: wanderlust, the love of a different culture, a desire to just leave it all behind, the need to forget, or a want to meet new people . Travel becomes a way for people to deal with different situations, experience new things, or help search for a sense of self. At its core, budget travel is a personal development tool . It’s a way for us to grow and learn and connect.

And because budget travel offers so much to so many different people, travel holds an allure for us all. St. Augustine once, “The world is a book, and he who doesn’t travel reads only one page.” I keep that quote, and a famous one by Mark Twain about having no regrets , in my mind constantly.

In the book of the world, all the pages are different. Everything is new, everything is changing. I believe that is why we travel – for the change. Whether you’re going to see a pyramid or experience a new culture, whether you are going to get away or to learn, and whether you go for a month or a year, we all go because we seek change. We seek something different. A change of self, attitude, daily routine, or impressions of another culture, change is the one thing travel brings us.

The constant change creates a chance for us to come to terms with the world around us and find out who we are.

In this modern world of 9-to-5, mortgages, carpools, and bills, our days can get pretty regimented. Under the weight of mindlessly moving from day to day, we often lose track of what’s important to us and what our goals are. We get so caught between commutes and errands or driving the kids to soccer, that we forget how to breathe and smell those roses.

When I was working 9-to-5, I could plan out my days months in advance. It was commute, work, gym, sleep, repeat. Yet on the road, every moment represents a new beginning. No day is the same. You can’t plan out what will happen because nothing is set in stone. No commutes, no errands, no scheduled meetings. Just you and your wits and the open road.

Places, cultures, cities, countries were always changing. No day was (or is) ever like the last. In fact, every day is so different, that I sometimes wonder if I haven’t lived three lifetimes already.

This lifestyle is not for everyone but, for those that go, I notice the subtext of change in the reason for their desire to leave. The new, the exciting, the different, and the adventure – it’s all there when you travel. Your days no longer are dictated by business hours, but by the changing winds of your own heart.

Out in the sea of freedom, with no compass to guide us, with nothing to force our direction, we all sail onward.

We are looking for something new, something unseen. The next page in the world’s book, if only for a little while. That’s what makes budget travel so interesting, intriguing, and inviting to us all. It calls us. It beckons us to come with it to new lands and unfamiliar retreats. It gives us a respite and sanctuary from the chaos and regimented world of 9 to 5.

I am in the driver’s seat on this road and, though it’s mostly unseen, I can read the only signpost on it – “Change Ahead” – and do nothing but smile. As I look around at the other drivers on the road, I see them smiling, too. We all smile together, knowing something new is just up around the bend. A new adventure, a new challenge, a new lover, or a new friend.

We crave the new right around the next bend.

That’s why we travel.

And why we’ll never stop.  

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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Why we travel

I t's 4.15 in the morning and my alarm clock has just stolen away a lovely dream. My eyes are open but my pupils are still closed, so all I see is gauzy darkness. For a brief moment, I manage to convince myself that my wakefulness is a mistake, and that I can safely go back to sleep. But then I roll over and see my zippered suitcase. I let out a sleepy groan: I'm going to the airport.

The taxi is late. There should be an adjective (a synonym of sober, only worse) to describe the state of mind that comes from waiting in the orange glare of a streetlight before drinking a cup of coffee. And then the taxi gets lost. And then I get nervous, because my flight leaves in an hour. And then we're here, and I'm hurtled into the harsh incandescence of Terminal B, running with a suitcase so I can wait in a long security line. My belt buckle sets off the metal detector, my 120ml stick of deodorant is confiscated, and my left sock has a gaping hole.

And then I get to the gate. By now you can probably guess the punchline of this very banal story: my flight has been cancelled. I will be stuck in this terminal for the next 218 minutes, my only consolation a cup of caffeine and a McGriddle sandwich. And then I will miss my connecting flight and wait, in a different city, with the same menu, for another plane. And then, 14 hours later, I'll be there.

