Does Travel Really Matter Anyway?

With Sarah Palin's alleged lack of knowledge about whether Africa is a continent or country, some accuse the news outlets of nitpicking. You know, because it wouldn't really matter if a world leader didn't know what the world actually looked like.

Yet for me, what's just as troubling is the Palin-type philosophy on travel that says it's somehow pretentious to leave one's corner of the world -- and elitist to think there may be something out there beyond our own 'greatness.' This is an ironic sentiment at best.

In fact, I travel because it makes me to accept there are things out there I don't know. Travel activates parts of ourselves that might otherwise remain dormant; it also relieves fears, and promotes understanding.

Thankfully, the election of Barack Obama has been met with a warm reception globally and there is a light at the end of the tunnel of our diminished reputation around the world.

But we can't put all the responsibility on our leaders -- we also individually have the opportunity to help shape what those abroad think of Americans. One of my favorite quotes has been "The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land" (G. K. Chesterton).

Yet, I wondered what some of my contemporaries would say about the importance of getting out to see the world. And by that I mean, ahem, the real world -- not all-inclusive resorts and kitschy tourist traps. (Besides, not many can afford those right now, anyway.)

So I rounded up some of the best travel bloggers and online travel publishers around the world and asked them why they think travel, in fact, matters. Here's what they had to say:

"Citizen diplomacy is the way to world peace."
- Pam Mandel from Nerd's Eye View

"Travel is the best education. Nothing opens our eyes more. How can we be global citizens without traveling?"
- Wendy Perrin from Conde Nast Traveler's Perrin Post

"Life is an adventure! Travel enriches, expands, touches, educates, delights, and connects like nothing else. To know the earth, its people and beauty, one must go."
- Jeanne Dee from Soultravelers3

"Travel is learning, and learning is a worthwhile use of time. We all have a finite number of days, months, and years left on earth. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking there's no rush, but actually there is. I urge people not to wait to travel. Go now."
- Jamie Pearson from Travel Savvy Mom

"For children travel matters because it is a part of their education. They need to learn about different cultures and new languages."
- Darren Cronian from Travel Rants

"Traveling allows you to press the 'pause' button on your own life and go experience someone else's for a while. Everyone needs a dose of humility, and nothing makes you more humble than seeing just how big the world really is. And because after so long, telling someone in a foreign country you're American [now] makes them smile again."
- Christine Cantera from Miss Expatria

"It expands our horizons and increases our understanding of both the world and ourselves. Develops inner confidence in oneself."
- Alex Berger from Virtual Wayfarer

"Travel opens your eyes, your mind and your heart to the people and places which fill this world."
- Michelle Duffy from WanderMom

"I travel because in this modern globalized world, one can't understand it without experiencing new cultures and new places. If we are to move past the divisions of history and get along, we have to have cultural understanding. We can't put walls up. Traveling helps tear down the walls that lead to misunderstanding and conflict."
- Matt Kepnes from Nomadic Matt

"Traveling to unfamiliar places makes me see that there is a lot of beauty in the world -- landscape, people, art and culture. Taking care of it becomes important."
- Kimberly Kradel from Artist at Large

"When I travel I never feel like I need more of anything, except for travel itself. It is the triumph of experience over stuff. Best of all it has the same affect on my children, who are clamoring for another trip to Paris for Christmas."
- Mara Gorman from Mother of all Trip

"Memories of the spontaneous transcendent events that happen during a cross-cultural experience remain vivid for all the years of one's lifetime."
- David Chamberlain of Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel

"Imagine taking a break from your road trip through Jordan. You pull off in a small town, distinguished only by a bright blue Mosque set against a backdrop of sand-colored homes and desert. You pull some pistachios out of your trunk and set off in search of a cold drink. At the small family owned shop, barely open during the heat of the day, you're greeted... not with suspicion, but with joy. The owners refuse your money (you leave a small gift in return) and you are invited to meet the whole family and share your stories over a warm meal. Could you write off all Arabs as angry, intolerant, American haters after that? I'd guess not."
- Debbie Dubrow from Delicious Baby

These folks are clearly passionate about what they do.

With the state of the economy, travelers are looking for a way to get the most for their money and find the best deals. The agility and speed of information coming out of travel bloggers and online publications provide a wealth of not only destination information, but ways to save a buck and experience local culture.

So, where will you go on your next trip?

Kim Mance is editor-in-chief of Galavanting, an online women's travel magazine.

