Unpacking the Travel Meaning: Exploring Philosophy, Fear, and the Future of Exploration

What does it truly mean to travel? Is it merely ticking off destinations on a bucket list, or is there a deeper significance to venturing beyond our familiar surroundings? In this insightful exploration, we delve into the essence of travel with Dr. Emily Thomas, a philosophy professor at Durham University and author of “The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad.” This conversation, originally featured on the Books and Travel website, unpacks the philosophical underpinnings of our wanderlust, examining how travel shapes our perspectives, confronts our fears, and even hints at a future influenced by virtual reality. Join us as we unravel the multifaceted Travel Meaning and discover why journeying into the unknown holds such profound value.

The Philosophical Allure of Travel

The initial question posed to Dr. Thomas probes the seemingly disparate fields of philosophy and travel: one introspective and the other outwardly focused. Her response bridges this gap beautifully, revealing a lifelong intertwining of intellectual pursuit and adventurous exploration. “I have been a professional philosopher for more than 10 years, but far longer than that I have been a backpacker,” she explains. This personal history underscores the genesis of her book – a quest to understand if and how philosophy illuminates the experience of travel. To her delight, she discovered a rich dialogue between the two, giving birth to a book that examines travel meaning through a philosophical lens.

Defining the Essence: What Travel Means Personally

So, what does travel signify for a philosopher who is also an avid traveler? Dr. Thomas articulates a compelling definition: “For me, traveling is all about experiencing otherness.” It’s about immersing oneself in environments that are “new and unfamiliar,” challenging our preconceived notions and forcing us to “figure out how to make sense of them.” This “otherness” becomes the cornerstone of meaningful travel, pushing us beyond our comfort zones and into realms of unknown languages, social cues, and cultural landscapes. The most profound travel experiences, she shares, are those where understanding is not immediate but painstakingly earned through observation, interaction, and a gradual piecing together of the unfamiliar world.

This definition naturally prompts the question of proximity. Does travel within one’s own country, perhaps even within England for Dr. Thomas, qualify as “travel”? While acknowledging that pockets of unfamiliarity exist even close to home, she concedes that true immersion in the unknown often necessitates venturing “farther afield.” This highlights a crucial aspect of travel meaning: the degree to which a journey pushes us beyond our known reality and into genuine novelty.

The Sublime in Travel: Embracing “Pleasurable Terror”

Travel is not always smooth sailing. It often involves navigating discomfort, uncertainty, and even fear. Yet, within these challenges lie some of the most memorable and transformative moments. Dr. Thomas delves into the concept of “sublime tourism,” focusing on those special, often intense moments that etch themselves into our memory. Drawing from the 18th-century philosopher Edmund Burke, she defines the sublime as “a kind of pleasurable terror.”

This “pleasurable terror” is akin to the exhilarating fear experienced near a powerful waterfall – close enough to feel the spray and the immensity of nature, yet safely distant from actual danger. For Dr. Thomas, who often travels solo, this sublime feeling arises from stepping into the unknown alone, a blend of terror and exhilaration. She recounts her first solo trip to China at 18, stepping out into a bustling city where nothing was familiar, a truly “scary, but also exhilarating” initiation into the sublime aspect of travel meaning.

Forbidden City, Beijing. Photo licensed from BigStockPhoto

This concept resonates with the quote from Camus, “what gives value to travel is fear.” It’s not just about conquering fear in the traditional sense, but embracing a certain level of unease as a catalyst for heightened experience and deeper engagement with the travel meaning.

Facing Fears: Real and Imagined Travel Anxieties

Expanding on the theme of fear, the conversation explores the spectrum of anxieties travelers face – from rational concerns to imagined worries. Dr. Thomas distinguishes between “reasonable” fears, like navigating unsafe urban environments with genuine risks of crime, and more “exciting” fears rooted in the unknown. The fear of getting lost in a new city, for instance, is often more about the anticipation than the actual consequence. “What’s the worst that’s going to happen?” she asks, highlighting the often-exaggerated nature of our travel anxieties.

However, travel can also present very real, non-pleasurable fears. Dr. Thomas shares a vivid anecdote of being in a taxi in Zimbabwe that caught fire, the driver stubbornly refusing to pull over despite visible flames. This experience underscores that not all travel fears are imagined; some are grounded in genuine, potentially dangerous situations.

Solo female travelers, in particular, often grapple with safety concerns, a reality acknowledged in the discussion. Fear of assault or harassment isn’t limited to foreign lands, but the unfamiliarity of a new place can amplify these anxieties. Even simple interactions, like asking for directions in a country like India, can become moments of heightened awareness and potential fear. Understanding travel meaning also involves acknowledging and addressing these very real safety considerations.

Overcoming Travel Fears: Practical and Philosophical Approaches

So, how do we navigate and overcome these travel-related fears to embrace the enriching experiences that lie beyond? Dr. Thomas turns to Stoicism, an ancient philosophy emphasizing reason and resilience. A key Stoic technique involves proactively confronting fear by mentally working through “what could possibly happen.” By visualizing the worst-case scenario and strategizing how to deal with it, we can diminish the power of fear.

