Purposeful Travel — Learn from the World

My intention to travel with a purpose and why it could be good for you to know your “Why”

When traveling, you may encounter different types of people if you ask them why they chose to travel to a certain destination: Some people seem to have profound arguments for why they came to a place and what they want to do there, while there are also motives that sound like they could have been copied out of a travel magazine. Other people may not even know a good answer at all. This last group might actually be more honest to themselves as they realized that they adopted someone else’s reasons.

How I got the idea to travel with a purpose

During my latest travels in Latin America I started noticing more and more how privileged I am to be able to travel and thought about how I use these opportunities I have.

*More than 99% of the world’s population do not have the same opportunities to travel as I do - It is a privilege [Aguada de Pablo Village, Colombia].*

Visiting places to take pretty pictures for Instagram and to tick them of a list, hence having been somewhere and done the typical activity just for the sake of having been there wasn’t enough for me anymore. The satisfaction of these motives used to give me a rewarding feeling, but when I thought about where I want to go after finishing my internship and volunteering in Colombia, I did not want choose a place to visit in an easy way. I felt like I needed a better reason for heading somewhere, many smaller objectives or even a bigger purpose.

Thus, my ethics were reinforced as I became more aware that by simply visiting places I am only spending money and polluting the world with carbon dioxide without making anyone’s life better in the long term. In order to legitimate my future travels and the corresponding pollution I am looking for a more sustainable purpose.

What inspired me

Luckily, I met some people along the road that had similar thoughts. One friend told me about a list she had written about the things she wanted to do or accomplish during her travels. Due to some job interviews, development centers and personality tests last year, I was already used to spending some time reflecting about my life. Therefore, it was an easy start to make a list of what I would like to do in my travel time and how I would like to develop myself.

Many of my previous travels already had a certain purpose and maybe even something that made them unique or at least not mainstream anymore. Whether it was the semester abroad and mining internship in Australia, the Erasmus Semesters including several different volunteering positions in Norway, BEST courses in Torino and Nancy or the academic excursion to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan - my longer trips usually started with one or several specific aims in mind.

Honestly, many times my previously determined objectives and reasons to head to these places were not the most rewarding and developing experiences and learnings that I took home from there, but I still tend to accomplish my predetermined objectives. From these experiences, I learned that it is important to make a plan with objectives beforehand, but also to leave some space for the unexpected problems and opportunities. The major difference to the purposeful travel I am talking about now, is to reflect more about the reasons to travel in general and especially to a specific place. Trying to find my true motives was and still is a great exercise, as I do not want to waste my free time and privileges without a good reason anymore.

Brainstorming and making a list of what you want and need while reflecting why you want it can be a great start to giving your next travel a purpose and making it more rewarding. Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.

My definition of “Purposeful Travel”

Despite being a strong expression, it is rather easy to travel with a purpose. I like to define it in a few more words as follows:

“To travel with an objective or personally evaluated reasons in mind. Thus, having thoroughly considered the reasons for and impact of a travel and integrated them into the decision taking of destination and activities during the trip.

It should lead to less long haul flights, fewer trips just to visit a place and reduce disappointment due to non-fitting destinations or activities. Meanwhile, personal development may enhance, rewarding travels with satisfying activities become more common and closer travel destinations more appreciated.

Possibly, these thoughts to travel with a purpose are not initial, but only appear upon extensive travel experience and subsequent reflection.”

As an example, for my decisions in Latin America it was especially important what I personally needed to feel better after a tough year in Germany and even tougher internship in Colombia, in addition to what I would be able to do during longer and more flexible travels compared to a regular vacation. Thus, I visited some friends and the Lacrosse Teams in Medellín and Bogotá, did some volunteering with my camera and promoted a less touristic route to Cusco, beat my altitude problem and started doing multiple day trekking while leaving some time and money for spontaneous decisions. Additionally, I visited a university and the producer of the shaker table we bought during my internship to evaluate the innovativeness of this processing machine.

The benefits of purposeful travel

For yourself

As a primary reason when deciding to travel with a purpose, it is easier to think about the benefits it has for yourself. By evaluating where you want to go and why you have this desire, first of all, you will become more aware of your current reasoning and what is or seems to be important to you. Just opening this box of what you actually want is a huge first step. You can transfer this lesson from reflecting about your travels on many aspects of your life, too, and thus improve your decision taking.

