Why people travel PART I

What is it about travel that makes people tend to pack the most necessary things, say goodbye to family and friends, and go to the place where they have never been before, without being sure that they will safely return? Fate, the desire to know the world, the irresistible temptation for adventure, or willingness to make a profit? Reasons may be different and are always individual, depending on the situation of each of the travelers.

What is the purpose of traveling for you ? However, the fact is that traveling accompanies the man in almost every aspect of life and has done so throughout the entire history of mankind.



What's more, along with the technological development of the world, people travel more and more. We do not even notice in everyday life that we do so. When we get used to this state, we must feel the difference again - so we organize trips to more and more uncommon and unusual places, offering special experiences.



People always were moving from place to place, constantly searching for optimal conditions for living and housing. Already in prehistoric times there were great migrations of nations which led to the spread of people, almost all over the continents.



Those migrations lasted for thousands of years because the divided groups could not find their place on Earth. Some of them still have not found it, and continue to travel through the world, as the nomadic tribes living in the Asian part of Russia. It is difficult to describe the nomadic tribes as "travelers" because the word "travel" refers to modern tourism or holidays. And this is a mistake.



Once distant travel was reserved for those who were affluent and well educated. It required the skills to cope with extraordinary situations or to speak in a foreign language. The organization of a journey used to be very expensive, everything took a lot of time, so traveling was reserved for state dignitaries, and only when it was really needed.



In addition, people with religious missions or criminals expelled from cities moved over the world. It was definitely harder to survive in the harsh conditions for them, but surprisingly they coped with this perfectly. You can read about such cases in some parts of the Bible. In the Middle Ages a custom of making pilgrimages to religious sites, tombs, wonderful paintings and sculptures developed rapidly. The faithful traveled long distances to pray for the intercession of the saints in matters of particular importance.



These events greatly contributed to the development of the infrastructure in the vicinity of places like inns, where travelers could obtain shelter. Travel is also tied with trade. Have you ever been abroad only to bring something for further sale ? Or maybe you visited US in order to purchase a lot cheaper laptop or other electronics ?



Merchants traveled the whole of Europe, Asia, and Africa, where they purchased and sold their goods for a profit. If it wasn’t for travels, Western Europe would never know eastern materials and spices.



This subject is widely discussed in reports from travels to China by Marco Polo. It is also worth mentioning that frequent travels created the foundation for early mail delivery systems. The more people traveled, the more essential it became for people to maintain communication with their own country.



And travel made the distribution of mail possible. Nowadays a parcel can ship to you from any distant part of the world within 48 hours. Have you ever availed from such delivery service ?