Hope: A reason to travel

Why do we travel? It's a question I've asked myself more than once, and one I even posed to all of you in the early days of this blog (though to little response). For many, the obvious answer is escape: a vacation from a stressful job, a warm getaway during a cold winter, a break from the routine of everyday life. For others, there are countless reasons for travel: business, pleasure, family, study, exploration.

But what about hope? Can hope be a reason to travel? Hope that you might learn something new, hope that you might find the answer to an unspoken question, hope that your life might be better for having gone? The answer, of course, is yes: hope is as valid a reason as any to travel—especially in these times of uncertainty.

Hope has stirred me to travel more than once. Enough so, back in 2002, that I posed for the self-portrait pictured at right when I literally found Hope in New Mexico on December 31. (I took it as an omen of "hope for the new year," and 2003 did indeed turn out to be a better year.) Much further back, hope for personal growth motivated me to travel the world, courtesy of the United States Navy. Hope even figured into my travels to San Diego last weekend (though, lacking an ending, that story must be told another time).

As anyone who paid attention to last year's presidential campaign knows, the idea of "hope" can be a powerful motivator to people. Presumably most of us appreciate what we have, but most of us probably also hope for more: whether it's an altruistic hope for something like world peace, or a more self-centered hope for a better job or salary. So it should be no surprise that hope can serve as an equally powerful motivator when it comes to travel.