Wikipedia

Travel

For other uses, seeTravel (disambiguation).
"Travelling" redirects here. For other uses, seeTravelling (disambiguation).

Travelis the movement of people between distant geographicallocations.Travel can be done byfoot,bicycle,automobile,train,boat,bus,airplane,shipor other means, with or withoutluggage,and can be one way or round trip.[1]Travel can also include relatively short stays between successive movements, as in the case oftourism.

Methods of travel inHong Kong,themost visited cityaccording toEuromonitor.Top to bottom: theCross-Harbour Tunneland theMTR.
Traintravel – Passengers on a train on a bridge of theNilgiri Mountain Railway,betweenMettupalayamandOotacamund,inTamil Nadu,India

Etymology

The origin of the word "travel" is most likely lost to history. The term "travel" may originate from theOld Frenchwordtravail,which means 'work'.[2]According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first known use of the wordtravelwas in the 14th century. It also states that the word comes from Middle Englishtravailen,travelen(which means to torment, labor, strive, journey) and earlier from Old Frenchtravailler(which means to work strenuously, toil).

In English, people still occasionally use the wordstravail,which means struggle. According to Simon Winchester in his bookThe Best Travelers' Tales (2004),the wordstravelandtravailboth share an even more ancient root: a Roman instrument of torture called thetripalium(in Latin it means "three stakes", as in to impale).[citation needed]This link may reflect the extreme difficulty of travel in ancient times. Travel in modern times may or may not be much easier, depending upon the destination. Travel toMount Everest,theAmazon rainforest,extreme tourism,andadventure travelare more difficult forms of travel. Travel can also be more difficult depending on the method of travel, such as bybus,cruise ship,or even bybullock cart.[3]

Purpose and motivation

Traveler's motorcycle with large rear box

Reasons for traveling includerecreation,[4]holidays, rejuvenation,[5]tourism[4]orvacationing,[4]researchtravel,[4]the gathering of information, visiting people,volunteer travelforcharity,migrationto begin life somewhere else, religiouspilgrimages[4]andmission trips,business travel,[4]trade,[4]commuting,obtaining health care,[4]waging orfleeing war,for the enjoyment of traveling, or other reasons. Travelers may usehuman-powered transportsuch aswalkingorbicycling;orvehicles,such aspublic transport,automobiles,trains,ferries,boats,cruise shipsandairplanes.

Motives for travel include:

History

Travel dates back toantiquitywhere wealthy Greeks and Romans would travel for leisure to theirsummer homesandvillasin cities such asPompeiiandBaiae.[8]While early travel tended to be slower, more dangerous, and more dominated by trade and migration, cultural and technological advances over many years have tended to mean that travel has become easier and more accessible.[9]Humankind has come a long way in transportation sinceChristopher Columbussailed to the New World from Spain in 1492, an expedition which took over 10 weeks to arrive at the final destination; to the 21st century whenaircraftallows travel from Spain to the United States overnight.

Travel in theMiddle Agesoffered hardships and challenges, though it was important to the economy and to society. Thewholesale sectordepended (for example) onmerchantsdealing with/throughcaravansor sea-voyagers, end-userretailingoften demanded the services of many itinerantpeddlerswandering from village to hamlet,gyrovagues(wandering monks) and wanderingfriarsbroughttheologyandpastoral supportto neglected areas,traveling minstrelstoured, and armies ranged far and wide in various crusades and in sundry other wars.[8]Pilgrimages were common in both the European and Islamic world and involved streams of travelers both locally and internationally.[10]

In the late 16th century, it became fashionable for young Europeanaristocratsand wealthy upper-class men to travel to significant European cities as part of their education in the arts and literature. This was known as theGrand Tour,and included cities such as London, Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome. However, theFrench Revolutionbrought with it the end of the Grand Tour.[8]

Travel by water often provided more comfort and speed than land-travel, at least until the advent of a network ofrailwaysin the 19th century. Travel for the purpose of tourism is reported to have started around this time when people began to travel for fun as travel was no longer a hard and challenging task. This was capitalized on by people likeThomas Cookselling tourism packages where trains and hotels were booked together.[11]Airshipsandairplanestook over much of the role of long-distance surface travel in the 20th century, notably after the Second World War where there was a surplus of both aircraft and pilots.[8]Air travel has become so ubiquitous in the 21st century that one woman,Alexis Alford,visited all 196 countries before the age of 21.[12]

