I would imagine that many hostel workers deserve an honorary PhD in Psychology. After all, how many long nights have you stayed up counseling a distraught backpacker, listening to their problems, and helping them cope with emotional hardships? Maybe we should charge by the hour, not by the bed.
One man actually studies and publishes papers on the Psychology of Travel. “Dr. Michael Brein is ‘The Travel Psychologist’ living on Bainbridge Island, Washington. He is an avid world-traveler as well as author, publisher and lecturer on a variety of travel subjects.”
There is no known, theorized body of psychology that explicitly addresses questions of the psychology of travel. Of course there are some fundamental psychology 101 concepts that do apply, and these you will read below. Psychology, although a social science, still remains today an 'art' by which lay and scientific practitioners weave and create their explanations. Below, I weave my own fabric of explanations of the psychology of travel as they apply to the pop psychology of everyday travel and adventure.
Some of the reasons Dr. Brein explores for why people travel are:
It's interesting that Dr. Brein makes so many references to following in the footsteps of other people in an attempt to be more like them. The recurrence of this theme makes me wonder if that is the driving force behind his own travels.
Do you see your own motivations for traveling reflected in any of the good doctor's explanations?
13 years
I would of thought most would go for excitement or adventure, which I think goes hand in hand with curiosity. I can't imagine anyone going on a big trip with the thought, "this will help my self-esteem." Seems a bit of an over the top explanation of why people go traveling, most of us surely just go for fun? Which includes many of the above. Seems like an attempt to make traveling more formulated, I personally think it's chaotic but that's part of the fun!
13 years
I agree with Freddi. Why do I travel? To see new places, to see good scenery, to get some more variety in life than I would otherwise have. That's as much analysis as I am prepared to give it. It doesnt need psychoanalysing.
13 years
Hy! Quick answer, hope not so pointless.
I think a traveler will not see himself in one, but in many of these motivations.
Obviously, as Freddi said: excitement and adventure, which is following to me related to seeking the "Peak experience" . (I am curious to know what difference the author made between these two categories!)
Curiosity is not supposed to be THE fundamental motivation of travelers?????????? Why would we leave home if we are not curious????? (except work trips.... or family/social obligations.... but these don't seem to be the travelers Dr. Brein talked about.) Is he including in this category the people who travel for the culture? and discovering news habits, and way of living?
At the opposite of Freddy, i can understand why people would travel for self esteem, but not for the achievement of higher order needs? Which one? safety? no.... belongings? no..... esteem? which lies to self-esteem.... two categories for the same thing, or i am missing something?
About safe esteem, i don't think it is a general motivation for travel, but more like a rare/less significant one. For myself, self esteem was a motivation for MY first big trip: Traveling, away, far away and alone was a way to prove to myself and others , that you can do it, you have the strength (of character and purpose) to do it, you are enough independent and autonomous to organize a trip and to realize it. (I left home for Brazil, for almost 2 month with a bag and a pair of trainers) So this category is part of the possible motivation, even if I think that people who see them in this category must mostly be new travelers, maybe young travelers too, but mostly new traveler who would like to discover themselves, there possibilities, characters, capacities and limits..... but i realize, that must be a minority of travelers!
I would definitively say that i am traveling for... "seeking the "Peak experience", just feel so great and different when I'm am traveling, my trip becomes an non-stop joyous and exciting moment. Which leads to the "excitement and adventure" reason, these two seem to be quite related! and , i am definitively part of the "curious" category, always trying to learn about what i am discovering, seeing, people i am meeting.... i am not part of the "self esteem" category any more..... well, maybe a little, i feel quite proud to travel by myself. ;)
I am curious, have you actually read this book? except organizing travelers in categories does he also speak about distraught, problems and emotional hardships and issues? does he speak about hostel workers as well? would you recommend this book?
13 years
About safe esteem, i don't think it is a general motivation for travel, but more like a rare/less significant one. For myself, self esteem was a motivation for MY first big trip: Traveling, away, far away and alone was a way to prove to myself and others , that you can do it, you have the strength (of character and purpose) to do it, you are enough independent and autonomous to organize a trip and to realize it. (I left home for Brazil, for almost 2 month with a bag and a pair of trainers) So this category is part of the possible motivation, even if I think that people who see them in this category must mostly be new travelers, maybe young travelers too, but mostly new traveler who would like to discover themselves, there possibilities, characters, capacities and limits..... but i realize, that must be a minority of travelers!
So then wouldn't you have already had the self-esteem and you just wanted to prove yourself to others? If someone's low on self-esteem and confidence I wouldn't say go traveling. Granted it did make me more confident but I still had a certain amount before I left. One with little or no self-esteem could be stressed out too much by things like language barriers, no one you know being around, being lost etc..
