The Sociology of... Travel

Free Range Travel for everyone!

The Gist of It: How and why to join the growing nation of travelers

The Sociological Hot Take

When I decided to launch The Sociology of… Everything, this was one of the topics I was eager to write about, not because it was core to my academic research, but because it’s such a huge part of how I choose to live my life. So this month, when much of the Northern Hemisphere takes vacation, feels like the right time.

I have a lot of strong opinions about travel and travelers, but let’s start with my belief that there are two main types of “travelers”: 

1) Tourists / people on vacation and 2) people who live abroad. 

I want to address both — short term travel with the purpose of experiencing something new, as well as living abroad, for either a short or extended period of time, and how, in a best-case-scenario, the two intertwine.

But first: What do I mean by “living abroad”? What constitutes living somewhere vs. visiting? 

I make this distinction based more on logistical differences than philosophical ones. If I rent an apartment and stay for a month or more in one location, for instance, I consider myself living there. During that time, I need to navigate the city and surroundings like a local, attend to everyday needs, and the rhythm of my life is not centered on sightseeing; it’s occupied by grocery shopping, finding supplies, seeking occasional medical assistance, navigating public transport, dealing with neighbors, learning pieces of the language, adjusting to the smells, the sounds, the energy… A month might not seem like a long time, but you’d be surprised how much you can learn and settle into a place in that amount of time. (Note that there are some exceptions and variations to this rule, but I’m speaking generally here.)

As a bit of personal background: I have “lived” in 15 countries on 5 continents, and within the US, I’ve lived in 5 states (in several different cities in some states). I’ve also, of course, traveled as a “tourist” in even more countries and states. So… I guess you could say I’ve been around.

Regardless of whether I’m traveling as a tourist or living abroad, three things influence my travel experience the most: 1) the people, 2) the culture, 3) the environment. Yes, of course, these things are not mutually exclusive, but the point here is things like monuments and cathedrals did not make my list. I’ve got no problem with any of those things, but they’re not a meaningful part of what guides or shapes my travel experiences. The people I encounter, the environment I stay in and inhabit, and the way that that culture intersects with mine largely determines whether I “like” a place — not whether it has a theme park.

With this in mind, you perhaps get the sense that I’m not a sterotypical tourist. But last summer, when the American philosopher Agnes Callard wrote an anti-travel essay for the New Yorker called, “The Case Against Travel,” I somehow felt I must speak out in defense of travel and travellers.