Wanderlust and Travel NT
Journeys can include those that are physical, mental or inner and are often accompanied by challenges that can change the individual mostly for the better. Journeys are taken for many reasons, some are taken from choice and others are compulsory. A journey can be lone or be accompanied. The outcomes of journeys may shape the individual as a person.
I was not aware of the depth or many aspects of concept of journey till our study of it. After our study I have developed a appreciation not only of all of the things I have mentioned but the affect that journey has on the lives on everyone of us.
Wanderlust by Dorothy Hewett explores journeys, both physical and imaginative. The poem starts off with a quote from another poem. “When I was but thirteen or so I went into a golden land” and leads on to the protagonist stating that she wants to travel to the edge of the world. The reason for the girl’s desire for many traveling experiences first comes from the quote in W J Tuner’s Poem. Her wide spread of knowledge through her interest in books has also made her want to travel the world.
In Wanderlust the protagonist reveals the imaginative journey she takes through her books that she reads. Her sense of experiencing journey in her head is shown throughout the poem. “Taking off in a gypsy moth in the London to Sydney air race” “She wanted to travel to the edge of the world past the timberline” The journeys undertaken in her mind have made her who she is. The realization of life is her journey through all the books and travels in her imagination.
In the final stanza the meaning of her journey is given, she really wants to travel but she can’t. “She put the books back on the shelf” All the experiences given before were all fabricated in her imagination. Her ideas set alight her imagination which went wild, taking her all over the world. “She rifled the Pharaohs bones… looking down from the tops of the Andes….” Her experiences in all the stories have proven that she wants the leave her ordinariness of her life and travel the world. But on putting the books back and savoring her own surrounding she shows she is content to travel in her imagination via the books. “Walked to the front gate, the moon was up she could smell the orchard in the cold”
The ad by travelNT shows a young traveling couple following a physical journey. The sun down on the horizon and the beams reflecting the red off the surrounds has given a real feeling of excitement and wonder. “Seeing Palm valley made us feel like the luckiest people alive” The quote on the other side of the picture relates to the near surrounding in which they intended to travel to. Followed by “It was like stepping back through time, everything untouched as far as the eye can see” inviting the reader to take a similar journey.
The description gives a sense of tranquility, and the realization that the travelers can travel to a distance place where human kind has not disturbed the area. The physical journey made by the young couple can become a life changing experience through their having to cope with new surroundings, different customs and learning new skills.
Journeys often lead to a different perception of life and how it affects you. No matter what type of journey is taken, it affects the individual. In Wanderlust the protagonist wants to travel but only travels through her imagination and the young couple are adventurers traveling to distant planes, but in both cases the travelers may undergo significant changes as their result of their journey.
The protagonist in Wanderlust conveys her experiences through her knowledge acquired from books and her imaginative travels while travel NT relates a physical journey however in both journeys the benefit was to widen their way of thinking of the people involved
The skills gained from each journey are different. The physical journey provides problem solving, physical skills while in Wanderlust the protagonist shows her mental skills using her mind to imagine.
Aside from the different journeys and destination they have taken, the important thing was not the journey itself but the how they engaged themselves to the journey. In learning journey it seems that I was on a journey myself learning the aspects of concept of journey.
The study on journey reflects what we might undergo in the future no matter what type of journey is involved. I have come to understand that our life is journey and may also encounter obstacles but will lead to many great experiences.
