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If no one ever left home

Think of a world where no one ever travelled. One where we knew all our neighbours, our landscapes, and we shared the same philosophy on life. In this world we would know nothing of what lay over a hillside, behind a mountain or across the sea. Some people in this world, they are perfectly happy here.  
Personally, I feel smothered even writing that description. Travel is as much about considering new ideas as it is about taking a photo or buying a t-shirt. My first trip overseas was magical although perhaps not in some people's eyes. I travelled from Scotland to Greece by bus - four days of looking out of the window onto a foreign world, my very own vista. It was dawn when we reached the Greek border, the hillsides were golden and, as I looked around, I would not have been surprised to see a shepherd and his nymphs frolicking downhill toward me. No matter the long bus journey, I had arrived into a magical land. The children of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could not have been more surprised when they went through the back of the wardrobe.
That trip took great financial sacrifice. I was an unbelievably poor student and I was alone, none of my friends wanted to go with me. But, no regrets. I came home a new person with a hunger for new people and places. Foreigners, when you don't know any, are like strangers.
So why do some of us want to go beyond borders? Are we escaping from our own worlds? Or are we moving forward toward new ideas, customs, language, foods? (Is it a little like those who travel by train facing where they are going, as opposed to those who like to see where they have been?)
I'm posing many questions but this is not a bad thing. Questions shouldn't hurt. 






 

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