For Dr. Thomas, the “fear of the unknown” is a significant hurdle. Landing in a new place triggers anxiety precisely because of its unpredictability. However, she finds that “the more knowledge that I have about the place…the fear goes away.” This underscores the power of research and preparation in mitigating travel anxieties. Just as seeing the monster in a horror movie often diminishes its terror, understanding the practicalities of a destination – transportation, accommodation, basic customs – can significantly reduce fear of the unknown.

This leads to a practical travel tip: research. While acknowledging the allure of spontaneity, even for free-range travel, Dr. Thomas emphasizes the importance of booking at least the first night’s accommodation and ensuring arrival during daylight hours, especially for solo female travelers. Her own experience of arriving in Tel Aviv at 2 am during a tense period highlights the very real impact of arrival time on safety and initial experience.

Her current experience living in Malawi further illustrates the research and discovery process. Unlike fleeting travel, settling in for a longer period involves understanding “how basic things work.” Unexpected challenges like frequent power cuts necessitate adapting daily routines and highlight the importance of practical preparation even for seemingly straightforward aspects of life abroad.

The Currency of Travel: Navigating Practicalities in a Changing World

Practicalities extend beyond safety and accommodation to the often-overlooked realm of finances. The conversation touches upon the evolving landscape of money and payments in travel. While traditional travel advice might focus on exchanging currency or carrying US dollars, the post-pandemic world reveals a significant shift towards digital and mobile payments, even in remote locations. Africa, in particular, is at the forefront of mobile payment technology.

Dr. Thomas’s experience in Malawi reflects this trend: “I’m making payments via mobile phone payments, which is not something I have ever done before in the UK.” Navigating local payment apps and systems becomes a crucial aspect of daily life, highlighting the need for travelers to adapt to evolving financial infrastructures. The increasing preference for electronic payments, driven in part by post-COVID hygiene concerns, is reshaping the practicalities of travel meaning in the 21st century.

Truth and Perspective in Travel Writing: Beyond Factual Reporting

Moving beyond practicalities, the discussion shifts to the representation of travel in literature and media. Dr. Thomas, as a philosopher, brings a nuanced perspective to the concept of “truth,” distinguishing between “truth with a little t” – factual accuracy – and “Truth with a capital T” – a more subjective, perspectival understanding. This distinction becomes crucial when examining travel books and guides.

She observes that “travel books often blur the line between fiction and nonfiction.” While categorized as nonfiction, travel writing frequently employs literary devices borrowed from fiction – metaphor, hyperbole, narrative plotlines – to create engaging and readable accounts. These devices, while enhancing readability, inevitably infuse the author’s “own perspective” into the narrative.

While factual details like temperature and longitude aim for objective truth, the essence of travel writing lies in conveying the author’s subjective experience – “Oh, I saw a hippopotamus in person for the first time and its skin was like this, and its teeth were like this.” This personal lens, while enriching the narrative, inherently moves away from pure factual reporting. Therefore, when using travel books for research, particularly for practical purposes, it’s crucial to acknowledge this inherent subjectivity and “take them with a pinch of salt.”

The romanticized portrayal of destinations like Venice serves as a prime example. Despite its undeniable beauty, the reality of Venice – flooding, sewage smells, overcrowding – often clashes with the idealized images presented in travel literature. Dr. Thomas emphasizes that “travel books are always written with the author’s particular vision in mind,” and readers must be aware that their own experience may differ significantly.

Historically, travel writing has been even more prone to embellishment and outright fabrication. Medieval travelogues, filled with dragons, mythical creatures, and fantastical encounters, highlight the human tendency to “fill in the gaps” of the unknown with imagination. While overt fabrications are less common today, the inherent subjectivity of perspective remains a crucial element to consider when engaging with travel narratives and seeking to understand the true travel meaning.

Responsible Representation: Challenging Stereotypes and Embracing Diverse Voices

The conversation raises critical questions about responsible travel writing, particularly in relation to continents like Africa, often misrepresented by outdated or stereotypical narratives. Dr. Thomas points out that “travel books are about places, but they are also always about time.” A book written about Africa decades ago reflects a specific moment in time and may not accurately represent the continent’s current reality.

To combat stereotypes and promote responsible representation, she argues that “good writers should be conscious of stereotypes as they are writing and flag them up.” The best travel writers approach individuals as individuals, challenging stereotypes rather than perpetuating them. This necessitates acknowledging the temporal context of travel writing and actively questioning outdated or biased representations.

The discussion then delves into the crucial issue of perspective and voice. While acknowledging the value of “otherness” in travel – the ability to notice details that locals might overlook – it raises the question of representation: Can writers from dominant cultures, like white English women, responsibly write about places like Malawi? How does their perspective compare to that of a Malawian author?

Dr. Thomas emphasizes that while a Malawian author’s perspective would be inherently more authoritative on Malawi, it doesn’t negate the validity of other perspectives. “You can only ever write from your perspective,” she asserts, “There is no view from nowhere.” The key lies in being “conscious that you are writing from a perspective.” Acknowledging one’s own biases, cultural background, and positionality becomes paramount in responsible travel writing. For instance, expressing astonishment at the variety of sodas in an American grocery store should be explicitly framed as a perspective from a UK resident, recognizing that this observation is culturally contingent.

