[travel] This is your brain on travel
Apr. 24th, 2009 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattbellI spent a couple of hours last night working out travel logistics for the next few days, and found a way to squeeze in a visit to the island of Delos, which is famed for its extensive Greek ruins. However, upon arrival I found that the schedules from the guidebook were wrong, I wasn't going to be able to visit Delos, and I would instead be spending the rest of the day taking a slow boat to Athens. (I could have stayed in Mykonos for the next few hours, but its main port felt like a giant empty city-sized tourist trap that was baited, set, and waiting to spring on the summer crowds.
The thing is, while I was pissed for a few minutes, I realized I was still having an interesting day. I was learning all about the logistics and culture of the Greek ferry system. It's all fascinating. By my 5th ferry trip I'll probably be bored of it, but for now, it's really interesting. Different people get different things out of travel (eg relaxation, bragging rights, seeing relatives, etc). Since I didn't necessarily have an explicit goal going into this aside from having fun and decompressing from long-term work stress, I'm interested to see, halfway through, what's working for me.
Here's what I feel I'm getting, in order of importance from most to least:
1. Enormous amounts of stunning, unusual, and fresh experiences that are different from one another and from my existing life. This is basically raw data that keeps my brain constantly engaged and, while it's not directly applicable to other life experiences, it builds up a variety of new neural circuits that will hopefully alllow me fresh and varied perspectives on issues relevant to my life at home. (It can be easy to get stuck in creativity-limiting mental ruts when in a daily routine.) So far it seems to be working. I recently had the idea that I can do this sort of thing at home by spending 10 minutes every morning doing something I haven't ever done before or haven't done in a long time. I can also learn the basics of a new skill every month. It's interesting that learning new physical skills (eg motorcycle riding, spinning poi, and snowboarding) seems to be especially great for building mindfulness and self-awareness as you have to pay close attention to the subconsious thought processes that govern the motion of your body. Seprarately, the habit of blogging fresh experiences seems to be a very useful mindfulness-related habit to get into, as it makes you mindful of how you will describe your experiences as they happen.
2. Firsthand exposure to different cultures and ways of life. This is usually the primary reason intellectuals state as to why they travel. It's kind of obvious, but it bears exploring. I will say that it's hard to meet genuine locals in a non-economic-transactional capacity unless you put heavy effort into it. However, it's easier to pick up on social aggregates like other cultures' aesthetics, economy etc, and these are interesting. I have been meaning to do a separate post about the standouts so far... as in, what other cultures do better than the US. It also gives me perspective on what's right about American culture... or at least the flavor of it found in the beautiful little bay area bubble. As a side effect of all this cultural exposure, I also am becoming a serious food snob. (eg Jordan has real pine nuts and cashews. Vietnam has real mangos. Greece has real olives. Israel has real yogurt.) I'll try not to be too annoying about it.
3. The chance to play with my identity. Stripped of the weight of contextual factors (eg possessions, job, existing social connections) I can more easily explore different sides of myself. This doesn't happen naturally though.... I have to work to let the mental aspects of these contextual factors go.
4. Bragging rights, both to myself and others. Yeah, it's in there. I'm being honest. I went to the top of the fucking Monastery in Petra, and it was awesome. I also want to encourage as many of you to travel as possible, so I am inclined to talk about how great it all is.
Interestingly, one thing travel hasn't been good for is meeting people that I click with. That's not to say I haven't met several people whom I've had lovely connections with. I have, and these connections have been wonderful. However, if I wanted to put serious effort into finding a lot of new people I connect really well with, I could have done it much more efficiently by meeting more friends of friends and going to various cafes, activities, and parties in the SF bay area.
The thing is, while I was pissed for a few minutes, I realized I was still having an interesting day. I was learning all about the logistics and culture of the Greek ferry system. It's all fascinating. By my 5th ferry trip I'll probably be bored of it, but for now, it's really interesting. Different people get different things out of travel (eg relaxation, bragging rights, seeing relatives, etc). Since I didn't necessarily have an explicit goal going into this aside from having fun and decompressing from long-term work stress, I'm interested to see, halfway through, what's working for me.