Why do we travel? It's not the flying I mind – I will always be awed by the physics that gets a fat metal bird into the upper troposphere. The rest of the journey, however, can feel like a tedious lesson in the ills of modernity, from the pre-dawn X-ray screening to the sad airport malls peddling crappy souvenirs. It's globalisation in a nutshell, and it sucks.

And yet here we are, herded in ever greater numbers on to planes that stay the same size. Sometimes we travel because we have to. Because in this digital age there is still something important about the analogue handshake. Or eating Mum's turkey at Christmas.

But most travel isn't non-negotiable. (In 2008 only 30% of trips over 50 miles were made for business.) Instead we travel because we want to, because the annoyances of the airport are outweighed by the visceral thrill of being someplace new. Because work is stressful and our blood pressure is too high and we need a vacation. Because home is boring. Because the flights were on sale. Because New York is New York.

Travel, in other words, is a basic human desire. We're a migratory species, even if our migrations are powered by jet fuel and Chicken McNuggets. But here's my question: is this collective urge to travel – to put some distance between ourselves and everything we know – still a worthwhile compulsion? Or is it like the taste for saturated fat: one of those instincts we should have left behind in the Pleistocene epoch? Because if travel is just about fun, then I think the new security measures at airports have killed it.

THE GOOD NEWS, at least for those of you reading this while stuck on a tarmac, is that pleasure is not the only consolation of travel. In fact, several new science papers suggest that getting away – and it doesn't even matter where you're going – is an essential habit of effective thinking. It's not about a holiday, or relaxation, or sipping daiquiris on an unspoilt tropical beach: it's about the tedious act itself, putting some miles between home and wherever you happen to spend the night.

Let's begin with the most literal aspect of travel, which is that it's a verb of movement. Thanks to modern engine technology, we can now move through space at an inhuman speed. The average walker moves at 3mph, which is 200 times slower than the cruising speed of a Boeing 737. There's something inherently useful about such speedy movement, which allows us to switch our physical locations with surreal ease. For the first time in human history, we can outrun the sun and segue from one climate to another in a single day.

The reason such travels are mentally useful involves a quirk of cognition, in which problems that feel "close" – and the closeness can be physical, temporal or even emotional – get contemplated in a more concrete manner. As a result, when we think about things that are nearby, our thoughts are constricted, bound by a more limited set of associations. While this habit can be helpful – it allows us to focus on the facts at hand – it also inhibits our imagination. Consider a field of corn. When you're standing in the middle of the field, surrounded by the tall cellulose stalks and fraying husks, the air smelling faintly of fertiliser and popcorn, your mind is automatically drawn to thoughts that revolve around the primary meaning of corn, which is that it's a plant, a cereal, a staple of farming.

But now imagine that same field of corn from a different perspective. Instead of standing on a farm, you're now in the midst of a crowded city street, dense with taxis and pedestrians. (And yet, for some peculiar reason, you're still thinking about corn.) The plant will no longer just be a plant: instead, your vast neural network will pump out all sorts of associations. You'll think about glucose-fructose syrup, obesity and Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food ; ethanol made from corn stalks, popcorn at the cinema and creamy polenta simmering on a wood stove in Emilia Romagna. The noun is now a web of tangents, a loom of remote connections.

What does this have to do with travel? When we escape from the place we spend most of our time, the mind is suddenly made aware of all those errant ideas we'd suppressed. We start thinking about obscure possibilities – corn can fuel cars – that never would have occurred to us if we'd stayed back on the farm. Furthermore, this more relaxed sort of cognition comes with practical advantages, especially when we're trying to solve difficult problems.

Look, for instance, at a recent experiment led by the psychologist Lile Jia at Indiana University. He randomly divided a few dozen undergrads into two groups, both of which were asked to list as many different modes of transportation as possible. (This is known as a creative generation task.) One group of students was told that the task was developed by Indiana University students studying abroad in Greece (the distant condition), while the other group was told that the task was developed by Indiana students studying in Indiana (the near condition). At first glance, it's hard to believe that such a slight and seemingly irrelevant difference would alter the performance of the subjects. Why would it matter where the task was conceived?

