seen . heard . tasted . thought



July 13, 2012

Explorism to Escapism



What is the purpose of travelling? For Ray Bradbury half of it would be about the aesthetics of lostness. That would probably also be my answer but expressed in a less aesthetic way if asked the same question in my younger years. Now it has become more of an aspiration. With time a journey has taken a step towards being an escape, from home, from work. Time has become a rare commodity and whenever time allows it will likely be spent on a trip somewhere. With time being so precious going on a totally unplanned journey would  risk not fully satisfying our expectations of an experience out of the ordinary. For the one not expecting something out of the ordinary, why not stay at home and experience the ordinary? To generalize, before the trip starts we know where we are going, where we are going to stay and most likely what we want to see and do. I for example fall well into this generalization. Where has the glory gone of going somewhere and leaving some room for chance? Maybe knowing is and has been the norm. Only that the traveller in the past or if we wind back even more the settler wished but rarely knew what soil they would step into next. With that in mind I will definitely appreciate the aesthetics of lostness whenever I see it.