Systematic travel is a way of discovery that makes my heart beat faster. It is a way of travelling that involves ‘tapping’ new countries/areas/regions all the time. A systematic traveller does not return to the same place easily, but will always seek new places. In the travel community, systematic travel is a much-loved form of spreading one’s wings, though (to the outside world) this form is not infrequently surrounded by a whiff of competition that involves counting only in numbers and percentages. It is not very surprising that systematic travel gives off this ‘smell’.
For example, anyone looking at the travel website NomadMania (where I too have an account, ranking #864 in the world ranking) will find an overview of 1301 countries and territories (including 193 UN Countries), almost 60,000 series entries, a master ranking and much more.
The (top) travellers I have spoken to are not primarily concerned with becoming the most travelled person on earth! They are primarily driven by the challenge of accompanying fellow travellers on a path that makes the ‘shutters of the world’ open, not shying away from sometimes risky challenges and the pleasure of continuing to discover together (!) as much as possible. It’s true, top travellers are addicted to movement, but not at any cost. A true top traveller is also morally a topper and does not begrudge another a higher place.
For me, the website is a source of inspiration. On every trip (like last week through Mexico), I have NomadMania’s app handy to discover where to find sights. That’s how I get to the most interesting places. In places I wouldn’t get to without the app. Climbing up the rankings is a joyous bonus, and keeping track of destinations is a way to keep a traveller’s life’s work insightful. If you don’t keep track of anything, it creates a grey mush in your head, preventing you from remembering exactly what you had the privilege of seeing with your own eyes and experiencing with all your senses. This is about more than numbers and percentages.
Now that the travel virus has gripped me for about 10 years, I really enjoy meeting and getting to know people who share the same passion. Besides the passion to visit new places again and again, I think a lot (especially while travelling myself) about why I travel. Why should I travel when sometimes it is so much more convenient at home? Where does the feeling of happiness come from, when yet another new region has been ‘tapped’? Where does the urge to get to know other cultures come from? How far are you prepared to be humble, when you encounter injustice (e.g. by corrupt officials) while travelling?
Such questions keep me busy. And it is precisely because these questions preoccupy me and stay preoccupied as I discover new places that I keep travelling. And now I am also going to write about them. After writing eight books on faith ethics (which I continue to do), it is now also time to write more about ‘the philosophy of travel’. Those who travel can tell stories, those who tell stories cultivate insight, those who have insight will enjoy more.
It is with glee that I present this first blog. It is nice to be in touch with those who love travelling. The travel community (which has many thousands of ‘members’ worldwide) can keep each other strong by shining the light on each other and helping each other to and in places where it is inhospitable or perhaps terribly unsociable. It is precisely the warmth of being together that makes the (motley) community a place where it is good to be, where life is celebrated and where we become better people. People who help beautify the world in a spirit of respect, tolerance and inquisitiveness.
With heartfelt greetings,
John Lapré, the Netherlands
https://johnlapretravels.wordpress.com/traveling/
mr. John H. Lapré 