Comments

[DereksDontRun]

The people who found (and still find) Sarah Palin appealing most likely cannot afford to travel. To be honest I cannot afford to travel either. I agree that a world leader should travel much more than Palin has. I thought a college road trip to Mexico and her so called trip to Canada (please, you have to go through Canada to get to Alaska from the lower 48 unless you fly every single time) a pretty thin resume. That said I am not sure how many working class Americans have had the opportunity to travel abroad even though many of them would very much like to do so. Pointing out this rather large hole in Sarah Palin's resume likely will not resonate with the majority of working Americans as they themselves don't understand what she is missing out on, and may also appear to be one more elitist slap in the face. A slap in the face of the saviour in lipstick, I might add, to some of them.

[bennybeaver]

I travel a lot, we do not do the tourism thing. We rent a car and travel countries just wandering around to see were we end up. Sometimes there where days that we did not hear English spoken.
But we mangeged to communicate it was great fun. We did not find that there was an anti American feelling, with the exception of one French couple we encountered in Venice
I agree if you travel this way it will change your perspective on life in general

[RumiSouth]

While I agree with your thesis, there is an important distinction between 'travel' and 'tourism.' Too many Americans abroad are the latter -- yes, the stereotype is based on an unfortunate reality. Not enough Americans go abroad without cultural filters on their eyes.

[KarenGeorgetown]

The most powerful, life-altering memory I have of spending my junior year in Mexico as an anthropology student did not involve a particular course or a particular mentor or an exotic encounter with a native. I had those extraordinary experiences as well, but this memory is much more banal. My friends and I had a favorite Chinese restaurant in Mexico City. We had to order in Spanish and the Chinese waiters responded in Spanish with Chinese accents. NOTHING in my experience then or since illustrates that the world is a much bigger place, and wonderful place, than the fine place in which I grew up. People live and prosper elsewhere. I thought everybody everywhere focused only upon America¦. until that restaurant. It may be a silly memory but it shifted everything for me. A student is not likely to have this moment growing up in and never leaving Wasilla, huh?

[kemstone]

Thank you. That was refreshment for the soul. I've just begun a career teaching English overseas. I'm in Germany now and I plan on going to Japan next and then wherever the wind takes me. Obama's victory was such a relief. For the next few years at least, I can feel proud instead of ashamed.

[Libbydoe]

My 19 month old granddaughter has traveled more than Palin. She has been to three continents and is in the process of learning two languages.

[ping aye]

Celebrating Obama's victory, a young woman in India told a TV reporter that it was a joy and relief that America now has a President who thinks more like the rest of the world. Her comment is true but a sad commentary that, due to Bush, we have come to expect so little of the American Presidency. Just to have someone in the White House who is attuned to the rest of the world is now seen as a luxury.

[Beka13]

Um when My 13 year old daughter has more international Frequent Flying miles then someone who wants to be the leader of the world's super power...is Pathetic.

[DMGMD]

Ha ha! I was thinking the same thing about my 11 year old son!

[spudzy]

Couldn't agree more strongly, and not just for Americans, but for everyone on earth. How can we possibly relate to the rest of the world when we know nothing about it! Time spent in another country, another culture, should be mandatory for every young person in the world.

[TCJakobsen]

Another great quote on travel from the Danish author whose stories have traveled the world, as did he himself.

"To move, to breath, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote: To travel is to live." - H. C. Andersen

[Tanker10a]

It does not matter where you go as long as you go somewhere. Because, it gives an opportunity to understand how the other half of YOUR world lives. It enhances your psyche in enabling one to accept people for the way they are and more importantly it helps one to understand one's country. Being a naturalized citizen and having served in the military as a flight crew member in the US Air Force, one cannot imagine the kind of perspective this offers. It never ceased to amaze me hearing americans shouting at these election rallies shouting "this is the greatest country in the world" and yet some of them have never set foot on an airplane much less they have not even visited more than two states in the United States. I have served in Desert Storm-Desert Shield. If you can only imagine how many people who have approached me for wanting to know quietly where Baghdad and Kuwait are located?
I have seen a photo book featuring President-Elect Obama visiting foreign countries with Senator Dick Luger... Yet, here are a bunch of americans who was willing to elect a Vice-Presidential candidate who had just been issued a US passport. Not to mention the fact that she cannot even differentiate a country from a continent, or knowing how many countries make up NAFTA.
Yes! To answer the question: Does travel really matter? The answer is absolutely! Because, it makes us better and more acceptable AMERICANS.

