The average distance traveled per household increased by over 10,000 miles from the late 60s to the early 2000s, with the majority of it coming during work and errand related trips. Work commutes alone take an average of 3 more miles per day. Part of this is due to us living further from the places we work. For more info on this check out the National Household Travel Survey from 2009. (It’s a little dense but the graphs and charts provide some cool info.) This isn't meant to be an eco-jeremiad or anything to do with global warming. It's simply an encouragement to look at how and why we travel. With the average household traveling for business, necessities, work well over 70% of the time, what do we do with the other 30%, the just for fun, the big trips? Where do we go and why? Traveling is exciting, it’s possibility. We travel a thousand miles to an exotic locale, a beach that’s just as pretty as one two hundred miles away because it’s possible that this new beach is better - more pretty, more exotic, more … perfect? By traveling we’re looking for something better than here. Our ancestors (and many people nowadays not living in the US of A) traveled out of necessity: looking for food or water, to get away from warfare, over-population, or looking for a new start. Most of our food and water travels to us and we live in a peaceful area. Overpopulation is a tricky subject and many people like to live around a lot of other people (i.e. NYC, Chicago, LA). I believe most of us travel to find something new. We believe that there’s something different just across the road and that that something different is worth the look. And even if it’s not the act of going, of moving, may prove to be all that we need. We travel for change and that change may not just be that the destination is different from where we started, but that we are changed by the simple act of going. Conclusion: When was the last time you took a walk for fun rather than exercise? Or biked to an event? Or traveled for adventure instead of obligation? As we start this new year, remember that how and why we travel have a profound effect on us, just as much as how far we go and how fast.
4 Comments
sally funk
1/2/2015 08:03:29 am
I travel just for the pleasure of getting away and a change of scenery. It really doesn't matter where. There is beauty everywhere if you just open your eyes.
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Josiah
1/6/2015 12:24:19 pm
I think that the beauty of scenery is one of the best reasons to travel. Just seeing how big the world is and how unique everything is, is reason enough to get out and go. Thanks for commenting.
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7/27/2015 11:02:48 pm
The average distance traveled per household increased by over 10,000 miles from the late 60s to the early 2000s, with the majority of it coming during work and errand related trips. Work commutes alone take an average of 3 more miles per day.
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9/7/2016 03:49:52 am
The travel needs of the travelling people of this world, both leisure and business,have been put into question by themselves and by the public at large. My feelings are that the travelling public feels generally that they can get a better "deal" by booking the travel themselves on the internet, please read cheaper, than they can by booking their holiday through a travel agency. Well the answer to that myth is they can't.
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