Comments on: The Science of Travel. Part I.

By: Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren

Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 01:36:00 +0000

Really interesting article, Agata! I look forward to the rest of the articles in the series. It’s amazing how much we can know about a place without having even been there…I remember some friends of mine were going to Thailand, and I was like, “Are you going here? or here?” and named places that I’d read about in blogs or seen pictures of…they asked me, “Have you been to Thailand?” Well, no I hadn’t. They were surprised about how much I already seemed to know about the country having never been! I find nowadays when I learn about a place and want to go there, I try not to look at too many photos or learn too much about it because I still want there to be some element of surprise.

By: Null & Full

Null & Full — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 09:03:00 +0000

Thank you Miranda. I hope the next episodes will not disappoint you. It is always good to reflect for a while on an activity that we perform and look at it from the different perspective, isn’t it?

By: Null & Full

Null & Full — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 09:02:00 +0000

Indeed, this is the reason why migrants and refugees are not treated by the science as tourists. They have no choice. Sociology decided on this when they put travels into a basket called leisure rather than a necessity.

By: Null & Full

Null & Full — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 09:01:00 +0000

Yes, watching the pictures before you go changes your perception significantly.

By: Miranda P

Miranda P — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 01:47:00 +0000

I love how you’ve taken probably some very thick academic texts on travel and tourism and simplified them. I’m really interested to read your further thoughts and findings on how what we know before we go influences our experience. At its base, this is aperture simple notion but in today’s world more complicated because of the mass exposure most places receive and how you an Google almost anything. Excited to read this rather informed sounding series of posts :)

By: Jools Stone

Jools Stone — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 18:06:00 +0000

Def agree that anticipation is almost the bets bit – that and first arriving! Int point about travel being a choice, which of course not everyone has the luxury of being able to make, i.e refugees. Nice, thoughtful post!

By: Gemma

Gemma — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 16:02:00 +0000

Any place saw in advance in hundreds of photos through somebody else’s eyes tricks our minds – this is so true. I booked a trip to Vietnam solely from images of Halong Bay – turns out Halong Bay was awash with litter and not the idyllic pictures from tourists magazines and online. Sapa Valley was the real winner! Interesting post.

By: Null & Full

Null & Full — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 10:10:00 +0000

Thanks Megan. Anticipation will be further discussed along with the visual consumption and overstimulation. Keep coming back every Wednesday! Cheers!

By: Null & Full

Null & Full — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 10:09:00 +0000

Yes, Cathy, you are right. The major part of our lives is our private business but this does not mean that science is not interested in. Let’s say your saving habits. It is a very private and personal matter but the economy as a science is very much interested in the way you save your money in order to understand the process. Bringing the kids is also very personal and still there is a huge branch of science called education that helps us understand the process. For me the science is all about helping us in understanding our reality. And travel is one of the human actions that the science do research on, analysis and makes conclusions.

By: Megan Claire

Megan Claire — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 23:50:00 +0000

Interesting post coming at this from a scientific point of view Agata. It’s interesting to see the definition of what we are broken down and compartmentalized. It’s definitely interesting for me on the anticipation front , because Ive started struggling with anticipation after we began to travel more and more. I guess you could call it “wanderlust fatigue” – you travel so much that your brain becomes kind of numb to new experiences and it dilutes what it should normally feel like.

So interesting concept of whether it’s still travel if there’s not the anticipation.