Nevertheless, Jia found a striking difference between the two groups: when students were told that the task was imported from Greece, they came up with significantly more transportation possibilities. They didn't just list buses, trains and planes; they cited horses, triremes, spaceships, bicycles and even Segway scooters. Because the source of the problem was far away, the subjects felt less constrained by their local transport options; they didn't just think about getting around in Indiana – they thought about getting around all over the world and even in deep space.

In a second study, Jia found that people were much better at solving a series of insight puzzles when told that the puzzles came all the way from California and not from down the hall. These subjects considered a far wider range of alternatives, which made them more likely to solve the challenging brain teasers. There is something intellectually liberating about distance.

The problem is that most of our problems are local – people in Indiana are worried about Indiana, not the eastern Mediterranean or California. This leaves two options: 1) find a clever way to trick ourselves into believing that our nearby dilemma is actually distant, or 2) go someplace far away and then think about our troubles back home. Given the limits of self-deception – we can't even tickle ourselves properly – travel seems like the more practical possibility.

Of course it's not enough simply to get on a plane: if we want to experience the creative benefits of travel, then we have to rethink its raison d'être. Most people escape to Paris so they don't have to think about those troubles they left behind. But here's the ironic twist: our mind is most likely to solve our stubbornest problems while we are sitting in a swank Left Bank cafe. So instead of contemplating that buttery croissant, we should be mulling over those domestic riddles we just can't solve.

The larger lesson is that our thoughts are shackled by the familiar. The brain is a neural tangle of near-infinite possibility, which means that it spends a lot of time and energy choosing what not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded away for efficiency; we think in literal prose, not symbolist poetry. A bit of distance, however, helps loosen the chains of cognition, making it easier to see something new in the old; the mundane is grasped from a slightly more abstract perspective. As TS Eliot wrote in the Four Quartets : "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

But distance isn't the only psychological perk of travel. Earlier this year researchers at Insead, a business school in France, and at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago reported that students who had lived abroad were 20% more likely to solve a computer simulation of a classic psychological task known as the Duncker candle problem than students who had never lived outside their birth country.

The Duncker problem has a simple premise: a subject is given a cardboard box containing a few drawing pins, a book of matches and a waxy candle. They are told to determine how to attach the candle to a piece of corkboard on a wall so that it can burn properly and no wax drips on to the floor. Nearly 90% of people pursue the same two strategies, even though neither strategy can succeed. They elect to pin the candle directly to the board, which would cause the candle wax to shatter. Or they say they'd melt the candle with the matches so that it sticks to the board. But the wax wouldn't hold; the candle would fall to the floor. At this point most people surrender. They assume that the puzzle is impossible, that it's a stupid experiment and a waste of time. Only a slim minority of subjects – often fewer than 25% – come up with the solution, which involves attaching the candle to the cardboard box with wax and then pinning the cardboard box to the corkboard. Unless people have an insight about the box – that it can do more than hold drawing pins – they'll waste candle after candle. They'll repeat their failures while they're waiting for a breakthrough. This is known as the bias of "functional fixedness", since we're typically terrible at coming up with new functions for old things. That's why we're so surprised to learn that an oven can be turned into a small closet or that an apple can be used as a bong.

What does this have to do with living abroad? According to the researchers, the experience of another culture endows us with a valuable open-mindedness, making it easier to realise that a single thing can have multiple meanings. Consider the act of leaving food on the plate: in China this is often seen as a compliment, a signal that the host has provided enough to eat. But in America the same act is a subtle insult, an indication that the food wasn't good enough to finish.

Such cultural contrasts mean that seasoned travellers are alive to ambiguity, more willing to realise that there are different (and equally valid) ways of interpreting the world. This in turn allows them to expand the circumference of their "cognitive inputs", as they refuse to settle for their first answers and initial guesses. After all, maybe they carry candles in drawing-pin boxes in China. Maybe there's a better way to attach a candle to a wall.