This call for perspectival awareness underscores the evolving understanding of travel meaning in a globalized world, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices and responsible representation.

Maps as Processes: Power, Perspective, and Shifting Borders

The conversation transitions to maps, a seemingly static representation of the world, yet in Dr. Thomas’s philosophical exploration, they are far more dynamic. She poses the question: “Are maps things or processes?” challenging the conventional view of maps as fixed objects.

Drawing a philosophical distinction between static “things” and dynamic “processes,” she argues that maps, particularly in the digital age, lean more towards the latter. Google Maps, constantly updated and evolving, exemplify this dynamic nature. Is each update a “new map,” or is it the same map in a continuous state of change?

This perspective extends to physical maps as well. Historical examples, like maps of London updated during WWII to reflect bomb damage, demonstrate that even paper maps can be seen as processes of recording and adapting to changing realities.

Detail of the Mappa Mundi Hereford cathedral Photo by JFPenn

Furthermore, maps are not neutral representations; they are “objects of power.” The placement of the map’s center, for instance, carries geopolitical significance. Historically, Jerusalem or Athens held this central position; today, European maps often center Europe, while maps from China or the US center their respective countries. This centering reflects the mapmaker’s worldview and the power dynamics they perceive.

Maps also convey power through inclusion and exclusion – what is represented and what is omitted. The depiction of borders, historically and even in contemporary digital maps, can be manipulated to assert territorial claims and political agendas. Google Maps, for example, adjusts border representations based on the user’s location and local geopolitical sensitivities – a striking example of how maps are not objective but rather reflect and reinforce power structures. Understanding travel meaning in the context of maps requires recognizing their inherent subjectivity and political dimensions. Even seemingly static maps on our walls are snapshots of a particular moment, subject to the ever-shifting realities of borders and geopolitical landscapes.

The Mercator projection, commonly used in world maps, further illustrates this point. By distorting the relative sizes of continents, it historically minimized the visual prominence of the African continent compared to Europe, subtly reinforcing Eurocentric perspectives. Alternative projections attempt to rectify these distortions, revealing the true scale of continents like Africa and challenging ingrained perceptions shaped by biased mapmaking.

Doom Tourism and Ethical Travel: Navigating the Paradox of Place and Planet

The conversation then turns to “Doom Tourism,” a concept encompassing dark tourism to sites of disaster or potential disappearance, as well as visiting places threatened by climate change, like the Maldives. The ethical complexities of this form of travel are explored.

Dr. Thomas initially posits that “in principle, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing tourism or dark tourism.” The impulse to witness a place before it vanishes seems natural, akin to appreciating a fleeting rainbow. However, the ethical dilemma arises when “the very act of traveling is contributing to the doom of the place in question.”

Glaciers and coral reefs serve as prime examples. Visiting these fragile ecosystems, while driven by a desire to witness their beauty before they disappear, can inadvertently accelerate their demise. The carbon footprint of travel, combined with the direct impact of tourism on these delicate environments, raises serious ethical questions about the sustainability of doom tourism. This prompts a deeper reflection on the ethical dimensions of travel meaning in an era of environmental crisis.

Virtual Reality and the Future of Travel: Immersion and Experience Redefined

This ethical conundrum leads to a discussion of virtual reality (VR) as a potential alternative and complement to physical travel. Dr. Thomas acknowledges the appeal of VR travel, particularly for destinations vulnerable to environmental damage or overtourism. VR scuba diving, for instance, offers a way to experience coral reefs without the ecological impact of physical diving.

She envisions a future with “a lot more VR travel,” driven by factors like cost, convenience, and safety. VR offers a “really safe, cheap alternative” to the often-difficult and expensive realities of physical travel. Furthermore, VR opens up possibilities beyond replicating real-world destinations, allowing exploration of “imaginary worlds” created for entertainment and escapism.

While acknowledging the exciting potential of VR travel, Dr. Thomas also emphasizes that “part of the value of travel lies in the difficulty and the fear and the inconvenience.” For her, the challenges inherent in physical travel are integral to its transformative power. She envisions a future where VR and physical travel coexist, serving different needs and desires – VR for accessible and ethical exploration, and physical travel for immersive, challenging, and deeply personal experiences.

The conversation further explores the complementary nature of VR and physical travel. VR tours of historical sites like the Egyptian pyramids could offer enhanced access and detail, potentially surpassing the experience of crowded, tourist-laden physical visits. However, the sensory richness and unpredictable encounters of navigating a real Cairo souk remain distinctly different from a VR simulation.

However, the question of “truth” resurfaces in the context of VR. Even VR experiences, while potentially based on real footage, are inherently mediated and perspectival. The choices made by VR creators – camera angles, focus, narrative framing – shape the user’s experience, potentially perpetuating biases or romanticized versions of reality. Just as travel writing is always from a perspective, so too is VR travel, raising critical questions about authenticity and representation in this evolving landscape of travel meaning.