Why We Travel

I think once you get the urge to start traveling and see the world you can never really get enough. I have been fortunate to travel to a lot of places and have lived and worked in overseas locations. While a lot of people enjoy seeing the tourist hotspots such as the Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace I tend to gravitate to more historical type sites. Now don’t get me wrong, I will usually take a quick look at the touristy sites but I find it more enjoying to see those that have some type of historical significance. I also like to spend time in the not so touristy places that most tourists don’t ever see.

While living in Germany I traveled all over. I saw Castles of all types, from the ornate like Neuschwanstein to a Castle dating from 900 AD in Austria that is also a private home. One of the best I ever visited was in the town of Berchtesgaden Germany. While walking in town I saw a handwritten sign on a chalk board that said “Castle” and an arrow pointing down a side street. Upon knocking on the only door I saw a man answered and said that yes it was indeed a Castle. We went inside and along with a German couple got a private guided tour taking all the time we wanted to look around and ask questions. This Castle was previously a Monastery and had more suits of Armor and weapons than I had ever seen. Along with a long hall of game antlers and trophies dating back over a hundred years. While in Berchtesgaden I also visited Hitlers Eagles Nest and as I tend to do, wandered around looking about. On one of my wanderings I found the remains of a house left in rubble on the side of a hill. Upon asking around I discovered it was Hitlers house.

While in London I saw Buckingham Palace but found touring the Tower of London and getting the history given by the Beefeater  much more interesting.In the week I was there the two things I enjoyed the most was the walking tour of Jack the Ripper’s old haunts and stumbling upon the Jersey Lilly Pub.  The Jack the Ripper tour was given by a retired Scotland Yard Detective and we walked the same London streets and visited the locations of the murders. For those in Texas you might remember that Judge Roy Bean had a saloon in the remote West Texas town of Langtry named the Jersey Lilly in honor of English stage actress Lilly Langtry. The Lilly Langtry Pub in London had photos of Lilly and was a great place to have a drink and talk to the locals.

In Prague I took a side trip to Pilsen, the home of Pilsner beer. After all any beer drinker worth his salt has to pay homage to such a historical place. The tour of the brewery was a lot of fun but I also discovered the Patton Museum. In this small Czech town one man has made a museum to honor Gen. George Patton and the allies that liberated the city toward the end of WWII. The museum had artifacts from WWII along with scenes showing what life was like during the Soviet occupation. I had a chance to speak with the owner and asked him how he managed to amass such a collection of memorabilia. The owner told me that he had been collecting since he was young but he lost a lot of his collection when it was confiscated by the Soviets. He stated he made the Museum to remind people that the US and not the Russians liberated his city and he was forever grateful.  In fact every year the city puts on a parade with WWII jeeps and reenactors dressed in period uniforms to celebrate the liberation.

I have been to see the Mayan ruins in Tulum and Chichen itza located in Mexico, been to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval walled town in Bavaria and the catacombs in Austria. In Korea many years ago I worked with Korean Army soldiers and was privileged to visit the DMZ most people don’t see, getting a guided tour by a Korean Colonel and peering at North Korean soldiers through binoculars. In the Philippines I visited the walled city of Intramuros and Fort Santiago where Jose Rizal the Philippine patriot was imprisoned and later used by the Japanese to hold Ally POW’s and then by the US once the Japanese were expelled.

In my own country I have visited Gettysburg and several other Civil War battle fields and in Texas, where I live, the Alamo and San Jacinto Battlefield. While I have seen the Empire State building, the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate bridge, I find the places that have a storied history much more interesting. We all have our reasons for traveling whether it be to see the big tourist locations, relax and get away from our jobs, meet new people or see history the memories we have are much better than any photo we could ever take of a fountain, statue or building.

Why do you travel, and what memories do you have?