OF COURSE THIS mental flexibility doesn't come from mere distance. It's not enough to just change time zones or to schlep across the world only to eat Le Big Mac instead of a quarter pounder with cheese. Instead this increased creativity appears to be a side-effect of difference: we need to change cultures, to experience the disorienting diversity of human traditions. The same details that make foreign travel so confusing – Do I tip the waiter? Where is this train taking me? – turn out to have a lasting impact, making us more creative because we're less insular. We're reminded of all that we don't know, which is nearly everything; we're surprised by the constant stream of surprises. Even in this globalised age, slouching toward similarity, we can still marvel at all the earthly things that weren't included in the Lonely Planet guidebook and that certainly don't exist back home.

So let's not pretend that travel is always fun. We don't spend 10 hours lost in the Louvre because we like it, and the view from the top of Machu Picchu probably doesn't make up for the hassle of lost luggage. (More often than not, I need a holiday after my holiday.) We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.

• The Observer

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Sep 6, 2019 • 5 min read

Holidaying is very different to ‘travelling’. The aim of a holiday is probably to reconnect with friends and loved ones, have some fun and return home fully refreshed and ready to face the daily grind again. Holidays might place in villas and resorts, and we often return to our favourite holiday destinations time and again. We all need a holiday sometimes!

Travel on the other hand, is about taking yourself away from what you know and the spaces you feel safe in, and throwing yourself, sometimes gently, into a whole new place. Travelling isn’t necessarily where you go, it’s more about how you go, and the experiences you gain along the way. Find out why travel could change you, and how to make the most of your experiences.

What is a 'traveller'?

The idea of a 'traveller' is no longer confined to stereotypes of young hippies with flowing hair, or middle-aged single men with backpacks and hiking boots. To travel today, you don’t need to embark on an overland journey across half the world, as Lonely Planet’s founders once admirably did. You don’t even need to leave your own country to discover how much there is to gain from travel.

In a recent survey of over 7500 Lonely Planet fans, 92% said that they see travel as an opportunity for positive change. Whether that’s change within yourself, or change you can help influence, there’s no denying that travel and the experiences it delivers can change you forever. 

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Why should we travel?

In a world that sometimes feels divided and divisive, travel can remind us that we’re all living on the same planet, albeit in many different ways. In the words of our readers, 'Travelling is an opportunity to shift your perspectives and learn from other cultures.' It 'connects us with different cultures and exposes us to international concerns and issues', and it allows us 'to let go of generalisations and stereotypes put forth by media and experience first-hand a new culture and experience'.

60% of the survey participants across all age groups said they view travel as an opportunity for personal growth more than they used to – which suggests people nowadays care more than they used to about self-improvement through travel. One of the main ways our readers saw self-improvement from their travel experiences was in their confidence. Every time you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, even just a little, you’re increasing your self-reliance. As one reader said, 'I have grown as a person simply by learning to deal with uncomfortable situations.' Being lost in Peru  and your only bank card having been sucked into the ATM seems horrendous at the time, but how you fix the situation and the confidence you gain from this will last you a lifetime.

How to make the most of your travels

Whatever your budget, destination or aspiration, there are hundreds of ways to have a transformative experience while travelling.

1. Travel in your own country

66% of the Lonely Planet fans we surveyed feel that the experience is more important than the destination. You don’t need to travel far to expand your horizons, and as 68% of respondents said they care more about sustainable travel than they used to, taking fewer flights is important where possible. Domestic travel means viewing where you live with fresh eyes, and realising that, even in your own country, people often live differently to you. Are you a city dweller? Get yourself to the countryside for some fresh air and peace. Do you tend to shy away from urban spaces? Throw yourself into the culture and noise of a city.

2. Learn about the darker side of history

Often, there is a more sinister past associated with the places we visit, and while travelling is also about moments of joy, visiting sites that have witnessed atrocities shouldn’t be avoided. As one reader said, 'Seeing the concentration camps in Poland and Germany gave me a better understanding of anti-Semitism.' It is a strange kind of ‘tourism’, but when done with respect (no Chernobyl selfies please) it forces us to face up to facts – lest we forget. Ensure you visit sites that are there to educate and memorialise, and where victims of the incidents will benefit from your visit, rather than sites of voyeurism. Some important sites include Choeung Ek Killing Field , outside of Phnom Penh in Cambodia, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, USA, and the Ninth Fort near Kaunas, Lithuania.

