When world is troubled, remember why we travel

Turkey, having finally emerged from years of shaming (thank you, “Midnight Express”) and shown itself to be one of the world’s most hospitable countries, is being rocked by the convulsions of the region. [...] every traveler feels it, the thrill of purchasing a ticket and suddenly having someplace to look forward to. (Disasters, even in this tumultuous age, are still statistically rare.) Anticipation of travel is always more idyllic than travel itself. The novel in translation not only gives you atmosphere and insight, it provides you with topics for upcoming conversations. All modes of transportation are a means of escape, but trains remove you from the world while taking you right through it (as impressive a trick as flying, really). Travel can provide a kind of make-believe life overhaul (or a real one, if you prolong your stay), allowing you to slip out of yourself for a while and try on a second language, a famous city, a new persona and see how they feel. [...] for those who travel wide-eyed in an age of information overload, the revelations are more potent for being unexpected. Added to the visual bombardment are masses of sounds, aromas, flavors, sensations; accents and stenches, prayer calls and sauces, the foreign pillow and the whiskery kiss. There are foods never before tasted, rich perfumes on crowded subways, haunting melodies heard by chance that, when listened to back home (you of course downloaded them) conjure memories better than any photograph can. Wandering the cobblestone streets of Prague you realize, after you’ve accustomed yourself to their charm, that they lead to no Hispanic neighborhood, or Chinatown, or Italian market. In another irony, the activity that is famously fatal — in Mark Twain’s words — “to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” shows us how relatively tolerant we are. In India, or even Italy, people from Boston and South Florida can feel an unprecedented affection for their hometown drivers. [...] every traveler is familiar with the beauty of homecoming, entering your house or apartment after weeks on the road and finding your books, your pictures, the fridge dispensing ice cubes, the TV showing baseball, the bed still bearing your long-lost imprint.