Because an opportunity has come up
You know how I got into my very first trip? A friend of mine called me and said, ” Hey, Jeremy, you want to go visit Oslo next month ?”. Being fascinated by this country since I was a teenager, I answered yes without really knowing what I was getting into.
To fulfill a child’s dream
Since I was a teenager, I’ve been passionate about Scandinavia. Perhaps the reason will surprise you: basically, it has nothing to do with travel. It was the music that got me interested in this part of the world (metal, in particular). Then came the interest in Nordic mythology. At the age of 24, I decided to move to Sweden, in my beloved city of Gothenburg, in order to fulfill the desire to live in the land of metal (and to fulfill the dream of the child that I was).
To learn new languages
With the passion for travel, came to the passion for languages. This is gonna sound silly, but I thought it was great to be able to communicate using words other than my own since I was a kid. I began to learn many languages, without fully mastering any. Italian and Swedish are languages that I speak vaguely after long and repeated stays in these two countries. I manage in Spanish (having lived in Andalusia for a while), and since living in Zagreb I am learning Croatian (at least the basics because it is a really complicated language).
To break my preconceptions about certain peoples
There were two trips I made not to satisfy the desire to discover a country, but because I had in mind a terribly bad image of a people. And I wanted to confront my prejudices with the reality on the ground. It is Spain and Italy that I had in the pic, without really knowing why (Well, yes, the Italians are because of football). This is why I have visited Andalusia several times (I still have plenty of places to explore in Spain, especially Galicia which attracts me more and more), and that I spend at least once a year in Italy, country that I love very much (while I was going there with the apriori long as the arm). In short, if you’re wondering why to travel, that’s a good reason: to break his preconceptions, his prejudices, by confronting them with the real world. Sometimes these prejudices will be confirmed, sometimes (often) they will disappear.
Out of curiosity
Sometimes I hear about a country or a place. On tv, in an article, in conversation. Or I meet a guy who comes from a rather exotic place, on which I just don’t have the slightest apriori. It’s the kind of thing that will tickle my curiosity, and make me want to get there right away. This is how, for example, I went to Malaysia on my trip to Southeast Asia. I had no idea what could possibly be hiding behind that funny name, so as I was not far away, I went there.
Because plane tickets were cheap.
You’re going to tell me if there’s any silly reason to travel, it’s this one. But after all, why not? Actually, that’s how I’ve been to a lot of European destinations. Places I would certainly have gone later, but for which I was forced because at one point there was a plane ticket at an absolutely irresistible price. Plus, since I’m smart and I know how to find cheap airline tickets, that’s the kind of thing that happens to me very often. I can’t even tell you where I went because of cheap flights, there’s plenty!