Sometimes a journey arises out of hope and instinct, the heady conviction, as your finger travels along a map: Yes, here and here… and here. These are the nerve-ends of the world. A hundred reasons clamour for your going. You go to touch on human identities, to people an empty map. You have a notion that this is the world’s heart. You go to encounter the protean shapes of faith. You go because you are still young and crave excitement, the crunch of your boots in the dust; you go because you are old and need to understand something before it’s too late. You go to see what will happen.
—Colin Thubron (Shadow of the Silk Road), articulating perfectly why we travel. Perhaps my favourite paragraph of any book I have ever read. (via hrtbps) (via electricjuicebox) (via moi-seul)