Benefits of a Travel Hobby

The Benefits of Pursuing a Specific Hobby: Travel
There are numerous benefits to enjoying a hobby: hobbies allow one to take a break from the daily grind and find relaxation and enjoyment in a sphere that is of personal interest. Hobbies can help to eliminate stress, can serve as a challenge in which an individual tests his or her wits, skills, or ingenuity. Hobbies serve as means of getting to know other people or of finding like-minded people and bonding over the hobby. Hobbies promote mindfulness and the concept of living in the now. And hobbies can have plenty of physical benefits: they can keep the mind sharp, can keep the body in shape (especially if one’s hobby is something like hiking), and so on. There are plenty of different hobbies—from singing to playing the piano to gardening to learning languages to volunteering at a local non-profit (Stebbins, 2007). This paper will look at the benefits of pursuing the specific hobby of travel, which include (a) getting to see the world, (b) getting to create new memories, (c) discovering one’s own backyard, (d) getting to enjoy another pastime like reading while on the go, (e) enjoying new foods from different cultures, and (f) having some serious straight up pleasure. Because of these benefits, travel is a good hobby to take up.
Nothing says being alive letting getting out and seeing the world. Unfortunately, a lot of people never get off their couches anymore or out from behind their computer screens. This is unfortunate because they are missing so much of what the world has to offer. The world is full of attractions: the beauties of nature and the wonders of big cities; the glorious seas and the awe-inspiring mountains and hills. Foreign lands, foreign peoples, foreign languages and foreign foods; cultures, experiences, ideas, and entertainment—all of this and more can be enjoyed by one who takes up travel as a hobby.
Traveling is most commonly associated with tourism, which is a kind of destination travel: people pick a place they would like to explore and go directly there—say, Rome or Venice or Singapore. They see the sights, take photos, buy souvenirs, and bring back items for loved ones. As Swanson and Horridge (2006) note, travelers can have multiple motivations for going out to different parts of the world and bringing home souvenirs. One reason is that they help to create memories and stories that can be shared with others, no matter where they are. The experiences that are lived when traveling can give one a sense of joy, a sense of graciousness for being alive, and even a sense of purpose.
Travel, however, does not have to be done with tourism in mind. One can set out on foot and simply wander around the local countryside, or visit the small towns within a 50 mile radius of one’s home. One can explore the foothills of the Appalachians all by oneself and spend a week in a tent. Or one can head to a lake and spend the night by the campfire. Travel does not require tourists to be around—but it certainly is an option and a type of travel that appeals to many who pursue this hobby.
Travel can also be associated with another hobby—i.e., combined with something else that one loves. Say, for instance, you love reading or watching old films. Those books or films were made by someone—and those people lived and worked and died somewhere. Some people who travel who also love art set out, therefore, to visit the gravesides of beloved poets, musicians, directors, writers, actors and actresses. They set out to see their homes, the places where they lived and worked, or just to pay homage to the artists who impacted them by visiting the home where they grew up.
Others travel because they enjoy food. They set sail for France or fly to Italy or voyage to Asia to enjoy the cuisine of these parts of the world. They combine their love of food or of cooking with their love of travel. Travel, in other words, is not a hobby that has to be pursued in isolation; rather, it is one that can be combined with a variety of other hobbies. If one enjoys reading as a hobby, too, one can book a long train ride across the country and simply read for a week straight while enjoying the passing scenery.
Travel helps to create a pleasurable experience for people (Webster & Rennie, 2011) and a hobby should do exactly that—give someone a little bit of pleasure to take his or her mind of the worries and cares and concerns of the world for a while. Taking up a hobby like travel gives one a reason to get up in the morning and get out of doors. Rather than while away the weekend sitting at home, reading up on the latest news online, one can get out and start to experience the real world. One can visit a place that he has always heard about, or point randomly at a map and go wherever the finger lands. There are no rules regarding how to pursue this hobby—which means it really is a self-directed type of activity.
The benefits of taking up travel as a hobby are too numerous to really count. One can make new friends, make new stories, create new memories, sharpen one’s wits (it’s not always easy to travel—especially if one is going to a place where the language is different), experience new cultures, or see new places and people—or see old, familiar ones. Traveling keeps one active and interested in life. You can even unite travel with another favorite pastime, like listening to music. Travel to any one of the various music festivals held around the nation throughout the year. Go see a monument to an old rock star, and visit the place where the Stephen Foster Story in Bardstown, Kentucky, is performed annually. Travel opens doors to all sorts of possibilities—and that is exactly what a hobby should do.
References
Stebbins, R. A. (2007). Serious leisure: A perspective for our time (Vol. 95). Transaction
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Swanson, K. K., & Horridge, P. E. (2006). Travel motivations as souvenir purchase
indicators. Tourism Management, 27(4), 671-683.
Webster, C. M., & Rennie, V. A. (2011). Pursuing pleasure: consumer value in leisure
travel. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 5(4), 334-344.