What makes people travel and what is meaningful travel

You probably dream of traveling every summer, but why do people want to go somewhere?On this other

questions answeredby Jaco J. Hamman, ProfessorReligion, Psychology, and Culture from the Vanderbilt School of Theology.Discuss

Most of the people who go tojourney, hoping to return transformed. At the same time, according to Professor Jaco J. Hamman, the desire to travel can also be called a defining feature of a person.

There are also so-called meaningful travel. They include six stages, which can ultimately lead to the "rebirth" of a person.

  1. anticipation. These are expectations and thoughts before the start of the journey itself. The specialist advises people before the trip to be prepared for anything, including disappointments and uncertainty.

  2. CareThanks to this, you can understand what kind of attachment style a person has.Some, for example, set out with excitement, others with guilt and hesitation.

  3. Change. This stage includes, for example, the cancellationflights, weather changes, etc. As a result, a person, as it were, surrenders to the unknown. However, it is known that this step helps a person to get rid of habits that hold him back, to feel a sense of integrity, unity with others. Let's say that a perfectionist in this case gets rid of the fear of failure, and someone who usually copes with everything on his own feels vulnerable when he receives help from strangers.

  1. Meeting. This allows you to go beyond the commonstereotypes about other people and cultures. But at the same time, it is important to know which topics it is dangerous to touch upon when talking in a particular country. It is best for the traveler to experience "cultural humility". This will enable him to easily ask others for help: “Please help me understand”, “I don’t know”, “How can I…?”

  2. Care. Such care may be associated, for example, with the consumption of local resources: water, food, etc. Also, travelers can hire local guides for this, eat at family restaurants.

  3. Return. When returning to their home country, a person mayreverse culture shock. But it may not be as strong if the traveler shares his impressions with others, expands his knowledge about the visited place and culture.