13 years
So then wouldn't you have already had the self-esteem and you just wanted to prove yourself to others? If someone's low on self-esteem and confidence I wouldn't say go traveling. Granted it did make me more confident but I still had a certain amount before I left. One with little or no self-esteem could be stressed out too much by things like language barriers, no one you know being around, being lost etc..
hahaha, well traveling by myself helped me to have more confidence on my capacities. so yes, you surely already need a bit of self esteem.... but still i wanted this self esteem to grow.... so i think, it can be seen as a motivation.... we should look at what "Dr. Brein" means by self esteem as a motivation for some travelers... maybe i am out of the subject! hahahhah
13 years
I am curious, have you actually read this book?
I haven’t sat down to read any of his work other than what he put on his website.
Except organizing travelers in categories does he also speak about distraught, problems and emotional hardships and issues? Does he speak about hostel workers as well?
He does address some hardships and emotional distress, but mostly related to dealing with the unexpected and uncomfortable situations that arise when you travel, like the “Airport Departure Nightmare” as he calls it. (Personally I think those are the things that make travel exciting and give us the best stories to tell back home) He recommends wrapping yourself in a figurative “cocoon” to create your own comfortable, cozy inward personal space so you don’t get too flustered by the things going on around you. (read: relax and quit stressing out)
He doesn’t mention hostel workers at all, but I think we frequently end up acting like amateur psychologists and counselors. Or maybe I’m the only one who does that?
We should look at what "Dr. Brein" means by self esteem as a motivation for some travelers.
Here’s what the Doc had to say about self esteem as a motivation for travel:
The majority of people tend to live very mundane lives. Anything they can do to enhance their own images of themselves elevates their estimates of their own sense of self worth in their own eyes and well as in the eyes of others. We all want to feel better about ourselves. To the extent that we can retrace, or re-experience the travels of others whom we hold in high regard enables us to feel in some way that perhaps we can identify with them, i.e., be more like them.
In some 'magical thinking' sense, by walking the walk and talking the talk, something of the rich and famous, and even the infamous, can 'rub off' on us in some way. Perhaps, in some way, we see ourselves as gaining some of the qualities of that master, soldier, statesman, artist or saint…
We also gain in self-esteem by gaining the respect and admiration of others who see that we have accomplished, re-traced, re-experienced the adventures of these adulated people.
Hmmmm... Is your self-esteem based on that stuff? Mine's not.
13 years
wouuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaooouuuuu!
I won't read his books!
My self esteem isn't based on what he said! at all! :s
I am not that much interested in the uncomfortable situations that arise when you're travelling. And yes, it is part of the trip! I was more interesting in the hostel workers' way to deal with tourists and their psychological problems (of the tourist). ;)
anyway, following his thought, self esteem is not a motivation for me anymore. ;)
13 years
Movie Total Recall -Recall agent talking to Arnold: What is the same in all your trips?
I think you can't charge them (not willing to pay), but you can write about them. What kind of travelers they are? it is all about their nationality. Some nations a find so stupid. Then u have people who easily get pissed off. than u got people who come to your place like they having the catalogue, so they pick what to buy and use... then u got people who do not know how to adapt. Age. People who run away from their life than they drink smoke having sex with everybody... than u have first time travelers, than no respect traveler, etc...
12 years
I think a lot of people travel for the first time, to delay getting on with the real world. Nothing wrong with that, thats what I did. People can analyze everything, why bother-people have always travelled and always will-who cares why we do it, just get on and enjoy it !!
9 years
:(( Well, better late than never. I just read Ms Magali's comment way back in 2011, wherein she asserts, "I won't read his books!" Well, OK, but I personally think that's a bit unfair, especially if you consider the context that I discussed the concept of self-esteem, when it pertains to 'following in the footsteps of famous (or infamous) people. Please understand that my discussion of self-esteem and travel was taken a little out of context. When I discussed this aspect of travel it was in response to a very specific question, namely, "Why do you suppose people like to follow in the footsteps of famous people?" My response was specifically to that question, not a broader question about, "How is self-esteem related to travel?" Or, maybe, how is "self-esteem" affected by or enhanced by travel? Or some such other.
To simply say, "I won't read his books" is a bit extreme and very judgmental, considering that this issue discussed is but a tiny narrow fraction of the psychological issues related to travel. It's throwing the travel psychologist out with the bath water! I discuss many, many aspects of travel and psychology. I certainly cannot pretend to know all the answers about all the psychological issues of travel, but I try my best, and I dare and challenge Ms Magali to find someone else--anyone else--anywhere in the world who spends so much time talking about these various subjects!!
I am the world's first travel psychologist--I coined the term. I may be the only travel psychologist, and I could very well be the last!
So, in sum, if you resonate at all with what I've said and am quoted about then why not decide for yourself if you'd like to read one of my books!
Finally, I was never approached for my opinions about travel psychology in the context of hostelry, and I'm sure I'd have something to contribute on this topic if asked. I suppose, alas, that Ms Magali will never be the one to ask! Oh well.
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