Book Surgeon No. 28

Last week, we talked a bit about why we travel and of the potential relationship between travel and human flourishing. Is there more to travel than just awesome views and new foods to try? And if there is a deeper purpose to travel, then perhaps how we approach our experiences abroad matters. How much is our perception of travel influenced by what we do and what we think abroad? Author Allain Do Botton writes of his experience in Madrid: “I stood on the corner of the Calle de Carretas and the Puerta del Sol … It was a sunny day and crowds of tourists were stopping to take photographs and listen to guides. And I wondered, with mounting anxiety, what I was to do here, what I was to think.” Early explorers had a clear mission when traveling to new lands. They discovered facts–documenting new species and terrains. They created maps, so future travelers could themselves travel to and navigate these new lands. But when we travel today, there is not much more to be discovered for the greater public’s use. Most of us are not there to measure how tall a particular species of tree can grow or to document the presence of a foreign plant. So do we have a goal when traveling? Without a goal, how can we possibly know what to do or think? Answering these questions might affect what we do when abroad, which would in turn change our actual experiences and memories. Almost everyone will have a different opinion about why we should travel, and one such perspective comes from Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who promotes “using already well-known facts for the sake of inner, psychological enrichment … to use facts to enhance life.” To Nietzsche, we can use the facts that have been established to change our own individual lives, and traveling to new lands is a great way to see life in a new light. As Botton writes, “we might return from our journeys with a collection of small, unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts.” 

I also want to touch upon the role of expectations when we travel. How should we mentally prepare for our travels? Is it better to read travel books and learn the deep history of a country before visiting or is there merit to simply traveling with minimal to no expectations? When I plan a trip, I often wonder how much research I should do. Will knowing more about the place I am going affect my takeaways from the experience? On the other hand, is doing too much research going to inhibit the awe and wonder that often accompany traveling? I have found that I tend to enjoy a new place less when I have high expectations, but it seems unlikely that our perception of a place is simply based on whether we have high or low expectations. What else is contributing to how much we enjoy a new place? In The Art of Travel, Botton asserts that our perception of a new place is largely dependent on our own thoughts, biases, experiences, and experiences. To understand why we like Egypt over France, or Guatemala over Greece, we have to look inwards. Specifically, Botton writes how our preferences abroad often have much to do with what we are missing at home: “what we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home.” I think this argument parallels a very important observation in our daily life. For most of us, we all too often take the things we have for granted. Once we adjust to life in our new home, the steady paycheck, or the availability of quality healthcare, we forget what it feels like to be without these luxuries. We implicitly assume that these luxuries are permanent when in reality they can be taken away at any moment. Similar to life itself, everything we have is fleeting and could be taken away at any time. But this realization should not be scary, it should be liberating. It allows us to be appreciative of what we do have right now. And gratitude, as we have discussed from previous books, is an indispensable component of happiness and life satisfaction. To take away from this lesson, be gracious. Try to remember how lucky we are to have food in front of us and people around us. Start to pay attention to when we take things for granted because it does and will happen to all of us, and use this awareness to bring our attention to the present. Write a few things you are grateful for whenever possible. More often than not, we will realize that there is much more to be appreciative of in our own homes and communities than we ever could have imagined.

Share with others if you enjoy! Thanks for reading and see you next week!