“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

~Mark Twain

Does familiarity breed narcissism? It’s something to consider. In many ways, life today breeds greed and self-centeredness. Writing a resume is a narcissistic endeavor, and the whole process of having and keeping a job seems to make us more preoccupied with ourselves and less friendly to ‘nature’ and other souls. It also keeps us stuck in one place. So stepping away from ourselves and traveling might offer some perspectives that change us.

Traveling is different than taking a vacation. A vacation is like a possession, something owned, an escape from the drudgery of life to see a tourist spot where people ‘serve you’. Travel is experiencing another culture or delving into the history of an area. A vacation is designed to return you to your ‘ordinary’ life rejuvenated yet unchanged, while travel returns you home as a changed person hoping to be less ordinary.

To mirror Twain, in these times we might say “Travel is fatal to narcissism. And all of us could kill off some of that in ourselves these days.”

Travel EyeQ is a space to explore places of travel, as well as practices and philosophies about wandering. There’s no traveling power couple here trying to sell you a destination or adventure or a bunch of gear. No 11 tips on such-and-such or turning travel into a narcissistic endeavor or a business proposition. This is not so much a ‘travel blog’ as a place to share ideas and stories; a place to explore beyond the usual limits of existence and maybe become a little smarter.