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3. Meet new people

Whether you’re travelling solo, as a couple, or in a group, you’re bound to meet people on the road. Getting to know new people, whether locals or other travellers, is one of the best ways to remember we’re all in this together, and keeping in touch with them once you’re home means you have a connection to that place forever (not to mention another source of photos). For anyone with an ounce of shyness or social anxiety, talking to new people sounds pretty terrifying, let alone joining them on the next leg of their trip. Luckily, there’s plenty of non-awkward ways to meet people on the road , and you’ll soon realise that whether you meet in a bar after a few too many beers, or at the free library in your hostel, connecting with people about the experiences you’ve had is the best way to commemorate them.

4. Experience culture shock

Get properly lost in the heat, scents and noise of Marrakesh’s souqs . Barter in sign language on the dusty streets of Madagascar’s capital Antanarivo . Stay in a Gur Buudal (homestay) with a local Mongolian family in Khövsgöl Nuur National Park . Experience the otherworldliness of real culture shock. Perhaps you’ll learn that 'we have far more in common with each other than things that divide us'. Perhaps you’ll decide how lucky you are, and gain appreciation of the things you have back home. Maybe, you’ll simply wonder at this amazing planet we live on, and take this feeling of awe with you into the rest of your life.

Published alongside the survey findings in this article is a new title called Travel Goals , which is packed full of ideas to inspire responsible, healthy, transformative travel experiences. From sleeping under the stars and witnessing natural phenomena to more ambitious challenges, such as helping communities and safeguarding the environment, Travel Goals is the essential companion to a life well-travelled and well-lived.

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The World’s Most Traveled People on Why Travel Is More Important Than Ever

By CNT Editors

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

To celebrate Condé Nast Traveler 's 30th anniversary this month, we spoke with some of the most well-traveled people we know: airline founders and CEOs like Richard Branson , cruise CEOs, hoteliers, restaurateurs like Danny Meyer , and world-renowned writers like Paul Theroux . We wanted to know how their travel lives and industries have changed since our magazine hit newsstands in September 1987. And boy, have they changed. So before you go complaining about today's state of travel , take a deep breath and remember that 31 years ago, rolling luggage didn't even exist. Here, reasons why travel is more life-changing than ever before.

Travel is easier than ever.

"When we were starting out in 1985, it was implausible to think that one day I’d be able to shower at 30,000 feet, enjoy a drink in an onboard lounge, watch thousands of movies and shows on in-flight entertainment system, and enjoy five-star meals with one of the world’s best wine selections, but today Emirates has made that a reality." –Sir Tim Clark, Emirates, President

"The fact that I can fly half-way around the world and be back in just over a day is a testament to how much air travel has truly evolved. That kind of turnaround would not have been possible 30 years ago—not without one or two connecting flights or stops to refuel. Today, I can sleep in a fully-flat bed, freshen up with a shower , review those last-minute presentations, and head straight from the plane to the boardroom, relaxed and ready to go." –Martin Drew, Etihad Airways, Senior Vice President of the Americas

"I now travel to wait. My carry on has lots of amusements— books , magazines, letters to write by hand and on email, knitting, movies. The run to a flight 15 minutes before takeoff is only in old movies." –Sheila Donnelly, Sheila Donnelly & Associates, Founder and President

" Luggage with four wheels . It sounds like a nothing thing but it’s actually changed how we travel." –Geoffrey Weill, Weill PR, President

Etihad now offers "The Residence," a completely private three-room suite with a closed-off bedroom, living room, and private bathroom.

The destinations have changed.

