Why do we travel?
According to Statista, Germans took around 2024 million vacation trips in 170. Almost 70 percent of the population traveled for at least five days. This is astonishing considering that tourism as we know it today only became established in the 20th century.
A brief history of travel
In the Middle Ages, pilgrims traveled to do penance, give thanks, or fulfill a vow. Merchants traveled to trade, soldiers went to war. Vacation mood? Not really. In the 18th century, educational tours became fashionable – especially among the British nobility. Aspiring lords, earls, dukes, and the like were sent on grand tours through Europe to gather new impressions, learn about foreign customs, languages, and cultures, and establish connections. The goal: greater cosmopolitanism, prestige, and status. In the 19th century, the first luxury tours by ship and train were organized for the privileged upper classes. This was considerably more comfortable and safer than individual educational tours. However, the participants were more like onlookers in front of a foreign backdrop than in the thick of the action. In the second half of the 20th century, with the economic miracle, travel became affordable for ordinary citizens. Low-cost airlines and the internet in the 90s paved the way for a tourism that seems to know no borders. But back to the original question: what is all this for?
Traveling is part of our lifestyle
As a child, I never asked myself why we went on vacation as a family. When the days got hotter, report cards were handed out, and school closed its doors for the summer holidays, it was clear: within the next six weeks, we would pack up the car and drive either north to the sea or south to the mountains. And do things there that we don't do at home. Later, I spent my holidays on a horse farm or with youth groups in Holland and Denmark. All these trips were wonderful; they broadened my horizons, strengthened my social skills, and awakened my curiosity about foreign countries. But they mainly happened because that's what you do on vacation. That's what vacation days are for, after all. Just like vacation days are for in adult life. So do we travel out of habit? Anyone who can't present a well-thought-out travel plan before embarking on their well-earned vacation is often met with pitying looks. Is someone having financial worries? Or perhaps someone needing care at home?
The main thing is to get away or travel as a reward
The more strenuous our daily lives and the more stressful our jobs, the more we strive to leave it all behind us, at least temporarily. The life we lead pink = pushes us away into the distance, to where everything is different. Where the sea sparkles and the sun shines. Where we can feel ourselves again—or what's left of us when the hamster wheel stops.
For many, a trip is also a reward for the stresses of everyday life. We finally treat ourselves because we damn well deserve it. Just like that new dress and the matching handbag. However, those who use travel primarily as a reward risk falling into the same consumer trap as shopping. The harder we work, the more exotic the destination and the more frequent the short trips. However, the happiness effect usually dissipates quickly.
The main thing is to go: Pull motives for a trip
If our curiosity about other countries, landscapes, cities and cultures takes us to distant pulls, These are also referred to as pull motives. We seek new impressions and experiences, want to broaden our horizons, see the world with different eyes. Taste, sense, see, feel, and smell new things. It's an opportunity to look at our own life, our own circumstances, privileges, and values from a different perspective. Then a trip can still have an impact afterward, namely when we learn to appreciate our home more.
Traveling for me or for my ego?
We live in the age of social media, where many people feel the need to document their travels extensively with photos and videos and share them with the rest of the world. I am no exception. From my parents' first trips together, however, there are only a few dusty slides that only the closest family circle ever saw - back when the slide projector still worked. Did these trips fulfill my parents less because of this? Certainly not. But today, travel and social recognition are closely linked. But the idea is just too tempting: we experience something amazing in a faraway place and also get clicks, likes and hearts in return. But be careful: in the excitement, it is sometimes difficult to even recognize the actual, deep-seated, personal reason for a trip.
Start looking for your travel motives
The reasons for most trips are certainly a mixture of habit, escape, boredom, and the pursuit of social recognition. In any case, it's worth taking a closer look at this variety of reasons for travel – also for the time before or after your next vacation. Am I only traveling because I want to finally get away from my everyday life or reward myself for special efforts? Then maybe it's high time to change something in my everyday life. Am I traveling because I long for more variety and something new? Then maybe there's room in my everyday life for a new hobby. Am I only traveling to gain recognition? Then a social media fast could help – and the following thought experiment: Imagine you are traveling secretly, without anyone being allowed to find out. What do you want to experience and where do you want to go if you aren't allowed to tell anyone about it? What if the trip is a gift only to yourself?
I'm convinced that if we explore our travel motives, it's easier for us to choose places and activities that truly meet our travel needs. And if we're not looking to impress anyone but ourselves, these destinations often don't even have to be in the middle of nowhere. This not only saves our nerves and our travel budget, but also the climate.
Why do you travel? Which trips have stood out in your memory and for what reasons? Which ones would you perhaps have been better off without? I'm always happy to receive feedback, suggestions, or questions – feel free to leave them in the comments or email them directly to [email protected].
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© Photos: Pexels / Andrew, Nurseryart, Gabriela Palai
Ina Hiester
Ina is a digital nomad and travels through Europe by land and sea. The journalist is always on the lookout for special places for Good Travel, philosophizes about travel in her column, takes photographs, makes music and writes articles on all kinds of environmental and sustainability topics.
Elke Zapf
Thanks for the great post! We're offering a seminar on the same topic at Fürsteneck Castle. Registration is still open.