Why We Travel

The deep immersion into other cultures really captured me in Iyer's essay. I am the ultimate tourist when it comes to travelling and have never really gone on a trip simply to become part of the culture, and let the culture become a part of me, but I deeply related to when he compares travelling to a country to a "love affair." Every time I return from a trip I am caught up in looking through my pictures and flipping through my travel journal and trying to relive every moment, because I have fallen in love with wherever I have traveled. I feel like every trip I have been on has added onto the person that I am today, which is what Iyer talks about when he says that travel "shows us all the parts of ourselves that might otherwise grow rusty. Every time you travel somewhere you have to adapt and grow in ways that you wouldn't have if you had stayed at home.