The why depends on the destination. I do a lot of intrastate travel because Tasmania is incredible and I’ll never be able to explore it all but I’ll give it a good go. Multiday bushwalks in Tassie are like a balm on my soul. I go to the mainland for short art and cultural fixes and to briefly escape the everyday. I’ll go overseas for endurance sporting events to test me and be part of a national team overseas, but then I’ll “recover” at the local museums, finally seeing in person great artworks I studied at uni on discoloured slides 20 years ago. Then I’ll eat and drink new things, broadening my palate and exposing me to new tastes and flavour combinations. I love seeing how other people live, cook, dress, worship (or not), speak, eat, drink, walk etc. I think it makes me a better and more tolerant person, seeing vastly different perspectives of the world. When I travel solo, I also feel like I learn a bit more of myself each time (for better or worse). Importantly, I like to escape the short days of winter for at least a week, preferably two. Like most Tasmanians, I take vitamin D supplements but there’s also something very psychologically important about my mid-winter trip to sunnier climes.