Travel Why?

The reasons why we all seem to ‘up and go’ when we have time must, needs be, remain personal. Therefore I can only discuss these reasons from a very personal point of view. But there must be extremely good reasons why we are prepared to squeeze ourselves into metal tubes for long periods of time and be transported to places far, only to return some time later.

The philosopher Alain de Botton has attempted to analyse why people travel in his book ‘The Art of Travel’. He observes that few places are more conducive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships or trains but I cannot believe that this compensates for the discomfort of travel these days? He also thinks that few things are as exciting as the idea of travelling somewhere else. Of course, when you get back showing your videos or photos, there is an urge to say, “I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.” But I wonder how many people agree with him when he writes, “The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.” Mindset is MORE important than the destination? But it must be important, if not the most important factor affecting the way we enjoy other cultures.

I should also add that, although I have never been on a cruise and never intend to go on a cruise, I know many people who do enjoy cruises, unlike Alain de Botton.

Here in Seattle we have our own travel guru – Rick Steves one of the USA’s most active travel enthusiasts. In Edmonds not far from here, he runs classes on travel not directly connected to his commercial activities of running tours and writing guide books.

Rick Steves has concentrated almost entirely on European travel in his business activities. Recently, he has widened his personal activities and has also taken an interest in the purpose of travel.

Although he terms one purpose as “A Political Act”, I feel that he is talking more about international relations and global communication than politics.

But he is repeating his mantra on the value of travel. He runs travel groups which are small enough to enjoy the culture of the countries they visit.

On the other hand, personally I only recently discovered what “bucket list” tourism actually is and the effect it has had on various places on that “bucket list”. But who could argue with the theme of this film?

Apart from this, I couldn’t believe that people were prepared to travel to distant places just for the purpose of actually having been there. But who can see anything terribly wrong with these aspirations?

I presume that, for some people, there is an element of “keeping up with the Jones’s” but I DO know that some people simply enjoy travelling to places with different cultures and traditions. These people, I DO respect. They are not “bucket list” tourists, although they may have an agenda which looks very similar to a ‘bucket list’.

I remember walking behind an American couple in Florence. As we approached the Duomo, I heard one of them gasp and say, “Wow!! what’s that?” The other said “I have no idea!! I’d better look in the guide.” I had the impression that, not only did they not know anything about Florence, but they had no idea in which city they were walking.

Where do I fit into this?

I find that any ‘bucket list’ I have is quite adequately serviced by watching television programmes and excellent videos on YouTube. These are the videos which sell those huge flat screens in shops. I remember flying over the Grand Canyon in a Disneyland cinema many years ago before we had flat screen televisions

and diving deep in the ocean with Jaques Cousteau. The great thing about this type of documentary is that I simply don’t need to do this myself!

But there will be some who have been ‘turned on’ by these early programmes. Some will spend the whole of their vacation time under the water somewhere in the world. Others will hike all the great trails of the world. An introduction to an activity through video can lead to a very satisfying life.

In Europe, climate drives people south, although I am rather puzzled that this now happens mainly in the summer when temperatures in places like Italy, Spain and Greece can be excessively high. In Australia also, people will travel North towards the equator but this avoids the extremes of temperature well over 40 Celsius which can occur in cities in the South like Melbourne. In times past, the English, rich enough to travel, went south also in the Winter to places like the French Riviera.

This still happens in the USA where the “snowbirds” from the North will travel South in the Winter. Some of the best ballet performances I have seen in recent years were in Sarasota.

These “snowbirds” put their money where their passions lie! They also support a fine enthusiastic orchestra which makes up for the fact that they are not in New York or Boston for the Winter.

My interests are history and music history. But I have travelled to other places without being driven by these interests. I can remember being invited to smoke opium with the guardians of a sufi shrine in Iran – being one of only six people who managed to get on our flight from Jordan after the King had decided to fly the plane to London together with his entourage – surviving a force ten gale in the Bass Strait – camping on the Plage de Pampelonne St Tropez for several summers –

– ski mountaineering with the Austrian Alpine club (The Zuckerhütl (3.507 m) in den Stubaier Alpen is an up – down – up job but a lovely ski down)

– hiking the Rosengarten with a German group who wanted the Sud Tyrol ceded back to Austria(!!!) –

– spending a whole summer on Sweetwater beach in South Crete and other such memories, the sort of which we all treasure.

When I was first able to travel for unlimited times, I chose Florence as my first port of call for a period of three months, despite having hated Florence many years before when I had spent the summer in a very quiet Siena. I chose Florence because I regarded the history of Florence as MY history. Everything that went on in Florence years ago has affected my life directly and indirectly. In a similar way, I found that Jerusalem was not only part of my history because of my Christian experience. I found that standing in the City of David where the psalms were put together was an amazing experience as I had chanted and sung those psalms so many times.

Even standing where Zadok anointed Solomon was almost as amazing because of the British Coronation anthem.

Here’s the Coronation anthem.

All these modern associations convinced me that the history of Jerusalem and Palestine was also my history.

I must confess that, when the Summer tourist season approached, I simply ran away to South Crete where there were fewer tourists. My ultimate escape was to Gavdos, the southernmost point of Europe in the Libyan sea, with a tiny resident population of less than 30 but a larger number of enterprising visitors.

Of course Gavdos has its own history. St Paul was wrecked there on his way to Rome and it is probably the island called Ogygia where Kalypso kept Odysseus a prisoner.  (Who could be so unfortunate?)

After most of the tourists have returned to their lairs, it is time to return to the centre of Europe. Vienna is a no-brainer for musicians and people interested in Music History. It’s the birth place of both Classical Music beginning with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and Modern Music beginning with Schönberg, Webern and Berg. As we know, there’s also other history. For example, there was a street called ‘Blutgasse’ a few metres from my first room in Vienna.

Most people have heard of Salzburg, the birth place of Mozart, and the setting for ‘A Sound of Music’. It’s also the place where Michael Haydn produced most of his masterpieces. You can view the actual rooms where Mozart was born and the larger premises which the family later occupied. But it does not have the feeling of Vienna. When I walked round Vienna, it still had the feeling that it was the centre of Europe.

Leipzig is the centre of the world for Bach lovers. The choir Bach worked with still sings Motets on Fridays and Saturdays. The legendary Gewandhaus orchestra still occupies pride of place on the European music scene and you can visit Mendelssohn’s house which he occupied as the first real Music Director of any orchestra.

It was no surprise to me that, after hearing the great Masses of the first Viennese school in Vienna, St Marks was performing music of the great age of Venetian music with the customary polyphonic layout of the choir.

La Fenice has been rebuilt in the old horseshoe shape so we were still not able to see the whole stage anywhere but in the centre of the auditorium but I suppose the old story of the new theatre rising from the ashes of the old was fulfilled.

These are obvious places to which a person fascinated by music and history can go to meditate. I have enjoyed music in many other European cities including Prague, Budapest and Köln to say nothing about many years in London. I still hate TSA and squeezing into a metal (or carbon fibre if you are lucky enough to travel in a 787) tube for up to 14 hours – in fact I can thoroughly recommend the European express trains as I then pack all my Eurogear plus printer into my heavy duty wheelie and stretch my feet out!!!

In fact I HATE travelling but it’s SO nice when you get there and stay for a LONG time!!!