A couple of months ago I created a four point criteria to use when prioritizing travel destinations. I wrote down four criteria to define what I find rewarding in a destination based on previous travels and to help prioritize where I want to travel next.
I felt the list illuminated why some destinations attract me more than others and it ultimately illuminated what I seek in life through experiences such as travel. But, it also illuminates my type of crazy.
Before I shared the specific criteria points, my friend Kevin immediately interrupted my announcement to him and said "That's the most you thing you've ever done."
Before I shared the specific criteria points, my friend Kevin immediately interrupted my announcement to him and said "That's the most you thing you've ever done."
He's right. It is a very me thing to do. It's a very me thing to consider travel, where rewards often arise from supreme serendipity, and impose my rigid way of thinking to how I consider a destination.
Make no mistake: serendipity and in the moment discoveries have generated much reward in my travels and life. But developing this criteria helped me realize what I love most about travel. I think it helped me separate myself from a perception of travel as "getting away from it all" or "it's a thing you do." For me, travel is a way for me to extend my love of narratives. It's an extension of what I love in movies and books. The world is my library.
But libraries are daunting with so much to choose from. So I like knowing a bit about why I choose a place or what I find rewarding in a vacation to understand what attracts me to a new narrative.
The Criteria
The criteria for prioritizing destinations:
- Jules Verne reward - places that enable me to feel like an adventurer, but not just in lost civilizations. I'll explain later.
- Star Wars reward - places that make me feel like I'm in a science fiction world, most likely in a Star Wars movie or book. In other words, it feels other worldly or futuristic.
- History nerd reward - places that reward my love of history. Pretty simple.
- Food reward - I like to eat really tasty food. Pretty simple.
Did I Need to Do This?
Did I need to write this at all?
No.
But I found this list helpful. Organization provides clarity and this list provided clarity for me. It's less a list of how I'm supposed to travel than a reflection of what I already love. Most destinations I've loved don't quite cover all four criteria yet I relish the simplicity in which it reflects lifelong pursuits of knowledge.
No.
But I found this list helpful. Organization provides clarity and this list provided clarity for me. It's less a list of how I'm supposed to travel than a reflection of what I already love. Most destinations I've loved don't quite cover all four criteria yet I relish the simplicity in which it reflects lifelong pursuits of knowledge.
Traveling serves as a more intensive and immersive opportunity for knowledge. Ultimately, reading a book or watching a movie isn't the same as being in a place. Traveling provides what a book cannot replicate. It extends my knowledge on a more sensory level. It's one thing to see a picture of a French bakery and an entirely different but connected thing to smell a French bakery.
Experience allows us to construct more useful knowledge. I'm the kind of person who would rather learn by doing - a method I learned to do the hard way after anxiety and over thinking (my prior mode) led me to do nothing. Travel allows knowledge by doing.
A Narrative Rarely Shared
A particularly hard to define criteria for me was the Jules Verne criteria. What does that mean? At first I thought that meant finding "lost" or "adventure story-worthy" places, but that wasn't quite it. No - it's about the discovery of a narrative rarely shared.
I remember my 10th grade World History class hardly touching on the history of Asia, Africa, South America, and other places not connected to Europe and Euro-American events. This bothered me: we learned the historical narrative that relates to less than 2 billion people on a planet that currently hosts 7-8 billion! That's a huge narrative missing!
I asked the teacher why and her rebuttal was that we didn't have enough time: "Research and read about it on your own."
I asked the teacher why and her rebuttal was that we didn't have enough time: "Research and read about it on your own."
I think defining the Jules Verne criteria led me to understand I've always had a lifelong pursuit of narratives missing. I don't like things missing - it's a puzzle without pieces and my brain doesn't like that. It also diminishes the humanity of a world that has more people than the entirety of Europe or North America combined.
I want to know this narrative. Hence, the Jules Verne criteria. I love the novels of Jules Verne as he deals with characters discovering the less known or forgotten narratives of Earth.
This isn't just history either. For instance, it wasn't until I travelled to Japan that I really saw Shintoism and Buddhism in a deeper, more meaningful way. It was never part of any meaningful discourse in my education yet visiting Meiji Shrine proved a more rewarding experience than the Eiffel Tower because the narrative it produced sparked new knowledge and a new sense of seeing the world. This was a cultural narrative rarely shared.
This isn't just history either. For instance, it wasn't until I travelled to Japan that I really saw Shintoism and Buddhism in a deeper, more meaningful way. It was never part of any meaningful discourse in my education yet visiting Meiji Shrine proved a more rewarding experience than the Eiffel Tower because the narrative it produced sparked new knowledge and a new sense of seeing the world. This was a cultural narrative rarely shared.
Missing
There's no one way to travel. Travel means discovery and immersion, but the way that happens for each of us depends on a lot of factors.
For me, what I ultimately find isn't necessarily what I was searching for, but I create this criteria to understand what I can search for and what will enable me to fulfill the lifelong pursuit of personal development and better understanding of a world I barely understand.
