Why We Travel Response

I sympathize with many points travel writer Pico Iyer made in his essay, "Why We Travel." Firstly, I believe that the idea that traveling enables one to feel and see a place "truly," not through a screen or a news headline is incredibly important as most people--whether they recognize it or not--have established feelings towards and assumptions of foreign lands based on their own country of origin, culture, what media they've been exposed to concerning a particular place, the people they interact with, etc. When one experiences a foreign country first hand--its people, culture, sights, issues, problems--these preconceived notions can be washed away. Secondly, as Iyer also notes, this preserves the true sense of the place itself, saving it from "abstraction and ideology." Due to the imperialism of the past, countless cultures have been irradiated from the lands they called home, with many more on the verge of extinction in the present for this same reason. Traveling to these places and embracing the culture helps the people of said culture to experience a "fresh and renewed sense of how special are the warmth and beauty of their country..." enabling it to continue to live and thrive.

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