For me, traveling is a way to learn new things about different cultures. In Pico Lyer's essay on traveling, he talks about the different kinds of travelers, different reasons why people travel, and what somone could get out of traveling.
Lyer says that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places, but in seeing with new eyes". I think that this means that instead of traveling somewhere and making comparisons to your home town, you need to learn how to see things as if you have never known anything else and try to accept it into your ways and thoughts. This can relate to me because when I travel (which isn't very much) I have gotten into the habit of thinking to myself "in grayslake, this is different" and "in grayslake we would never have that". I am going to break this habit completly on our trip :)
"What gives value to travel is fear". I thinkg this means that when people travel to new places, they are usually scared of what they find. That little andrenaline rush sometimes gives that person a "boost" and makes them try new things. Since I have never been outside of the country, that little boost will definatly play its part on the trip.
In Lyer's essay, he talkes about traverlers being a human "carrier pigeon", transporting ideas and culture from one society to another. Although I agree with this statement, I don't think travelers have a responsiblity to do this, it just sort of happens naturally. It is a good thing for people to share their own culture with the world and bring something new back home with them.
"Travel is the best way we have of rescuing the humanity of places, and saving them from abstraction and ideology" - Pico Lyer. This is my favortie quote out of this essay (besides the one I put in my title). I just feel that it applies to everyone. This quote, to me, means that in order for a country/state...etc to not bore people in it, someone has to spread different cultures around to different parts of the world so everyone can enjoy something different instead of the same thing they get everyday.
I was very glad to read this quote from you, "I am going to break this habit completly on our trip." I hope all the students take this type of thinking into our trip. When things are done differently in different places, it only means we have to open our mind to why, not compare to home and assume our way is better. I would challenge you to go into more depth in your answers in future blogs. I won't take any points off this one, but I think in the future you could put even more into your answers. Keep up the good work!
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