Some reviewers, critics, and analysis will try to convince readers that Alain De Botton’s The Art of Travel does not belong in the Travel section of the bookstore because it is not really a book about travel. What they really mean by that is that The Art of Travel is not a book promoting the concept that travel is inherent a part of the capitalist economic system through an ideological association of travel being synonymous with destinations and where one can spend money when they get there. The reality is that it very much is a travel book, but one that views travel philosophically rather than ideologically.
Destination is a word that hardly even appears in this book. And when it does, it is used broadly as a general noun covering a multiplicity of possibilities rather than specifically as an consumer culture advertising ploy. The most significant quote using the word is attributed to the mindset of Charles Baudelaire who often dreamed of going to one destination and only to wind up changing his mind perhaps a dozen times because, after all, “destination was not really the point. The true desire was to get away.” Of course, this assertion is also true of people who buy conventional travel books to decide whether to take a summer vacation in Disney World or head west to the Grand Canyon. It isn’t about they will spend their summer vacation; it’s about simply getting away from their lives. But this is not really true because if it were really only about getting away from their jobs or local climate or the neighbors or family members or just the very personality of the place they live, the most interesting way to do would be to simply pack, pile into the car, flip a coin and head in whatever direction that coin flip indicates. Travel as a means of merely getting away from somewhere rather that going to somewhere is by definition not dependent upon knowing exactly where you are going. This type of trip is really the essence of pure travel in which—trite as it may sound—the enjoyment really is about the journey and not about the destination.
That is the type of travel book that De Botton has written. The very first chapter of the book is subtitled “On Anticipation” and this not mere accident. In the modern sense, travel is all about anticipation of getting to the destination and fulfilling all the promises of entertainment and relaxation and education and experience that it promises. And, needless to say, for the vast majority of people, most of the time the anticipation always results in disappointment. Because—also needless to say—the payoff of anticipation can only possibly come as result of how the time is spent at the destination. Disappointment is engendered by nothing that was anticipated being exactly as it had been imagined. What is extremely significant to remember—and, as the author observes, what most people overlook—is that failure to live up to the anticipation can only come about based on what one imagines a destination will deliver and almost never can the actual experience bear the brunt of this disappointment.
Although The Art of Travel covers much territory in its perspective of travel as a philosophical exercise rather than an ideological one, almost everything that follows can be traced back to its first chapter and the larger aspect of why so much travel results in experiences less than entirely pleasing. The official definition of “travel” in any dictionary is one that describes the journey while the destination is utterly superfluous to its meaning. When on heads to the Travel section of a bookstore or browses through the Travel category of online bookseller, what is dominant theme of the titles one finds given priority marketing advantage? Destination ideas. It might be very precise like How to Enjoy Disney World on $10 a Day or more generally specific like 1001 Fun Things to Do in Duluth or just flat-out honest like the 50 Best Travel Destinations in Nobody Knows About. (If any of these are actual titles of books, it is purely coincidental. The titles were made up for the purpose of illustration.) The problem that is being forwarded by the author is that travel today no longer refers to the journey but the destination and as a result high odds are baked into the whole traveling experience that it will be disappointing. The message? Sit back and enjoy the ride.