[capitalismisntamoral]

I haven't had the means to travel internationally lately, but I have been taking my
own walking tours of NYC. You can sample a wide variety of authentic
ethnic foods.

Even traveling within the USofA is better than staying in your little spot.

I found door-to-door canvassing in PA was a sort of travel experience. I went to
towns and neighborhoods I would never have otherwise. Of course I met lots
of fellow NYers also traveling out of state to volunteer.

I'll never understand the people I meet who say "you're from New York City? I
could never go there." I try to encourage them, but .... ?

[recless]

Ahhhh... travel. Join the Navy, see the world. Six years, saw the North Atlantic sea for almost all of it. And Norfolk, NJ. Now there's a lovely town. Not. Have traveled to six countries since then. While I agree with the author that understanding is needed of other peoples, and travel is a good way to achieve it, please don't make the assumption that everyone LIKES to travel. Truthfully, I'd rather put a 9mm through my skull than travel to Ireland, but that is where the better half wants to go... so I go. Some may like to travel, but for some people travel SUCKS!

[RaderBarbarian]

Your comment begs the question, "WHY does travel suck for you?" I wonder if you have delved deeply into discovering the answer to that question. My assumption is that you have not - that you fear to "go there"; otherwise, you would have told us why "for some people travel SUCKS!" You did not tell us. So I can only offer you pity - as to someone who has "missed the boat."

[Julesbaby]

How do we see people as people, and not targets for long-range missiles, if we haven't actually met them? And that people worship different gods and they believe they are doing god's work too?

Travel is essential. Realizing that life is not a video game, and the President of the country in the world with the most clout and the biggest arsenal (and actually uses it, asked or not) needs to know about more than Canada and Mexico.

Just ask the families of those killed in Iraq.

[justjojo]

As someone who participated in 3 different exchange programs myself (direct WSU-University of Bonn; DIS - Denmark's Int'l Study program in Copenhagen; and, Fulbright teaching exchange) and ended up living 13 years of my adult life in Germany, I could not agree more! As a professor of German now, I also head up a direct exchange to Germany. It is just stunning to see the transformations my students go through after a trip abroad. I wish so much I could make one year of study abroad a requirement for all undergrads. Can you imagine what effect that would have on our nation? Of course, I'm still entertaining the pipe dream that we'll someday recognize the value of bi- or maybe, dare I say it, multilingualism in this country...and start introducing mandatory foreign language courses starting in elementary schools. One is allowed to dream, right?

[lizr]

the best thing we could do for our foreign policy is to create travel funds as well as scholarship funds, fo rkids to travel the world.

Much of the stupidity in Ame rica is due to the fact that people don't travel. Also lots of news is cen sored and kept from naive Am ericans.

IT would do us all good to get out more :)

[CoolPapa]

Agreed. For those of us who have travelled, it's not one way to knowledge, prosperity, understanding and peace, it's the only way. And if more Americans had ventured away from their homes in the 90s, we wouldn't have had 8 years of George W. Bush.

[OnTheCusp]

I agree. I think there should be a law that says US citizens cannot enroll into a US college without having traveled for at least six months out of the country, and preferably to a place that speaks no english.
The best crash course in reality is travel!!!

[AmandaMTB]

The United States is too powerful in military, economic and cultural might to live a continued isolationist existence. Too many of our problems are due to lack of cultural sensitivity, religious and economic understanding. If we truly want to lead by example we must go out and visit our neighbors.

I quote the Mission Statement from My Travel Bug, Inc., which promotes international travel as education:

"We believe international travel teaches tolerance, cross-cultural awareness and communication skills, wisdom which cannot be learned in a classroom. International travel is indispensable as the world"s economies merge and the internet brings us closer together. " -My Travel Bug, Inc.

[Xoanon42]

I so agree with the above bloggers, and wrote about this topic recently on my own travel blog at http://www.aerohaveno.com/. My point of view is that, even in tougher economic times, travel is an essential item rather than a luxury. Can an interdependent world do without the understanding that comes with travel? I think not.

[Libbydoe]

As an avid traveler, I was really dismayed at the fact that Palin seemed to have so little interest in learning about how people in other countries live. She might have an excuse if she was poor without the resources, but that was not the case. She appears to be one of those people who know so little that they don't realize what they don't know. And they what is worse, they don't care.