Travel Psychology

Hello again,

Its a slow night tonight. I thought I would type some thoughts out.

I was sitting in my bunk tonight pretty relaxed. I started to think about how my trip was coming together, barely a month in. Do people that travel for long periods of time have similiar goals and thoughts? What does this say about me. Why am I travelling?

After pouring over these questions I decided to hit the web. Doing a quick search led me almost nowhere. The concept of Travel Psychology is really limited. I found a small blog by a gentleman named Michael brien, feel free to check it out.

http://www.michaelbrein.com/travel-psychology-101.html

Brein talks about the mindset of travellers. What is there motivation and desires? In his first essay he writes about several main topics regarding the psychology of a traveler. Here are a few:

1. Self Esteem
2. Achievement of Higher Needs
3. Curiousity
4. Peak Experience
5. Re-connecting / Re-Validating our lives
6. Excitement and Adventure

These topics really hit home. I can see alot of myself clearer in these few weeks. Ive experienced alot that remains seperate from this blog. Mainly positive. Topic 6 is particularily interesting to me. Michael talks about seeking the romantic.

Something Michael doesnt seem to talk about is the actual given state of mind of the traveler. He talks about motivations but seems to lack the actual behaviours. Are we more willing to be dangerous to explore the excitment travel brings? Do we drink snakes blood on the back streets of Bangkok for that exact reason? I dont know. Hence my search.

I seem to be forming alot of temporary deep friendships. How is this possible? How can two complete strangers find security in each other? Its very interesting to me. In our homes we are very guarded and try to feel safe. We dont let people in. At least my flaw has been that I seem cold and distant. On my travels its the opposite. This goes both ways. People are open to almost anything. I played some cards last night with a Korean, a Swiss and 2 american girls. We talked and shared like we were lifetime friends. We were genuine in our concerns. We protect each other. I believe the topic should be studied, its interesting to me.

Maybe people form these temporary bonds our of necessity. Do we have multiple short bonds to replace the long trusting relationships we left at home? I think so. The traveler is ready and open to it. They can tell someone about there life without being afraid of the judgement that would usually follow at home. You can tell someone you have never met something very intimate that you could never tell your closest friend.

Despite seeing some beautiful things on my first 2 stops I find the people to be the most beautiful. How two strangers can show such compassion and empathy to each other.

My last day in Tokyo I was In Ueno park and I came along a white lady in her late 40s. She had 2 casts over her feet and I had to ask what happened. We ended up talking for about 30 min. Two strangers. At the end of the conversation we hugged each other. Complete surrender. What an act. I have witnessed so many of these acts of kindness on my trip.

Im really looking forward to being the person that gives that hug to someone. Infact im going to start right now, there is a cute Japanese girl behind me!

Thanks for the rant!

D.