Geographic types

Travel may be local, regional, national (domestic) or international. In some countries, non-local internal travel may require aninternal passport,while international travel typically requires apassportandvisa.Tours are a common type of travel. Examples of travel tours are expedition cruises,[13]small group tours,[14]and river cruises.[15]

Safety

See also:Air safetyandAutomobile safety
Travelers in aBritish Airways747airplane.Air travelis a common means of transport.
MS Skaniaferry in theport of Szczecin

Authorities emphasize the importance of taking precautions to ensure travelsafety.[16]When traveling abroad, the odds favor a safe and incident-free trip, however, travelers can be subject to difficulties, crime and violence.[17]Some safety considerations include being aware of one's surroundings,[16]avoiding being the target of a crime,[16]leaving copies of one'spassportanditineraryinformation with trusted people,[16]obtainingmedical insurancevalid in the country being visited[16]and registering with one's nationalembassywhen arriving in a foreign country.[16]Many countries do not recognize drivers' licenses from other countries; however most countries acceptinternational driving permits.[18]Automobile insurancepolicies issued in one's own country are often invalid in foreign countries, and it is often a requirement to obtain temporary auto insurance valid in the country being visited.[18]It is also advisable to become oriented with the driving rules and regulations of destination countries.[18]Wearing aseat beltis highly advisable for safety reasons; many countries have penalties for violatingseatbelt laws.[18]

There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel (based on aDepartment of the Environment, Transport and the Regionssurvey in October 2000):[19]

Mode Deaths per billion
Journeys Hours Kilometers
Bus 4.3 11.1 0.4
Rail 20 30 0.6
Air 117 30.8 0.05
Ship 90 50 2.6
Van 20 60 1.2
Car 40 130 3.1
Walking 40 220 54
Bicycle 170 550 45
Motorcycle 1640 4840 109

See also

References

  1. ^"Travel".Merriam-Webster Dictionary.Merriam-Webster.12 Apr 2021.Retrieved16 April2021.
  2. ^Entymoligical dictionary(definition). Retrieved on 10 December 2011
  3. ^Buzard, J. (1993).The Beaten Track. European Tourism literature, and the Ways to 'Culture' 1800 - 1918.Oxford:Oxford University Press.
  4. ^abcdefghij"The Road to Travel: Purpose of Travel."University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.(Compilation for History 3931/REL 3938 course.) Accessed July 2011.
  5. ^"Motivations of Travel"(PDF).U.S. Travel Association.
  6. ^Simonson, Lawrence R.; Koth, Barbara A.; Kreag, Glenn M. (1988)."So Your Community Wants Travel/Tourism? Guidelines for Attracting and Servicing Visitors".conservancy.edu.hdl:11299/178439.Retrieved10 April2018.
  7. ^ab"Motivations for Travel Fact Sheet"(PDF).U.S. Travel Association.Retrieved23 September2023.
  8. ^abcd"A History Of Why People Travel".Matador Network.
  9. ^"A Brief Visual History of Travel".Accessed May 2017.
  10. ^Peters, F. E. (1994).The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places.Princeton University Press.p. 164.ISBN9780691026190.
  11. ^"A brief history of travel: From elite hobby to mass tourism".Deutsche Welle.Retrieved13 February2018.
  12. ^Beni, Shauna (July 29, 2019)."This Gen Zer Just Became the Youngest Person to Travel to Every Country: Alexis Alford—or Lexie Limitless, as she's known on Instagram—has set the record at just 21 years old".Conde Nast Traveler.RetrievedMarch 6,2020.... By age 12, Alexis Alford... Alford, now 21, has accomplished her goal...
  13. ^"Unrivaled Expedition Cruises".National GeographicExpeditions.Retrieved2021-04-30.
  14. ^"Book a small group tour with National Geographic Journeys and see more of the world for less".National GeographicExpeditions.Retrieved2021-04-30.
  15. ^"River Cruises from National Geographic - Book one of our new authentic River Cruises across Europe or Asia".National GeographicExpeditions.Retrieved2021-04-30.
  16. ^abcdef"Tips for Traveling Abroad."Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State.Accessed July 2011.
  17. ^"A Safe Trip Abroad."Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State.Accessed July 2011.
  18. ^abcd"Road Safety Overseas."Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State.Accessed July 2011.
  19. ^The risks of travelArchived2001-09-07 at theWayback Machine
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