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And so it begins; why travel is always good

On the train to Gatwick, the sun splashes its light on a  golden valley - resplendent in autumn colours.  I’m guessing I’ll see some amazing vistas on my sourjourn across Asia but I know I’ll miss the quiet grandeur of this Blighty view. 

I’m leaving for the Silk Road. I leave with a mixture of eager anticipation and anxious apprehension.

It’s 20 years ago since I travelled and lived in northern Thailand - an experience that enriched and changed me. I feel the same excitement to explore for several weeks. Being able to let an adventure unfold is an extraordinary privilege. 

 But. Have my logistical skills wintered on the vine? Will Chinese immigration wonder why I only have a one way flight? Can I thread my way through Central Asia at a time of heightened conflict? More fundamentally, am I still capable of real independence? 

On a recent dog walk last week, a weather beaten car had a sticker in the window.  It said ‘travel -always good.’ Travel is a message you are open to learn. No-one travels thinking they know more about the culture and history than the people they are visiting. What would be the point? To travel is to be curious. In some small way, maybe travel can also advance the cause of peace and understanding.

There’s a concept in psychology called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which, among other things, describes how people with limited knowledge or competence can be particularly confident in their own abilities.   I’m mildly terrified of falling victim to this effect: someone increasingly attached their own opinions, with diminishing intrigue about the world beyond them.

Travel disrupts our certainties and demands humility as the price of entry. In a funny way, it reminds you, you are not the centre of the universe, not even of the earth. 

That is why travel is always good. 
  


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