Do I travel to escape reality? Do people travel to escape reality?

This is a topic that came up recently and it got me thinking. A lot. First of all I wanted to define what reality was and how that had informed my decisions to travel and to continue to do so. It also had me wondering whether my desire to travel a lot meant that I was escaping something in my reality, whatever that is.

What is reality – like really?

Defining reality has kept many people far more intelligent than myself, pondering this question for a long time and if Plato, Kant and even Hawking’s cannot agree, then I have no hope so I might let go of that one. No I won’t. Perhaps everyone’s reality is his or her own exclusively, and there is not a predetermined or consistent reality. So if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Can’t that be up to you and whether you think it does or not?

Is reality so bad?

It also made me wonder whether reality was seen as such a bad thing, something that made people inevitably unhappy. It also got me thinking about a quote my father had given to me. I think that we all strive to find a level of happiness in our lives and finding this is different for everyone. For me, one way that brings me great happiness is travelling and meeting people from all walks of life. Is this escapism? And from what?  Or is reality and escapism a relative concept?

The media

There are so many travel magazines, sites and companies that link ‘travel’ and ‘escape’ seamlessly together promoting the need to run away from ‘something’. They glorify the need to escape. They are perhaps quite responsible for people seeing that whatever there reality is must be so dire that they need to travel or to holiday, which are different in some respects.

My own reality ?

I am a great believer that what we are today is because of all of our experiences and that what we will be like in the future will be again, everything that happens to us up until that time. Towards that logic, travel will shape and change me.

Gordon and I can sit in the same café and watch the same scene and come up with different interpretations of what has just played out. This is a good thing in my reality, as it brings 2 different perspectives and extra colour and richness to our experiences. We have had different experiences in our past, that make us see and interpret things in our own way.

 Why do people escape reality?

The word escape gives the impression that you are getting away from something unpleasant to the point that it has warranted a plan to actively remove yourself from the situation. Or is there healthy escapism – as in, it will do you the world of good to get away and re-group, and unhealthy escapism where you are avoiding things rather than dealing with them?

If reality is day-to-day life then yes, travelling is a form of escaping this. So what! Who doesn’t want a break from the same routine? People have the right to do what they want to, within the bounds of decency, not what is expected of them according to societal mores. People are expected to go to work, have their annual holidays and to be happy with that. Many people are and that is a good thing. Many people are not and take off for long, extended and indefinite periods. Good for them. However, is day-to-day life that bad? Maybe if it is, then this is where changes need to made first and foremost.

I find travel to be liberating, to be challenging and to be addictive.  Its makes me happy. Not that I am miserable if I am not, it is just that I revel in it. The more I travel the more I want to. Maybe the question should have been one related to idealism vs realism.

My perception of travel and reality

So reality is a personal thing in my own semi-realistic head. I travel because I am a people voyeur. I am intrigued by other people’s lives. From the mundane to the unusual. I am intrigued on a sociological level about people from all over the world and indeed my own back yard. What makes them tick, what has informed their present and what will inform their future? I am absorbed in lifestyles, cultures, and environmental differences and in food and art. I try to engage with other ways of thinking as I sit and imagine their realities. The world is such a varied place, yet there are so many similarities amongst us all. This is my perception of reality and why I travel.

Maybe travelling makes you realise that things that you think are big issues in day-to-day life, may be not be that significant in the scale of life, while some things are certainly major.

A reality check

My father gave this quote to me and it has resonated with me ever since. Why he gave it to me is probably fairly obvious. What he did give me was a quote that was actually a reality check.

“For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life”.

Alfred D. Souza

I think that Dad was trying to tell me that my happiness was a journey with all of its highs and its lows, not a destination in itself and that my reality was in fact, right in front of me.