Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road

Episode 258 July 01, 2025 00:54:47
Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road
Deviate
Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road

Jul 01 2025 | 00:54:47

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Hosted By

Rolf Potts

Show Notes

"No one motivation is ‘better’ than any other. We travel with different motivations at different times, and they sometimes overlap." –Ash Bhardwaj

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ash talk about curiosity as a motivation for travel (1:30); the ancient Greek concepts of happiness that underpin human motivations like travel, and how mentors influence travel (14:00); serendipity as a motivation for travel, Type One versus Type Two fun, and the dangers of "voluntourism" (21:00); how "awe" differs from "wonder," how to bring these perspectives home, and how "eroticism" can be a part of travel (36:30); "grief travel," and how one's sense for travel can become intertwined with a sense of hope (48:30).

Ash Bhardwaj is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, and the author of Why We Travel.

Notable Links:

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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