Travelling. Attitudes towards travelling. What does holiday-making mean for you?

Travel means the consciousness of adventure and exploration, the sense of cover­ing the miles, the ability to seize indefatigably upon every new or familiar source of delight. Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before. How can there be any adventure, any exploration, if you let somebody else — above all, a travel bureau — arranges everything beforehand?

In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you bird’s-eye views of the world — or even less if the wing of the aircraft hap­pens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time look­ing forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: "I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea." The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him travelling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with ev­ery step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travelers.

One of the favorite pursuits of people travelling for pleasure is visiting the famous beauty spots. But alas, the number of such spots decreases from year to year. Lakes, rivers and seas are pollut­ed, forests cut down, meadows littered with rubbish.

We shall now see the different reasons of people’s travels and their views regarding travelling. First, there are considerably different views on travel among people of different ages. Although all age groups find travelling as being one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things one can do, the older age group (+55) does not find the idea as appealing as before. The people of the younger age show greater willingness to travel. However, people of all ages would prefer to have short weekend trips organized inland or in nearby countries in order to get away during most weekends.

Another age group of frequent travelers is those who have to take trips on business. The largest group of such travelers belongs to the middle- aged businesses. Old businesses would prefer to arrange their business issues through the telephone or through video conferencing.

Another reason of people travelling is the need to get away from everything. Here again younger people are more likely to leave their homes because they feel the need to get away from everything. Two-thirds of older people would prefer to leave their homes only if there is a real need of it (such as business, some event or holidays).

Although apparently the younger age group (18-34) seems to slightly outweigh the age group of 35-54 in their various travelling preferences, the income of the older people is much higher than the income of the young age group of 18-34. The most successful age group is middle-aged people who still feel travel is exciting and enjoyable and are able to pay for it.

What is Responsible Travel?

Responsible travel is about minimizing your impact and maximizing your connection with people and the environment. It's about making a positive contribution and having the most rewarding and inspiring travel experiences of your life.

Responsible tourism can be more-or-less defined as travel that takes into consideration the 'triple bottom line' issues of:

Environment: travel that minimizes negative environmental impacts and, where possible, makes positive contributions to the conservation of biodiversity, wilderness, natural and human heritage.

Social/Cultural: travel that respects culture and traditions and fosters authentic interaction and greater understanding between travelers and hosts.

Economic: travel that has financial benefits for the host community and operates on the principles of fair trade.

Before You Leave Home:

Do as much research as you can - the more you know about a country and its people before you arrive, the quicker you get under the skin of a place.

Learn a few words of the local language and make sure you know what's considered polite and what's not in terms of eating, greeting and dressing.

Try to leave as much excess packaging at home (for example, film boxes, anything plastic) - so your hosts don't have to deal with your garbage.

Consider your transport options: could you ride a bike rather than drive? Take a train rather than fly?