We live in a new world. One of last minute flights to London and weekend jaunts to Central America. A world where a trip abroad has become a right of passage; no destination too far or too exotic. International travel is no longer only for the rich and uber-adventurous. It is for anyone who wants it.
This new era of accessibility has created an entire generation of wanderers carrying stamp-filled passports and Instagram accounts full of Thai islands and Andean peaks. We are thirsty for the next photo. We want the next pin on our virtual maps.
My own personal relationship to international travel has grown as I have: first I was satisfied with the mere thrill of being somewhere new, where the language was strange and the landscape different. Adolescence brought me a desire to connect with people I would meet in distant places and explore my adulthood. As a young adult, travel was about adventure; finding myself and my independence. My 30s brought a husband and kids and all that comes with travel as a family. Each trip echoed differently not only because that destination was unique, but because the person I was kept changing. And now, as I enter a still-different phase of my continually growing self, I have begun to see my travel experiences in an entirely new light: as pilgrimage.
Traditionally defined, by Wikipedia at least, a pilgrimage is "a long journey or search of great moral significance". Association with such a word might conjure up images of bands of ragged men, trekking on foot to reach Jerusalem in the 2nd century, or religious Muslims on an arduous journey towards Mecca. A young, white, upper-middle class Jew from Bethesda tends to not be the first image of a modern-day pilgrim.
I call myself a pilgrim for a simple reason: my experiences as a traveler, intentionally or not, have changed me. Each trip has forced me to face a part of myself that was holding me back, to overcome whatever was standing in my way, and come out stronger on the other side. Pilgrimage is characterized by a two-part experience: the internal journey, which comes from the conscious experience of being self-aware and introspective when put in a new situation, always cognizant of the process that is taking place. And the external journey, which provides the backdrop and context for the internal trip to manifest. Hand-in-hand they constitute a journey of struggle, self-discovery and growth. And at its core, that’s what those travelers heading to Mecca were searching for: spiritual transformation found in the process of reaching a destination; a journey in which the road traveled is more important than the place you’re trying to reach. I might not be heading towards Mecca, but my goal is the same.
Travel transforms me because of the thrill I get from learning how to navigate a new place, and re-discovering how self-sufficient I can be. Travel transforms me because it opens my eyes to new ways of experiencing joy. Travel transforms me because it gives me the confidence that I can try new things and still discover dormant passions. Travel transforms me because when taken out of my comfort zone, I can see who I really am.
Travel transforms for so many reasons, but only if we let it.
This anthology is about my personal experiences with transformation during travel, both external and internal. It is my road as an accidental pilgrim; seeing the world to see myself.