"The greatest trip I think I've ever had, about four or five years ago, was to Syria. The country was beautiful, the food was spectacular, the people warm and welcoming. I visited Damascus, Palmyra, and Aleppo. Aleppo was a big vital city made up of all faiths: Christians who had lived there for centuries, friendly and kind Muslims, Jews, Kurds, Druze, Alawites—all of them seemingly happy and comfortable with each other. Palmyra was the most extraordinary ancient city I had ever seen, beyond Pompeii and Ephesus. I will always think of Syria as the high point visit of my life. I remain heartbroken by what has been done to this ancient and fabulous nation." – Francis Ford Coppola, Film Director

"Awhile back, I had the opportunity to go to Kabul. I said 'I’ll get to it one day.' Well, that opportunity’s passed.  I learned if you want to go somewhere, go now . The world changes and one must seize the opportunity as it’s presented." – Sheila Donnelly, Sheila Donnelly & Associates, Founder and President

Nothing brings us closer together than interacting with and getting to know people from different walks of life, different faiths, and different nationalities. –Frank Del Rio

"One of my favorite recent safaris was a two and a half week trip traversing from Laikipia and Northern Kenya, down into Tanzania covering Arusha, our private reserve in the Serengeti, mobile camping in the Serengeti itself, then using helicopters we moved on to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge . From there, we swiftly made our way by private jet to Zanzibar and on to our private island . And if that was not enough, we then island hopped down into Mozambique by private charter, ending on our second private island in the region (how spoilt are we), AndBeyond Vamizi Island . All of this in 2.5 weeks! All of the above would have been impossible 30 years ago as transportation infrastructure would not have existed, helicopter and private plane access limited, Mozambique was in the midst of a raging civil war, and the engaged focus on sustainability, conservation, and community development was just not there." – Joss Kent, AndBeyond, CEO

"Last year, I returned to Havana, Cuba for the first time since my family left on August 22, 1961. It was a profound experience, seeing the beach club my family used to belong to, the first school I attended, and the house I spent my first childhood years living in. ...Currently, though we can’t cruise everywhere that we would want to because of geo-political strife. Turkey is off limits, as is the Black Sea area and Egypt. Syria, Tunisia, and Libya have fantastic Roman and pre-Roman sites that our guests would love to experience—some of the best in the world. I’m hoping that someday soon, we’ll all learn to get along with each other. Hasn’t history proven that war is not the answer to resolution between peoples? …Nothing brings us closer together than interacting with and getting to know people from different walks of life, different faiths, and different nationalities. Travel lets us learn how similar, rather than how different, we all really are." – Frank Del Rio, Nowegian Cruise Line Holdings, CEO

"Last year I had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East and overnight in the middle of a Bedouin desert. While it would have been available 30 years ago, the rough luxury wouldn’t have been the same. The whole experience was one-of-a-kind: going into a Bedouin home and living as locals live, seeing three- and four-year-old children with their camels, tasting the local food, hearing the local music, and even wearing the local attire." – Larry Pimentel, Azamara Club Cruises, President and CEO

"I flew to Tokyo for 24 hours for a meeting recently. I got to sleep in a little pod in both directions, and I didn’t even really have jet lag afterwards. ...We’ve grown beyond the need for consistency and now want something different, something more real, something with a narrative and a face, with a bit of wabi-sabi and some soul." – Liz Lambert, Bunkhouse, Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Caitlin Morton

Stacey Lastoe

Meaghan Kenny

"Several years ago, I took a cruise to Antarctica on one of our Seabourn ships and it was a life-changing trip that I’ll never forget. We immersed ourselves in this rugged, unforgiving, and remote corner of the earth, and we were able to see up close the magic and beauty of such a unique environment. …To me, it renewed the human spirit and it was the trip of a lifetime. It seems like that type of experience would have been much harder to come by several decades ago." – Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation, President and CEO

"We launched Belmond Orcaella in 2013 when the Chindwin River opened up for tourism. Traveling along the Chindwin River is like traveling through a land untouched by the modern world and where time stands still. It’s an exceptional experience to travel through such undiscovered lands and receive such a warm welcome from the rural communities who are excited to welcome tourism." – Roeland Vos, Belmond, President and CEO

AndBeyond's five-bedroom Vamizi Suluwilo villa, on its private Mozambican island.

