The Joys of Traveling (It's Not Always about the Destination)

Nicole Fielder ('19)

This summer, I’ve had the great fortune to bop all around the world. In the last month alone, I’ve gone from Louisville to Cincinnati to Boston to London to Oxford and back to London then on to Paris so we could make it to Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing. We’ve used almost every form of transportation in the process: planes, boats, buses, taxis, subways, and trains. In all this jumping around, I’ve realized I love the act of travel sometimes even more than the destinations themselves.

The longer the ride, the better. Our 12-hour flight from Paris to Shanghai was the longest flight I had ever been on and it was definitely the best. That time window is a blank slate with endless possibilities and no expectation of accomplishing real work. On that flight alone, I read half my book, watched two movies and a TV show and slept more than I do on some school nights. Now that’s productivity I can get behind! And how about that airline food, am I right?

But long rides offer more than just an opportunity to consume months-old media. I loved our overnight sleeper-train to Xi’an (despite the squatty potty) largely because it provided an intimate setting with which to have serious conversations with some of my closest friends. Whether it’s economics or Myers Briggs personality types or constructive criticism, the open expanse of 14 hours means there’s a lot of ground to cover—both literally and metaphorically.

I’m a person who’s always craved variety and versatility. I enjoy the transition of seasons more than a specific season itself. I’m not the person who can pack the same sandwich for lunch for a whole year. Even with the food here in China, I find myself quickly growing tired of the regularized alternation between American and Chinese foods. These things are probably true of everyone to some extent, but I find them particularly true of myself. 

My point is that I find myself lingering in the process of change, and long rides are change incarnate. You are changing from one place to another, and the longer the ride, the more promise o the destination holds. Drawing out anticipation has been proven to increase one’s enjoyment of the trip itself. For me, the mode of transportation is the catalyst to it all. Stepping on to a new form of mass transit is enough to make me giddy—just ask my bunkmates. So, as cheesy as it sounds, my life really is all about the journey, not the destination.

Nicole Fielder, of Wilmore, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2019. She studies political science and economics at the University of Louisville.