【美国电台节目】旅行，就是为了发朋友圈吗

Whether you're planning yourfirst trip since the pandemic, or you've already been on planes and trains andautomobiles for a while now, the packed airports, high gas prices and thehassle of travel also bring up bigger questions, like what is it about gettingaway and leaving home that's so compelling? What is travel really for?

HU: You can find so much onthe internet about traveling better. Whether it's trying to get more upgradeson your flights or minimizing your wait time for trains or packing hacks -guilty - travel guides often focus on the practical stuff. But traveling wellisn't just about getting from point A to point B. So this episode is about theart of travel, why we do it and how we can make it most meaningful.

TORRE DEROCHE: Meaningful experiencesaren't a good time or a bad time. You can go away and spend 30 days crying, andthat can be meaningful to you. It can be meaningful to your life.

HU: Torre DeRoche is anAustralian travel writer who began her life as an adventurer when she left herjob as a graphic designer and set sail on a rinky-dink boat for more than twoyears with the man she was dating.

DEROCHE: It was a 1979sailboat that was covered in these blisters 'cause it wasn't - it was - it hadan aesthetic problem that made it half price (laughter). My ex, he had beensaving for years and years to do this dream of his. And it's not terriblycostly. And it leaked, and it had all kinds of issues. So it was anything butluxury.

HU: Before this point,DeRoche never went on vacations longer than a few weeks, and she was terrifiedof deep water. But she faced her fears.

DEROCHE: We spent two years,and we sailed from Los Angeles down to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. And that washell (laughter). It was a hellish journey.

HU: But DeRoche says eventhose can be transformative because they force you to stretch yourself, as shedid.

DEROCHE: So since then, I'vekind of almost sought out adventures that seem challenging and beyond my reachto some degree. And I've done walking pilgrimages through Italy and throughIndia, and I've climbed Mount Kinabalu in Borneo and yeah, done all - I've beenall over the world doing all kinds of strange things since then.

HU: Her takeaway onmeaningful travel is our first tip for you. Meaning is what you make it. Ameaningful time isn't necessarily a good time or a bad time. You bring thecontext and meaning to your experiences, even if it's not the postcard versionof a place.

DEROCHE: Don't fight it.There's - it's a perfectly valid experience to cry in Italy (laughter) whileeating gelato. So yeah, giving up this idea that travel has to look likesomething that - you know, that maybe you're seeing on Instagram, that it hasto be beautiful, that it has to be joyful, that it has to be social. It doesn'thave to be anything apart from what you make it.

HU: Go ahead, cry in Italy.You don't have to perform your trip for anyone else.

Every time I go away, I feel strongly connected to the world and toother people in the world. And that in itself is empowering. When we live in acity, I think it - you can easily slip into this feeling of individualism whereit's us and them. We get surrounded by terrible media telling us to be afraidof other people. And when you travel, it breaks all of that down. You realizethe world isn't as scary as maybe you come to believe. And that just enrichesmy life and my experience of life.