Wide-eyed and dazzled, the tourists wander among the human zoo animals, observing the sights, living a slight mindfuck, but always disdaining from actual participation, because it is too strange for their hard-wired heads and their "Western" cultures. Soon, they get sick of the new scenery, and yearn for the old days and leave, having acquired the "been there, done that" bragging rights.
Some delve into new cultures, the backpackers, and enjoy the mindfuck to the full, a full "high", one might call it. They eat the strange animals, gesture like fools trying to imitate the animals, and sometimes live among them for a bit. Inevitably, they crash and burn when they realize that the culture here is the same old boring life routines as in America, just with less sugar. That's right, nobody lives on the Great Wall, except for the souvenir vendors. Off they go, back to America, disappointed with the lack of magic in travel, and return to their dreary lives, until the next opportunity for international mindfuck presents itself.
A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Travel
I should like to rise and go Where the golden apples grow;-- Where below another sky Parrot islands anchored lie, And, watched by cockatoos and goats, Lonely Crusoes building boats;-- Where in sunshine reaching out Eastern cities, miles about, Are with mosque and minaret Among sandy gardens set, And the rich goods from near and far Hang for sale in the bazaar;-- Where the Great Wall round China goes, And on one side the desert blows, And with the voice and bell and drum, Cities on the other hum;-- Where are forests hot as fire, Wide as England, tall as a spire, Full of apes and cocoa-nuts And the negro hunters' huts;-- Where the knotty crocodile Lies and blinks in the Nile, And the red flamingo flies Hunting fish before his eyes;-- Where in jungles near and far, Man-devouring tigers are, Lying close and giving ear Lest the hunt be drawing near, Or a comer-by be seen Swinging in the palanquin;-- Where among the desert sands Some deserted city stands, All its children, sweep and prince, Grown to manhood ages since, Not a foot in street or house, Not a stir of child or mouse, And when kindly falls the night, In all the town no spark of light. There I'll come when I'm a man With a camel caravan; Light a fire in the gloom Of some dusty dining-room; See the pictures on the walls, Heroes fights and festivals; And in a corner find the toys Of the old Egyptian boys.
Public domain text taken from The Poets' Corner: http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/rls02.html#1
Today I think of travel as anything that extends one's realm of experience or expands one's lexicon of acquired convictions and occurs beyond the backyard (this distinguishing it from reading).
Swick relays in his article a story about "traveling" to a friend's house, where the style of parenting was 180 degrees from anything he knew. In his mind, this was traveling to a foreign place as much as going to Paris.
When a player is caught traveling, the ball is turned over to the opposing team, and one of their players takes it out of bounds.
Trav"el (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Traveled (?) or Travelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Traveling or Travelling.] [Properly, to labor, and the same word as travail.]
1.
To labor; to travail.
Hooker.
2.
To go or march on foot; to walk; as, to travel over the city, or through the streets.
3.
To pass by riding, or in any manner, to a distant place, or to many places; to journey; as, a man travels for his health; he is traveling in California.
4.
To pass; to go; to move.
Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. Shak.
© Webster 1913.
Trav"el (?), v. t.
To journey over; to traverse; as, to travel the continent.
Milton.
To force to journey.
They shall not be traveled forth of their own franchises. Spenser.
Trav"el, n.
The act of traveling, or journeying from place to place; a journey.
With long travel I am stiff and weary. Shak.
His travels ended at his country seat. Dryden.
2. pl.
An account, by a traveler, of occurrences and observations during a journey; as, a book of travels; -- often used as the title of a book; as, Travels in Italy.
3. Mach.
The length of stroke of a reciprocating piece; as, the travel of a slide valve.
Labor; parturition; travail.
printable version chaos
Everything2 Help
