Despite frequent travels, what is the meaning of travel? Why do we travel? After many years and various types of travel, my takeaway is: an experience aimed at personal growth or fulfilling genuine desires, driven by an ideal version of oneself.
The answer to the meaning of travel might seem a bit dull. Isn’t it just about wanting to travel, so you travel? But in many instances, that’s not really the case. For example:
- Traveling because of discounted airfare deals. Even without any concept of the destination, you go, and then you find out.
- Flying to accumulate miles, maintain high-tier airline memberships, and so on; the goal is to accumulate mileage.
Decisions are often swayed by the travel market. Why discuss the meaning of travel? Because not every type of travel is the one you want.
The Burden Before Achieving the Meaning of Travel: (Almost) Certainly More Exhausting Than Working
(Citation: Taiwan High Speed Rail advertisement, “High-Speed Rail Travel: The Villain.”)
For a long time, above the ticket counter at the Zuoying High-Speed Rail Station, there was an image advertisement from the high-speed rail: “Resolutely oppose travel; it’s more tiring than work.” For young people who travel north for work, rushing home from the north with their luggage, they often glance at the ad. Because they can’t help but agree: Traveling really is more tiring than working.
But we don’t stop traveling just because it’s tiring, do we?
What’s going on here? And what was your favorite trip based on what motivation?
The Meaning of Travel 1: De-Stress Model
Before asking about the meaning of travel, it’s essential to understand the motivations behind it. Why do we travel?
Among various travel motivations, de-stressing is a significant reason. In other words, the meaning of travel is to escape the pressures and burdens of work by changing the environment. For example, based on the 2022 Taiwan Tourism Survey by the Tourist Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the factors considered when choosing a travel destination are “convenient transportation” and “stress relief and wellness” as the top two. These two factors consistently rank high in importance across different years and quarters. This shows that for many, the meaning of travel is to enjoy good accommodations, good food, and relaxation.
Based on the above survey, where do you think Taiwanese people travel the most? The top destination is Tamsui, followed by Jiaoxi.
Tamsui is a very representative destination in northern Taiwan with convenient access via the MRT. However, Jiaoxi being second might surprise many. Unlike Tamsui, Jiaoxi strongly represents hedonistic and de-stress motivations—going to soak in hot springs and have buffet meals at luxury hotels. Stress relief is a very important tourism motivation.
If the Meaning of Travel is to De-Stress, Why is it So Stressful?
The problem is, travel itself is a stressful endeavor. Going out to travel often comes with experiences like these:
- Before leaving, worries about forgetting essentials arise. Beyond the basics like phone, keys, and wallet, this time you need a toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, lotion, and swimwear for water activities.
- The itinerary isn’t fully planned even the day before departure, with two days of activities and dinner plans still undecided.
Because travel breaks away from routine life, the preparations required are entirely different, significantly increasing stress. Another source of travel stress comes from flight schedules and the resulting changes in daily routines. For example, since 2012, low-cost airlines have entered the market in Taiwan, making international travel more accessible to the general public. However, flights might be red-eye flights, leading to experiences like this:
Taking a midnight flight from Incheon Airport back to Taipei. The flight arrived and departed on time, with a very quiet journey as most passengers were resting, needing no service. Landed at 2 a.m., spent some time waiting for checked luggage and taking a taxi, opened the door at 3 a.m., and lay down by 3:30. At 6:30 a.m., fighting the sleepiness in bed, groggily got up, took a hot shower, changed clothes, and prepared for work.
Despite being exhausting, we don’t reduce the frequency of travel; instead, we tire ourselves out to find ways to travel. Looking back at the high-speed rail advertisement: While going out is tiring, the ad’s goal is to encourage travel, just suggesting that traveling by high-speed rail is more relaxing.
The Meaning of Travel 2: Achieving Personal Eudaemonic Happiness
It seems that the “de-stress” motivated meaning of travel cannot explain why we still want to go out despite the exhaustion. Positive psychology’s Csikszentmihalyi provides a different perspective. When discussing the meaning of travel, he believes the motivation can be divided into two dimensions:
- Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation Continuum: Is travel driven by personal desire or external demands? For example, business trips are required, whereas vacation trips are self-motivated. The motivations differ, hence the sense of travel’s meaning will vary greatly.
- Hedonic vs. Eudaemonic Happiness Dimension: The former is purely pleasure-oriented, while the latter includes personal growth and development. For instance, soaking in hot springs and enjoying gourmet food might have more hedonistic motivation, while traveling to learn about different cultures and histories involves more eudaemonic happiness. Thus, the sense of travel’s meaning would be different.