More people have access to more travel—and it does a lot more than just open your eyes.

"Travel is perspective. You never understand who you are and where you come from with greater clarity than when you look on either from afar." – Guy Trebay, Writer

"While learning about the world and its cultures and history is imperative, actually seeing and experiencing them are the key to understanding others. We’re more connected technologically than ever, but in some ways also more divided as a global culture than ever, too. Travel can help bridge this gap." – Edie Rodriguez, Crystal Cruises, President and CEO

"When people visit [our] properties, the pristine landscapes and incredible wildlife leave them in awe. I think knowing that both a lot of care and effort goes into conserving and restoring these natural lands gives our guests a real sense of pride. They’re having a great and unique experience, while also helping to do good. I think that’s becoming more of a focus for travelers because ultimately, most of us really want to make this world a better place." – Ted Turner, Ted Turner Expeditions and Turner Ranches, CEO and Founder

"If every person on this planet, all seven billion of us, had the privilege and opportunity to travel… there would be no wars, we would understand our impact on the worlds resources, we would honor and protect the beautiful cities, ecosystems, biospheres, flora, fauna, wildlife, customs and communities we saw,  we would raise our children better with more natural tolerance and understanding of the world around us and our impact on it. We would have a better, more peaceful, and more sustainable world in my opinion. And what better outcome could one ask for than that from a human activity that in and of itself is such fun!" – Joss Kent, AndBeyond, CEO

"I was already 25 years old the first time I stepped on an airplane, and that’s because air travel used to be a luxury that only the wealthy—or those flying on company expense accounts—could afford. Today it has become an affordable, important part of nearly everyone’s lives, and it’s easy to forget that wasn’t always the case." – Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines, CEO

"Back in the day, we served rich clients who defined luxury through materialistic things rather than experiences. We had the fine china, the finest silverware and linens; everything was brand name, and exquisite. The cuisine was all about European and French standards, and the products were provided to those with old-world money. Today, the client looks at authentic local experiences as a cornerstone of luxury enhancement." – Larry Pimentel, Azamara Club Cruises, President and CEO

"The term ‘luxury’ has visibly mellowed over the last 30 years. The '80s was a decade known for ostentatious decadence and luxury hotels were keen to please. These days, our guests find luxury in less insular and more culture-rich experiences. Of course, we do have hotels that offer butler service and helicopter transfers, but the key is to getting the balance between highly personalized service and localized experience just right." – Filip Boyen, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, CEO

The view from Richard Branson's Necker Island.

Even space isn't out of reach.

“Travel has always played a huge role in my life. I have my mum to thank for my adventurous streak; she’d push me out of the car and tell me to find my own way to my grandmother’s house! Virgin Atlantic came about when I got stuck in Puerto Rico trying to get to the British Virgin Islands after my flight was canceled. I had a beautiful lady waiting for me in BVI, so I hired a plane and borrowed a blackboard and as a joke wrote Virgin Airlines, $39 one way to BVI on it. Finding the Virgin Limited Edition properties has also been fun; it was my mum who first spotted the divine fortress Kasbah Tamadot from the road while I was attempting a world record in a hot-air balloon. Necker Island… well, that was a ploy to win over Joan, my wife. From my travels I’ve been inspired to set up not-for-profits to tackle issues such as conflict and global warming. My ultimate dream is to open up space to all.” – Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic, CEO and Founder

But that doesn't mean everything's coming up roses.