If you then know why you want to go somewhere and what you want to do there, you can plan your destination time according to your priorities and make more of the time you have. It will be easier to decide what to do and what not to do. Moreover, you can decide on certain activities you definitely want to follow and make an efficient schedule to do so. You now have the chance to be more productive and impactful during your trip if you want to do so. However, wanting to give your travels a good purpose and accomplishing it on the road can also feel like a stressful task. It does not have to be a lifechanger or peace mission though - as described later anything you personally need or actually want to do could be a purpose. It may also raise expectations that are difficult to meet, but handling missed aims and avoiding disappointment is a whole new chapter that can hit anyone.

If you travel to get to know yourself better, look for things you like and topics you may like to work with, it is worth being aware of this before and during your travels. Yes, you should be spontaneous in this case and try out many opportunities you otherwise would not, but if you think a little ahead, you can bring yourself in a better position to encounter those spontaneous opportunities. If you are the kind of person that easily gets distracted by parties, daytrips or the beach, but want to do something else, too, you should make sure that you also end up in places where partying for example is not so common. Being out of your comfort zone can start with staying in a place you normally would not stay in. You can also try to find places with people that may motivate you to try something totally different or even gather a list of opportunities you could imagine yourself going for.

Furthermore, to get out of your daily rhythm and comfort zone you do not need to fly to the other side of the world, but just a city or country around the corner without anyone you know and where you cannot follow your normal habits as easily, could be enough. Discussing this topic, it is definitely a valid reason to go on a longer travel for finding yourself/ your passion/ or your gift. Once you have found it, you can use it to improve something in this world; may it be something complicated or simply making people happy. In order to find my talents I found it helpful to find myself in different positions, situations and problems. As Mark Manson wrote, it is not about the results you want to achieve, but the problems you want to work with that make you happy and give you a fulfilled life.

It is also likely that traveling itself will not complete you. Surely, it is a lot of fun, but even that at some point gets boring and somehow common. At this point you may start looking for a deeper purpose in your (travel) life. For some people, it is possible that we can find this purpose in traveling, for example by helping people on the way or documenting and sharing so that others may have an easier or better experience.

Last but not least, intending to travel with a purpose will likely make you become a more responsible traveller overall as you started reflecting about your personal reasons, actions and impact.

*Traveling is a great opportunity to do something you otherwise would not or cannot do at home. Maybe also pushing your physical limits to gain more confidence.*

For the environment

I hope this does not seem unfamiliar to you: Flights are bad for our environment as they do not only produce a lot of Carbon Dioxide, but also other gases like Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and particles. These gases lead to global warming - alongside other effects from the airplanes that further heat up our atmosphere.

According to the German Federal Environmental Agency, we need to reduce our yearly CO2 emissions to 1t per year and person by 2050 in order to have a chance to limit global warming to 2° C [umweltbundesamt.de]. In Germany, we currently have average yearly emissions of 11 t CO2 per person. One return flight from London to New York can have an emission of more than 3t CO2 per passenger [qz.com]. By comparing these numbers you should notice that we cannot continue with the currently very popular behaviour of exotic travels if we want to keep a chance to reduce the effects of climate change.

I do not want to open the whole climate change box here, but just raise awareness of the negative effects of aviation and the impact flying to hyped travel destinations around the world has.

Pictures from planes rarely turn out well anyways, so you might leave them out at all; and cut back on flights, too. — *Pictures from planes rarely turn out well anyways, so you might leave them out at all*; and cut back on flights, too.

Ideas for purposes

So what do I consider valid purposes to travel and go on vacation abroad for myself? Some persons argue that there are as many valid reasons as there are people in the world, because everybody could need something else in different situations and there exist incredibly many ways to do something good. Hence, here is a list of some in my opinion legitimate purposes that came to my mind:

‒ Personal development by courses or activities

‒ Experience and learn about another culture, different living standards and environments as well as approaches to solve problems. Widen your horizon and become aware how all the cultures are a little bit different while we still have the same human traits

‒ Get out of the daily rhythm to try out new things and finally start something new or end a bad habit/ conquer a fear

‒ Find yourself (strengths, interests and problems you want to work with) Use this knowledge and your newly found or rediscovered talents to help other people/ make other people happy

‒ (Re)discover or fulfill dreams

‒ Follow hobbies and do outdoor sports

‒ Immerse yourself in nature, get back to the basics and appreciate the earth and all it has to offer

‒ Relax, recover from stressful work, disconnect from the internet, meditate, be present, “get away from work”

‒ Meet friends and family, get to know interesting and inspiring personalities, networking

For all of these reasons you should make sure that they are truly what you need and not just an excuse to have a purpose. It is better to be honest to yourself, not only with this question but all the important ones in your life.