If we put these two on the same plane for understanding, it would look like the diagram below:
Based on Csikszentmihalyi and Coffey (2016), these four quadrants are explained as follows:
- First Quadrant: Intrinsically motivated eudaemonic happiness, like working holidays or attending a concert abroad.
- Second Quadrant: Extrinsically motivated eudaemonic happiness, such as business trips for training or participating in international conferences.
- Third Quadrant: Extrinsically motivated hedonic happiness, such as employee trips.
- Fourth Quadrant: Intrinsically motivated hedonic happiness, such as going to Jiaoxi for hot springs and buffet dining at luxury hotels during vacations.
The four quadrants showcase different meanings and orientations of travel. In fact, a single trip might include various meanings of travel. For instance, a business trip may have three days of meetings but one day to explore desired places. During school days, participating in international conferences was favored not just for learning but also for visiting desired cities. Therefore, travel is not just a singular concept; it might encompass various elements.
Do You Remember Your Most Memorable, Favorite Trip? That Might Be the Meaning of Travel
Reflecting on my most memorable trip, I would say it was a working holiday in Japan ten years ago. At the age of 22, I set out with a goal: “To go as far as I can on my own strength.” It seems that the trips where you are most conscious and clear about your purpose are the most memorable. In contrast, trips taken just because of cheap airfare often leave no strong impression.
At that time, I had just passed the N2 exam in Japanese, barely managing listening and reading. I chose to work in Hokkaido to overcome my life’s biggest challenge: to reach the farthest part of Japan with my limited communication skills.
In the latter part of the working holiday, I reached the northernmost place in Hokkaido, a small town called Wakkanai. The town’s name sounds like “I don’t know” in Japanese (wakkanai). After visiting Cape Soya at Hokkaido’s northern tip, I found a hot spring hotel in town to bathe, preparing to take a night bus back to Sapporo. At 11:30 p.m. in the waiting room, there were only a few travelers. The TV was playing Miwa’s song Don’t Cry Anymore.
That song repeated several times in the empty waiting room, confirming in that moment: I can reach this far on my own. I can do it.
Since then, whenever faced with seemingly impossible tasks, I think of that night’s scene and music. The song became the theme of that trip.
So, What is the Meaning of Your Travel? Start a Journey to Fulfill Yourself!
Returning to the high-speed rail advertisement: “Resolutely oppose travel｜More tiring than work,” what kind of travel meaning is this? Instinctively, it seems like, “Perhaps it’s because it’s not enjoyable or relaxing enough, so people don’t want to travel. But if taking the high-speed rail is relaxing enough, then maybe there’s travel meaning.” This might be the core intention of the high-speed rail ad. If we analyze this travel meaning using Csikszentmihalyi, we might get these two thoughts:
- Because this travel is driven by external demands rather than personal desire. Many of our travel plans start for family or market-driven reasons (like airline elite membership), not out of personal desire. Naturally, this doesn’t achieve personal travel meaning.
- Because this travel is for pleasure, and the hassle of preparing contradicts the hedonistic motivation, so one doesn’t want to travel. This ties into the high-speed rail ad’s motivation: choosing high-speed rail for convenience, making travel relaxed and meaningful.
So, in essence, what we need is: a journey motivated by personal desire, aimed at personal growth or realizing certain dreams. In this context, your travel is one you truly want, and during the journey, you experience a joy beyond mere pleasure: a joy of growth and fulfillment. This might be the meaning of travel.
Are there places you’ve wanted to visit for a long time but never had the chance?
Are there things you’ve wanted to do for a long time but haven’t completed?
Now might be the best time.
This is the meaning of travel.
Conclusion
- To alleviate work or other pressures, de-stressing (De-Stress) is a common travel motivation. Surveying travel motivations and destination choices reveals locations chosen for pleasure.
- But traveling is indeed exhausting. If it’s for de-stressing, one shouldn’t choose to travel; staying home would be better. Pure de-stress motivation doesn’t explain “travel is tiring, yet we keep going.”
- Positive psychology reminds us that eudaemonic happiness differs from hedonic happiness. The joy of travel comes from realizing personal goals and growth through travel. Pursuing this self-fulfillment and joy makes exhaustion part of the creative process, which is the true meaning of travel.
References
M. Csikszentmihalyi & J. Coffey (2016). Why do we travel? A positive psychological model for travel motivation. In Positive Tourism, Routledge