"The greatest change in travel is in communication. When I took The Great Railway Bazaar trip in 1973–74, for four and a half months, London to Japan, via India, Japan to London via Siberia, I attempted two phone calls, only one of them successful. Much later, in 1990, I crisscrossed the Pacific, island hopping in a kayak, made more phone calls, attempted some faxes, but never encountered the Internet. I used a cell phone in 2001 in Africa for Dark Star Safari but could have done without it. Connection has made travel much safer, simpler, but the old sense of being out of touch is gone, and I often regret that. Also, it is rare to get to a place, anywhere, and not find other travelers. Once it was possible to find solitude, or to make a solitary discovery in travel—no longer. My little glimpse of Alaska makes me think it is the last unspoiled place on earth, and if I were an Alaskan I would build a fence around it, and vigorously interrogate anyone who wanted to visit.  One of the most obvious effects of travel is the destruction of fragile environments and ecosystems. Although it is a paradox it might be helpful for travelers to see these effects ." – Paul Theroux, Writer

The ability to discover is why I love travel so much. Why I've always loved it. To discover how people live, what it smells like, feels like, tastes like. –Danny Meyer

"The main challenge we need to prioritize is the development and implementation of more sustainable fuels for aviation, otherwise the burden placed on the environment could become too big." – Pekka Vauramo, Finnair, President and CEO

"My first restaurant, Union Square Cafe , opened almost 32 years ago this October. If I were going to discover a new wine that was not on someone’s list already, or discover a new dish or pasta shape or ingredient that wasn’t on someone else’s menu, what it meant was that I had to summon some skills: How to plan a trip. How to read a Michelin map. How to speak French, how to speak Italian, how to have the kind of relationship with a wine maker so that I could learn about an off-the-beaten track trattoria or bistro that some magazine had not already written about. When I succeeded in doing all those things, nobody knew where we had gotten the idea. And nobody touched it for many years because there wasn’t Twitter and Instagram and Foursquare and OpenTable. Getting the word out was a slow drip of guests just loving it. Today, I don’t even have to travel to that place if I don’t want to—I can go on Instagram and see a picture of it, or go on the website of a place, go their Facebook page, I don’t have to read a map, because I have GPS, even if I go there I don’t have to speak the language, I don’t have to build relationships to find an off-the-beaten path place because there’s no such thing anymore as an undiscovered place. The ability to discover is why I love travel so much. Why I've always loved it. To discover how people live, what it smells like, feels like, tastes like. Part of the excitement of discovery is spoiled because it’s like reading a review of a movie before you see it." – Danny Meyer, Restaurateur

These days, it's hard to see Angkor Wat and its neighboring temples without hordes of tourists.

"I have had the luck to visit destinations before the tourists arrived. I refer to these as 'pre-tourism' destinations. Bali was such a different place in the early 80's. A lot of the island did not have roads. Foreign tourists were rare, so the locals would welcome you. [My wife and Soneva creative director] Eva and I remember visiting Ladakh, India in 1986. The capital Leh had only 40 hotel rooms. The air access was only in the summer as it was considered too treacherous to fly in in the winter. There was one flight every 2-3 days by Indian Airlines from Delhi. Siem Reap in 1992 was similar. The only hotel one could stay at was the Grand Hotel D'Angkor , and this was before Raffles acquired it and refurbished it. Luang Prabang in Laos, and Nha Trang and Hoi An in Vietnam were small towns with, at best, one flight a day. These places had a certain energy then where the people were genuine and there was little development. When we first arrived in the Maldives , there were only 100,000 tourists. Today, there are 1.2 million.

We must consider the ever growing middle class and upper middle class and super rich. By 2020, a billion people are expected to be added to this category, and by 2030, a further billion, with another billion by 2050. This is a considerable number of extra people traveling. There will be prime tourist destinations around the world that will run out of space and the capacity to cope with tourists. There are two possible scenarios as to what might happen with some of these destinations. One, governments will allow more and more tourists to cram into these destinations thus rendering them unattractive. These destinations will eventually become ghost towns as the tourists disappear and go to other destinations. I think about those empty building blocks in the Costa Brava that were once full of tourists. Or two, in certain prime locations, it will not be possible to allow more tourists to arrive. So, there will either be waiting lists, or rates will be very high.

I believe that the Maldives will run out of islands well before it runs out of tourists." – Sonu Shivdasani, Soneva, Founder and CEO