It’s seems a funny question to ask, why are you travelling? It seems the answer is justified in the question, simply to travel. However, just to travel isn’t really a complete answer. We travel for many different reasons, we travel to take a break, we travel to gain a fresh perspective, we travel to meet friends and family, we travel because we’re curious.

Recently I’ve begun to delve into the question of why it is I travel? Do I have an end goal, am I trying to create an experience for myself. What is it that really leads me to spend large durations of my time away from my friends and family into a foreign environment full of beautiful strangers? Truth is, I’m not positive. I can’t quite put my finger on my love of travel, I can’t quite say what it is that causes me to grow restless when I’m stagnant or still.

Travel is almost always positive, but can it also be negative? I’ve started to wonder about this. Travel should be a conscious choice, a willingness to want to experience something new, challenge yourself, take a breath of fresh air – it should not be a means of escape, or a means of leaving un-dealt with issues at the door, in exchange for a barrage of sensory overload.

To answer this, I believe it’s important to focus on your intention. Looking at the person in the mirror and answering what your intention is. Maybe the intention is to live more freely, take more risks, try something new, and see a new part of the world. Those are positive intentions. But what if your intention doesn’t relate to the travel at all? What if your intent is simply to not be in one particular place, is that then, healthy travel? Is that a strong willingness to want to absorb yourself in a vibrant new culture, or simply detract away from yours? I think there is a positive and negative outlook here – and I think it’s important that you know what yours is.

Clean socks at 3400m

Intention is an important factor in any part of our daily lives. Focusing on it one can easily determine whether an action or decision we are making comes from a positive spectrum, or from one with malice, or negativity. I think if we take more time to focus on intention is any aspect of our daily lives we’ll find ourselves being much more positive people.

So go, get out there and travel, work; hang around home for a while. But regardless what it is you’re doing, make sure to ask yourself why it is you’re doing it, and answer it honestly – because it could make a drastic difference on the outcome of your decision!