The 6 Reasons Why I Travel

Katie Sea
6 min readFeb 5, 2020

Besides seeking escape, there are six major reasons why I’m so drawn to travelling

Photo by averie woodard on Unsplash

Nowadays it is so easy to catch a flight and arrive in a new country within a matter of hours. That’s probably why 1.4 billion people travelled abroad in 2018 (out of a population of 7.5 billion).

We all enjoy different types of trips; for some, it’s an opportunity to get drunk and lie in the sun, for others it’s an adventurous trek to an ancient ruin, or maybe you’re more into museums and foodie explorations.

Admittedly, I am a bit of a beach bum; I love nothing more than being by the ocean, but there’s also more intrinsic reasons to why I’m finding it difficult to shake this travel bug.

I took some time to think about the real reasons why I travel…

1. The challenge

Challenging situations can be stressful but overcoming them is where the real triumph resides. I thrive when I am on my own. Those who know me believe I lack common sense, but I’m pretty sure that it’s just because when I’m comfortable I’m way more lackadaisical. When I’m alone in a foreign land, I have to push myself to think on my feet (or at least communicate with someone to find the answer).

I remember when I had just arrived in New York. I had planned to use my credit card (it was my only option seen as I had no US dollars on me). Unfortunately, when I first tried to use it, it was rejected. This sent shockwaves through my system. “How the hell am I gonna pay for ANYTHING”.

I was slightly lucky that I wouldn’t be alone for this trip; I was meeting a friend who was doing an internship. But I still had to somehow navigate my way from Newark airport to Manhattan, without a working credit card.

I racked my brain for ideas, and luckily I remembered that I had a £20 note in my bumbag. I exchanged it at the airport for a terrible exchange rate, but I had just enough to make it into the city! I was very proud of my problem-solving skills.

The slight twist to this story is that when I proceeded to try to buy the ticket on my credit card (as a last-ditch trial), it worked… so I didn’t have to worry anymore about it for the remainder of my trip.

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Katie Sea

Biology Grad & PADI Divemaster | ex-Producer at a travel startup and accumulated a year's worth of travel experience | Writing whatever piques my curiosity