The Prospective Traveler: Encouraging Others to Wander

How do we convince someone who doesn’t travel to do so?

Photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash

“Who wouldn’t travel, if they could? It’s unthinkable to me. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy different, new sensations, especially when the world is filled with so much great stuff? I like new things. I like to feel good. I like learning about stuff. It makes me happy. I like being wrong about stuff.”

–Anthony Bourdain

A central question I address in my upcoming book is: What differentiates those who wander from those who do not? Are a limited number of us naturally born with some vague and mysterious substance we call “adventurous spirit?” Does traveling and being a traveler ultimately come down to identity and values where some of us simply love travel and adventure just as someone becomes enamored with sports, art, or hunting?  

There are plenty of good reasons why many of us may not travel. Many things in society operate to keep us in place: mortgages or rent; finances and bills; age; physical and mental ailments; relationships with family, friends, and our communities; career responsibilities; and perhaps the overall comfort and security of a place. 

There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to travel the world because we cannot afford it, or we love being with our friends, family, or community more, or simply enjoying where we are and what we’re doing. I too love being a homebody nowadays nearly as much as traveling. The urge to travel often feels like a tug-of-war between seeing new places and doing all that I love at home, like reading and writing on Substack! So I sympathize with those who’ve found their place in life and would rather cultivate experiences at home.

Travel is not for everyone and that is fine—I’ve come to accept that we don’t all have to value travel and adventure (as much as I think we should because it is one of the best forms of education). But I digress. 

Thus, it is important to remember that not everyone can or wants to travel. That said, there are plenty of people who eventually change their minds. They go from not thinking much about travel or actively disliking it as an “anti-traveler” to suddenly loving it overnight. How does that process happen? What convinces someone to all of a sudden change their behavior like that? Is it something someone says to them? Or perhaps they happen upon an inspiring film, podcast, book, or news article that injects wanderlust into their veins? Are these the best mediums to get someone moving on their adventures or are there more direct approaches?

And what about those of us who inhabit a kind of travel purgatory—those who may already be eager to explore the world, yet for some reason do not? Maybe they are overly cautious and fearful or simply don’t know how to travel or where to begin. Those of us who have traveled a lot may forget that it is not always easy traveling and it can be an unsettling and anxiety-ridden experience at first while planning our excursions. So how do we encourage others to overcome their anxieties and start seeing the world?

I once conducted an archaeological survey in eastern North Carolina on some farmland that produced a variety of crops throughout the year from cotton and soybeans to corn and peanuts. The fields would soon be converted to a solar farm, hence our survey work. The landowner, an inquisitive middle-aged man, approached every other day to ask how we were progressing and if we had found anything “interesting.” This typically translates to the archaeologist’s ear as, “Did you find anything that is going to hold up the development of our project and prevent me from getting my money sooner?”

Nevertheless, he was still interested in learning about archaeology. Our crew told him the nature of the work we did and how we had all worked throughout the country and the conversation eventually led to travel abroad. The man had a glimmer of envy, maybe even disbelief, in his eyes as we relayed many of our stories of travel and adventures. At one point, he remarked how anxious he was to see the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico but how he couldn’t find anyone who wanted to go with him (I’ve noted people typically want others to go with them on their travels, which is understandable but also seem to use that as their main excuse for not traveling—it’s someone else’s fault).

Based on our sporadic conversations over the month, I surmised that the farmer’s family was already financially well-off, he was in good health with what appeared to be plenty of time on his hands, and had some of that “adventurous spirit” going for him. He had all the prerequisites to wandering and yet remained just a prospective traveler. Why?

We all told him he should just go and gave him tips on resources he could consult on the internet as he was somewhat older and perhaps not as adept online as us tech-obsessed millennials. In a smooth southern drawl he then pointedly asked, “But aren’t y’all scared considering how dangerous things are today?” In listening to countless exchanges like this over the years, I often wonder, “Dangerous compared to what or when?” This was around the fall of 2017 and although I wasn’t up to date on the social and political climates happening in Egypt or Mexico, I have yet to meet someone equipped with things like crime statistics and a reasonable explanation to justify their anxiety and fears about not going somewhere. It’s always just some vague gut feeling we have but I think it all stems from a general sense of uncertainty and inexperience more than anything.

As argued elsewhere, I do think uncertainty and fear play an outsized role in our decision-making and help explain why many of us do not travel all that far from home even when we have all the prerequisites and interest in doing so. I’m skeptical we are going to convince someone who is outright opposed to travel to value it, but how might we encourage the prospective would-be travelers to do so and should we? And getting someone to travel isn’t just about getting them to value travel and adventure, but also getting them to overcome some of their fears, anxieties, and misperceptions about the world. This makes it much harder to convince others to simply have an adventure if they suspect the world to be a dangerous place.  

I’ve also argued that travel and adventure provide us with many benefits as well as challenges and consequences. Given these pros and cons, how do we make a strong case for encouraging more people to wander? Can it be accomplished without being too sanctimonious and pushy and done in such a way as to not overwhelm someone with all the modern ethical concerns of travel? 

I believe it can be done in theory, but I am still skeptical in practice. There are a lot of demands placed on travelers and adventurers these days from climate concerns to over-tourism and personal challenges of saving enough money, taking time off from work, family and community responsibilities, and the many other physical, mental, and emotional struggles in our lives we’re all simultaneously juggling. In light of all this context, how do we manage to find creative ways to encourage people to experience travel and adventure for themselves? It is a challenging case to make. Nevertheless, I still believe strongly that the benefits of wandering far outweigh the concerns. Yet the method remains somewhat elusive to me. Do I just keep writing and waxing poetic about travel and adventure, sending it out into the ether, and hope my words convince others to do so in time?

For all that I’ve written about travel and adventure, I don’t know that I’ve ever directly influenced someone to travel. I’ve been told I’ve inspired some friends to write which makes me feel good but I suspect many people who read travel newsletters, blogs, and books are already familiar with some amount of travel and adventure. So I am left wondering what the best medium is for reaching the audience of the would-be traveler without becoming a pompous evangelist and eventually reaching the anti-traveler without being confrontational.

Perhaps the best one can hope for is to serve as a helpful sounding board to anyone curious to explore and do my best to encourage them when the moment arises. I do hope that the North Carolina farmer eventually made his way to see the pyramids in Mexico or Egypt and I hope he found someone to join him.  

For consideration:

• Did someone ever directly influence you to travel? What convinced you?

• Have you been successful at encouraging someone to travel? If so, what do you think it was that convinced them?

• How much do you think fear and uncertainty influence people not traveling or even those who are explicitly anti-travel?

Thanks for being a fellow traveler with me through this read. Please consider subscribing, sharing, and supporting this project—much more to follow.

Cheers!

-JSB