Forget wanderlust, travel expresses a person’s curiosity
Does travel offer a sense of wanderlust or is it more of an expression of a person’s curiosity? The answer is quite telling.
Why do people travel? A simple question with a myriad of answers.
While some people feel they are drawn to their next great adventure, that calling might not be wanderlust. Could it be just a person’s curiosity that has them booking another trip?
In a recent survey commissioned by Curio Collection by Hilton, the results show that “only 20 percent of people are said to have the ‘wanderlust gene’ (DRD4-7R), (but) 91 percent of the population considers themselves to be curious. 73 percent of people say that traveling is their go-to outlet to express their curiosity.”
Those simple findings summarize one of the biggest trends in traveling. Travelers aren’t just looking for another hotel room or a boring destination. They want their next trip to be a fully immersive experience.
BADIA A PASSIGNANO, ITALY – JULY 06: The sun sets over olive trees and vineyards on July 6, 2013 at Badia a Passignano, Italy. The region of Tuscany is among Italy’s biggest tourist destinations. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Even looking at the recent Trip Advisor best of lists, the findings show that people are looking for experiences on their next vacation. Sure, there are best of lists for a variety of locales, but people are searching for cooking schools, artist retreats, and even sporting events.
For example, the idea of an authentic cooking Italian cooking class in Tuscany isn’t just learning about making homemade pasta. That cooking class brings those vacation memories back to the home kitchen every time that person makes those dishes. It is a simple idea that keeps the memory fresh because it was based on an experience.
Personally, I agree with this concept. While I have traveled all over the globe, the trips that I pop into my memories most often are the ones that immersed me into an experience. From diving with great white sharks in shark alley to living with a family in Paraguay, those moments were real, not contrived.
Like the survey’s findings, I satisfied my curiosity in those moments. Was a great white shark as frightening as those television shows portray or was it really a beautiful, misunderstood creature that awed me with its beauty? While I can tell you my experience, it won’t necessarily resonate with you until you experience it.
Now, I don’t necessarily have the wanderlust desire to constantly be away from home, I do have the urge to learn more, explore more and get those questions answered. It can be as simple as are those over-the-water huts in Bali really like the pictures with all the celebrities? Or did Ant-Man really travel through the streets of San Francisco like he did in the movie? Whatever the question that lurks, nags at me, my curiosity is seeking an answer that I can only find through experience.
Next: Would you cruise around the world?
What’s your reason to travel? Is there a curiosity that you want satisfied? Or, better question what’s your next destination?