The points I really connected to in Pico Iyer's "Why We Travel" was his analogies of travel to that of being childlike and being in love. If a person is truly on an adventure to a new place then they will feel as though they are a child again. Most adults wish they could be children again. And for those who don't relate to that can surely relate to wanting to feel in love. I laughed when reading that traveling is like being in love because one is unable to communicate properly or know where you're going or who you are falling in love with. Just like being in love this is what makes traveling adventurous and exciting!
Iyer describes travels to foreign countries that are very different than America. It seems that he stays away from the popular commercialized way of travel. He instead explores places by practicing the regular routines of the culture and as this is done, his own culture is being admired by those native to the area. With this he(the traveler) can begin seeing what he thought he knew in a different light. "We travel, then, in part just to shake up our complacencies by seeing all the moral and political urgencies, the life-and-death dilemmas, that we seldom have to face at home." I believe this is an important part of travel and can improve people's lives. We often take too much for granted which leads to unhappiness, but experiencing other cultures can leave a traveler more appreciative to return home.
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