<p class="bodytext">We are in the holiday season when many families plan a vacation. The choice of holiday destination is determined by multiple factors: the budget, interests, travel experience you are looking at, the travel companions. The bottom line is that there is a strong desire to see a different place. Augustine has aptly observed that ‘the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page’. It helps you get out of the routine. It increases your understanding of other places and people. Maya Angelou said that ‘perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends’.</p>.<p class="bodytext">What travel does is to make us realise that our differences are superficial. It could be something as simple as learning to accept and going on to love other cuisines. As Mark Twain has wryly commented travel is fatal to prejudice-- that alone is reason enough why people should travel. </p>.<p class="bodytext">One does not have to travel to expensive, exotic places to enjoy travelling. Every place has a story to tell. Some background research about the place one has decided to travel to is time well spent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is only when you travel that you can see the great cultural heritage of places. If you were to travel to places of religious pilgrimage, your travel becomes even more meaningful. Travel helps you discover your inner self, it becomes a spiritual experience -- especially if you use the opportunity to meditate. It increases your faith.Travel takes an entirely different dimension.</p>.<p class="bodytext">No wonder then the government runs a travel programme, Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive, with an apt acronym PRASAD. </p>.<p class="bodytext">But as has been said, travel should be more than ‘ travel for travel’s sake’. It should be more than for merely ‘ticking a box’. So travel with an open mind, and an open heart. You will enjoy the travel more. Travel makes you humble; it makes you tolerant; it makes you appreciative of other cultures; it helps you make new acquaintances who could become good friends too; it toughens you. It broadens your horizon. In short it makes you a better person. And whatever be the purpose of travel, it is essential that we leave the place in the same way we found it, if not better- like has been said we should take with us memories and leave behind nothing more than footprints. </p>
<p class="bodytext">We are in the holiday season when many families plan a vacation. The choice of holiday destination is determined by multiple factors: the budget, interests, travel experience you are looking at, the travel companions. The bottom line is that there is a strong desire to see a different place. Augustine has aptly observed that ‘the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page’. It helps you get out of the routine. It increases your understanding of other places and people. Maya Angelou said that ‘perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends’.</p>.<p class="bodytext">What travel does is to make us realise that our differences are superficial. It could be something as simple as learning to accept and going on to love other cuisines. As Mark Twain has wryly commented travel is fatal to prejudice-- that alone is reason enough why people should travel. </p>.<p class="bodytext">One does not have to travel to expensive, exotic places to enjoy travelling. Every place has a story to tell. Some background research about the place one has decided to travel to is time well spent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is only when you travel that you can see the great cultural heritage of places. If you were to travel to places of religious pilgrimage, your travel becomes even more meaningful. Travel helps you discover your inner self, it becomes a spiritual experience -- especially if you use the opportunity to meditate. It increases your faith.Travel takes an entirely different dimension.</p>.<p class="bodytext">No wonder then the government runs a travel programme, Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive, with an apt acronym PRASAD. </p>.<p class="bodytext">But as has been said, travel should be more than ‘ travel for travel’s sake’. It should be more than for merely ‘ticking a box’. So travel with an open mind, and an open heart. You will enjoy the travel more. Travel makes you humble; it makes you tolerant; it makes you appreciative of other cultures; it helps you make new acquaintances who could become good friends too; it toughens you. It broadens your horizon. In short it makes you a better person. And whatever be the purpose of travel, it is essential that we leave the place in the same way we found it, if not better- like has been said we should take with us memories and leave behind nothing more than footprints. </p>