Here's what I feel I'm getting, in order of importance from most to least:
1. Enormous amounts of stunning, unusual, and fresh experiences that are different from one another and from my existing life. This is basically raw data that keeps my brain constantly engaged and, while it's not directly applicable to other life experiences, it builds up a variety of new neural circuits that will hopefully alllow me fresh and varied perspectives on issues relevant to my life at home. (It can be easy to get stuck in creativity-limiting mental ruts when in a daily routine.) So far it seems to be working. I recently had the idea that I can do this sort of thing at home by spending 10 minutes every morning doing something I haven't ever done before or haven't done in a long time. I can also learn the basics of a new skill every month. It's interesting that learning new physical skills (eg motorcycle riding, spinning poi, and snowboarding) seems to be especially great for building mindfulness and self-awareness as you have to pay close attention to the subconsious thought processes that govern the motion of your body. Seprarately, the habit of blogging fresh experiences seems to be a very useful mindfulness-related habit to get into, as it makes you mindful of how you will describe your experiences as they happen.
2. Firsthand exposure to different cultures and ways of life. This is usually the primary reason intellectuals state as to why they travel. It's kind of obvious, but it bears exploring. I will say that it's hard to meet genuine locals in a non-economic-transactional capacity unless you put heavy effort into it. However, it's easier to pick up on social aggregates like other cultures' aesthetics, economy etc, and these are interesting. I have been meaning to do a separate post about the standouts so far... as in, what other cultures do better than the US. It also gives me perspective on what's right about American culture... or at least the flavor of it found in the beautiful little bay area bubble. As a side effect of all this cultural exposure, I also am becoming a serious food snob. (eg Jordan has real pine nuts and cashews. Vietnam has real mangos. Greece has real olives. Israel has real yogurt.) I'll try not to be too annoying about it.
3. The chance to play with my identity. Stripped of the weight of contextual factors (eg possessions, job, existing social connections) I can more easily explore different sides of myself. This doesn't happen naturally though.... I have to work to let the mental aspects of these contextual factors go.
4. Bragging rights, both to myself and others. Yeah, it's in there. I'm being honest. I went to the top of the fucking Monastery in Petra, and it was awesome. I also want to encourage as many of you to travel as possible, so I am inclined to talk about how great it all is.
Interestingly, one thing travel hasn't been good for is meeting people that I click with. That's not to say I haven't met several people whom I've had lovely connections with. I have, and these connections have been wonderful. However, if I wanted to put serious effort into finding a lot of new people I connect really well with, I could have done it much more efficiently by meeting more friends of friends and going to various cafes, activities, and parties in the SF bay area.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-24 11:10 pm (UTC)I also enjoyed your number 3. Since, being away from anyone I knew very well, I could experiment with who I was, without people's prior expectations of me.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-25 08:22 pm (UTC)Also, it's very healthy to keep experimenting with identity. Most people seem to stop early in adulthood.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-26 12:22 am (UTC)Just looked up about the eclipse... it's a little later than when the school is on, but perhaps I'll stay on for the extra week.
(It wouldn't be the first time I stayed a little longer than planned for a special event ;-) )
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 02:49 pm (UTC)It took me the better part of a decade before I could bring myself to voluntarily purchase and eat bananas here in the States. Mangos, much the same. I do intend to get to the Taxi Brousse West African restaurant I saw on San Pablo sometime soon, though.
The identity thing is one of the reasons I yearn to travel on my own still, even though I'm very happily partnered with a fantastic travel companion. However, I've also found that even in my late 30s I'm still finding and exploring new aspects of my own identity, still finding ways to grow and challenge myself, regardless of whether I'm presented with direct opportunities like traveling somewhere I don't know anyone.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 10:01 pm (UTC)Ive never been to Taxi Brousse, but you should let me know if you ever try Bissap Baobab in SF. I like it a lot -- they have primarily Senegalese food.