Travel is its own reward

Delores E. Topliff

For many, June officially kicks off travel season. Because I take writing seriously, and also love meaningful travel, it boosted my morale when Trip Advisor told me that my occasional trip and travel evaluations have currently been read and voted helpful by over 17,000 people. What? Who knew? That encourages me to take greater care to report accurately with candid helpfulness about what I find in destinations. Like me, you may sometimes get steered wrong by glowing reports that don’t match the place once you reach your pre-paid destination—when it’s too late and too costly to make changes. I’ll skip telling my recent horror story, but when asked, I did report accurately on that travel site. In all areas of life, words matter. I won’t use them to mislead others.

My last (and favorite) fortune cookie said, “Travel is its own reward.” Yes!

Besides getting us where we need to go, travel serves a greater purpose. In his classic, Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Although Twain was a great comic writer, he wasn’t being funny here—this is solid truth.

These wise words are credited to ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, “A journey of a thousand li starts beneath one's feet.” That’s been modernized to, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”—so true in life as well as travel.

Now tell us what your favorite trip has been so far, and what you have learned. Or, where you hope to travel next? Also visit my website, delorestopliff.com, for news and updates, and have a great week!