Why We Travel

Why we Travel

Before shaping a life centered around travel, it’s crucial to be clear about your motivation. It’s easy to say that the world is vast and beautiful, and that’s why you want to travel. However, sustaining a travel-focused life requires more than just that sentiment. We believe there needs to be a deeper reason, unless, of course, your travel is financially motivated.

For us, the primary reason was the monotonous routine imposed by modern society. We’re all caught in a repetitive cycle—school, job, marriage, children, and so on. The pattern never seems to end, and the main focus is always on earning money to maintain this schedule. Even if you bypass marriage, you’ll still find yourself stuck in a money-making loop that brings you back to the same pattern.

Adding to this mechanical existence is the fact that we only have one life, and our self-awareness tends to emerge only after a certain age, often fading as we grow older. Given this scenario, we question the value of spending 40 years in an office, simply moving from job to retirement to death. To us, the traditional job-money-retirement cycle seems pointless.

Moreover, we’re frustrated by the fact that sustaining this routine often requires damaging the natural world, which we deeply care about and wish to protect. The question then becomes: How can we save it? After much reflection, we realized that, as individuals within this societal framework, we are often contributors to its destruction.

As long as we are part of civilization, we are going to be part of environmental destruction.

We decided to leave our corporate jobs because we realized that no matter what job we do, it ultimately contributes to environmental destruction. Even a software job, while seemingly harmless, relies on resources from the natural world, and the companies we work for often cause environmental harm, making us mere cogs in the machine of destruction.

In this context, quitting corporate jobs to fight for the environment seems like the obvious choice. However, the challenge is how to do so without financial resources. When even basic necessities like food require money, it’s hard to imagine making a significant impact. Large-scale environmental damage is driven by well-funded entities, and trying to counteract this through environmental awareness alone seems futile, especially when people are themselves trapped in the same system.

We got actively involved in environmental activities, but this only clarified and confirmed what we already suspected. Many environmentalists are motivated by money or fame, while a few genuinely concerned individuals are often disconnected from practical realities. I even wrote a book detailing these issues and the disconnect between intentions and actions.

At this point, we realized that we were like small stones trying to combat missiles.

So how does one  balance life and love for environment , when one feeds on the other ?

We chose to embrace a simple life, focusing on the beauty of nature and our natural world neighbors. People often resist change when it’s imposed on them, but they’re more likely to be inspired by example. We decided to demonstrate how you can break free from the system of control early in life with some careful planning. For insights on how we fund our travels and navigate this system, check out my blog on “How We Fund Our Travel.”

The truth is, life can be both simple and beautiful. The sooner you realize this, the more you can enjoy life as it’s meant to be. It requires slowing down to truly appreciate it. Once you do, you’ll discover there’s much to explore and appreciate around your own home, perhaps more so than in distant places. Understanding that seeing the world and truly comprehending it are different experiences, we found that traveling and observing natural wonders made us humble and shaped who we are today.

So to answer the question of “why we travel” , we can answer that in two parts…to be in touch with nature and for setting an example to others by showing that there are other ways of living.

Related Post