What is travel?

As the school holidays come to an end and students flock back home with their families to prepare for the new school year after a month-long vacation, I reflect on what travel means to me. Travel means being able to explore cultures, realise histories and have an opportunity to experience something new. Travel is interacting with people and finding out their cultures, their identities and their beliefs. Travel is putting yourself out there to have an adventure, to get lost in the woods, to get stranded at sea–and then to make your way back home. It is about learning about what makes a place unique. Learning about their history, their culture, their food and their life. And while travel means experiencing something new, we must not forget our identity as Singaporeans. And nothing brings back pride and identity more than a plate of chicken noodles while talking to a fellow Singaporean you meet on the highway, while on a boat or while hiking in the remotest mountains. To travel, to experience, to explore, to interact, to appreciate. And to find common identities while rocking on a boat in the middle of the sea. Travel–to experience.

Travel means being able to explore cultures, realize histories and have and opportunity to experience something new.