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This articles explores people's seemingly instictive drive to travel - why do we travel?
Many years ago the main purpose of traveling was exploration, conquest and trade. We all know the great travelers and explorers of the past, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Alexander the Great, Zengis Khan of Mongolia, Sir Francis Drake and Ferdinand Magellan. These are just a couple of the great adventurers who contributed to the great exploration of the earth. Imagine the excitement and thrill of adventure of traveling and exploration in those days where there was no internet, no television, no photography, in fact not even a single clue describing your next destination.

Even after the world map was completed, adventurers continued the exploration of more remote parts of the earth, although now its primary focus seemed to switch to scientific purposes. Just think of people like Charles Darwin, Alexander van Humboldt or more recent adventurers such as Jacques Cousteau or David Attenborough who have dedicated their lives to the exploration of the last unknown areas of our world whether this was above or below the surface of the sea.

Stimulated by the fascinating stories, pictures and later also video materials, traveling has grown in popularity among 'common' people as well. Although at first traveling was a reserved privilege for the rich and the noble, slowly it became accessible for people of lesser fortune as well. In recent decades traveling has become available to the masses and it seems as if about anyone (in the western world) can save up some cash and hop on a plane to the other side of the earth. At least if our busy lives don't keep us from pursuing this dream. Speaking of which, isn't this what everyone wants... "Travel". When was the last time you dreamt away thinking "I wish I could travel the world."

However, since the world has been almost completely explored and there is seemingly little personal benefit to get from exploration, what is it that entices us so much about traveling?

Of course it is nice get a break from work, but surely there must be more to it than just relaxation and the opportunity to go shopping somewhere else than your own frequent mall?
So what is it that has driven man kind to go travel and explore the world outside of their known boundaries? Why do we travel?

We could probably unleash into a scientific dissertation of a couple of hundred pages on this topic, but given the fact that this is just a blog post let's not. Our vision is that people are driven by what we call "the spirit of adventure." We have an insatisfiable curiosity of the unknown. In addition, having access to information via the internet doesn't seem to be enough. We want to see the beauty of the world with our own eyes, feel and experience it with our own senses. And yes the world is beautiful, no matter how beautiful a city, mountain, lake or ocean may look on a picture or film, it is better to see and feel for yourself. Still there is more...

What makes traveling beautiful is that it allows you to escape from your own reality. It gives you the possibility to step back and release your mind from the complexities and pressures of daily life. Still, you could also do this and stay home for a week or so. However, when traveling you will literally step outside of your own environment and as you enter another city, country or continent you will be able to become an observer of other people's reality of daily life. With so many different nationalities, cultures, religions and natural circumstances it is very interesting to see how other people have adapted to life. This can be a fun, but also insightful experience and it allows you to reflect the situations of others to your own. For many people this is a seemingly endless source of inspiration. And that's the great part, every individual can focus on the things that he (or she) wants to get out of his trip.

But traveling is not always necessarily fun. You could get into some serious trouble, whether it's caused by yourself, for example leaving home without a passport, money, flight tickets, getting lost, or external factors like delayed transportation, theft, swindle, etc. Especially in longer trips one of these less pleasant experiences may occur, but still although they are not fun, you will learn from them and maybe even enjoy telling the story afterwards. Being in a foreign country, in a different culture or in different natural circumstances than what you're used to (e.g. a desert trip) brings you out of your comfort zone and if you get into trouble you will get to see the true you. How do you react in a situation of real problems if the comforts of your daily life are not directly available? Although this may not be something that you're looking for, it will help you get to know yourself better and you may use this experience back home.

You will learn about other people too. While on the road you get to meet new people, maybe people who you'd never run into in your daily life and network. You could meet the kindest people of all and make friends for life, or possibly encounter people with less sincere intentions. It's all part of it, part of your adventure, part of life.

And that's the beauty of traveling. Every trip, will be unique, whether you're searching for unexplored places or actually going to heavily visited areas, you will always meet other people and have a unique experience of your own.

This is what we call "The true Spirtit of adventure" and this is what we'd like to promote with Travelspecs. We hope that Travelspecs will be a place of inspiration where travelers can get inspired and inspire others. Go out there and explore, release yourself from daily life and get to know the world and yourself.

This article about "people's drive to travel - why we travel" was written by Eric Bobek. If you have any remarks or if you would like to react, please leave a comment below.