Your purpose may obviously be altruistic, as well, therefore some kind of volunteering. As a privileged and educated person, you can well help improving a thing here or there. But if you think about it, not much is needed to be able to help someone or somewhere, anybody’s time, energy and effort can make a difference. There are so many ways to do something good. Your travel purpose does not need to be an altruistic one though. Any travel purpose can be a good travel purpose. In order to make sure that the purpose you thought of is good, evaluate whether it truly comes from your personal motivation and whether it improves your or someone else’s situation. After all, improving yourself should at some point improve the world around you, too.

Most likely, you will not be able to plan your whole trip in detail, filled with purposeful activities and be lucky to be able to accomplish all your objectives. Neither should you try to plan it in perfection - leave some space for spontaneous decisions and the not expected activities and learnings, which may be more rewarding than what you came for in the first place. Furthermore, having freedom and time for relaxing your mind from planning and organization is something you should include in your travels in case you are very stressed in your work at home. Leaving this time and space for the unknown also has a purpose in this way.

Remember that in the end your destination should match your purpose. Why do you need to go somewhere far away if you can do the same thing close by?

*Do you really have to fly to Canada for hiking if you can go here by train? If yes, you better have some good reasons in mind, too. [Weißsee Gletscherwelt, Austria]*

My personal intention for traveling

As I still love traveling and am dreaming about longer travels at some point in the future, I am currently searching for a purpose that could legitimate more travels. Besides personal development or altruistic reasons as described above I am hoping to share some of the experiences I make. My desire is that my stories and pictures do not only display and describe a destination, but also open minds toward different concepts, provoke new thoughts and stimulate reflections about your existing beliefs, as well as share the bottom line of the lessons I learned. A noble idea, but I well know that it is not easy to execute, especially as I am not sure which topics I could write about that would fulfill these requirements. My free time travels should certainly have a lower footprint in the future though.

The Appeal

I am not saying that you should not travel anymore if you do not have a purpose that the Dalai Lama would approve, but just to reflect once more why you want to go somewhere. Even by finding a rational reason after already having taken your emotional decision, you can get more out of your trip - and also justify your choice in case someone else or your consciousness is questioning you. This may not make your life easier in the first place, but doing something better seldom is easy.

*Learn to appreciate more what you have at home and rediscover your backyard and neighborhood for vacation and relaxing [Cologne, Germany]*

This is supposed to be an appeal for a more conscious decision taking when planning your next travel - both to make it more rewarding for yourself as well as less polluting for the environment. So consider whether it has to be a different continent again or whether a place closer to your home allows you to achieve your objectives and may be similarly rewarding.

Acknowledgements

For this first article, I did also research other author’s opinions on this topic, in order to understand and organize my own thoughts better, as well as to learn how to write about this topic. Therefore, I have gathered a few interesting reads with similar topics here:

https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2018/10/travelling-purpose-best-way-travel/

https://medium.com/@jeffreylam/what-is-the-purpose-of-traveling-1ac782bd6617

https://authentictraveling.com/travel-thoughts/travel-with-purpose/

Feedback

We are all humans and make mistakes. Thus, feel free to remind me of my intentions and values should you catch me doing a whole trip (possibly including long haul flights) without a purpose. Maybe I do have a purpose that just is not so obvious though.

As this is my first blog post, I am very happy about any feedback, both on the post itself, the website and what you think about the concept of purposeful travel: Can you understand my thoughts and consequent decision to define and search for a purpose? Did you experience similar doubts about your travels and are looking to to give them more purpose in the future?

Reading the post you may have noticed that I have already developed a strong opinion on this topic. In comparison to other ideas I am still unsure about, I asked you directly to reflect about your travel habits for the sake of our planet here. Convincing somebody is very difficult, because there are so many different opinions, personal traits and learning behaviours to be considered - plus the questionable ethics of telling someone else what to do. In order to find out whether my intention was succesful and to learn about the best ways to present ideas and convince people, I would highly appreciate if you could fill out this form.

Side Note:

I also have the type of personality that generally tends to find rational reasons for my decisions (also those made by gut feeling) and my behaviour - hoping to understand why I do, did or did not do something. You might be a totally different personality and cannot understand why I am reflecting about my travels in this way.

Short Summary

Traveling and long haul flights have become more and more popular with many people going abroad just for the sake of visiting places. Exploring another country and culture can certainly have many benefits, but you should make sure that you are actually achieving these. Try to reflect on your motives for your next planned trip, see if you already have a purpose, can find satisfying personal reasons or objectives you can only accomplish exactly in this place. Otherwise, a destination closer to your home may be sufficient.