Escape is your strongest Travel Motive!

Definition:

• to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.)

• to succeed in avoiding (any threatened or possible danger or evil)

The motivation to escape through travel is often about a need to rest, relax or break out of either stress or routine. When you have “escaped” from the routine of life you don’t have to think about what’s for dinner, cleaning up, expectations or being on time for anything. You also aren’t likely to be challenged by having to navigate new territory or be faced with the possibility of getting lost (literally and metaphorically). 

Physical comfort, beautiful vistas, time to do nothing or time to play with no obligations or demands.  AHHHH, easy! There is no shame to be be had here, just an awareness about what your needs are.

Our family has, on occasion, prioritized an escape motivated holiday. Escape is lower on my list of motivations but a bit higher on my husband’s whose career has been more politically demanding (and occasionally soul sucking). There have been times I have chattered on about discovering Cappadocia in Turkey or retracing my father’s steps through Sarajevo and I’d look up to see a face that just needs the healing sun of Maui, at a resort we’ve been to before, eating fresh, familiar foods and speaking English.

All-inclusives, sun destinations, cruises and group tours have some familiarity, structure and security packed in. One published study found that annual vacations reduced the risk of death from any cause, and specifically death from heart disease in men with high risk. OK! Let’s go and escape!

Another way of looking at this motive is from the angle of “leaving it all behind”! In Anderson Cooper's memoir, Dispatches from the Edge, he described his early years of wanderlust and journalism into high-risk war-torn countries as a need to avoid being in the “real world,” numbing himself with the world’s horrors and avoiding the darkness of his life at home. If you feel that Escape is your primary motive and there might be a hint of running away in the mix - I hope you can find a way to heal “home!”

Escape & Wellbeing

Being crystal clear on your motivations (especially if it is Escape) is imperative to avoid disappointment and travel disasters. Clifton Fadiman reminds us that, “a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” So don’t employ the newness of Novelty or the challenge of Growth motives if you are really after familiarity and relaxation!