Leaving It All Behind to Travel

Abstract

The potential for personal growth in cross-cultural travel has been posited by numerous psychologists, however, a "gaping hole" in empirical research has left these hypotheses unexplored (Montuori & Fahim, 2004). Meanwhile, rapidly increasing numbers of people are choosing to leave their careers to pursue a personal dream of extensive foreign travel (Travelex, 2009). The aim of this study was to explore the motivations, psychological experiences and outcomes from travel in this growing "career-break" demographic. Ten men and women who had exited their careers to pursue extensive culturally engaging travel participated in an individual semi-structured interview which was analyzed using constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). Three main themes emerged: an existential yearning to travel, "jumping off the ledge" (courage) and discovering authenticity. Personal growth occurred via adversity within the travel experience itself, but also at the pre-travel stage of departure, where leaving security and venturing uncertainty was experienced with "milestone" significance and for some, as a seismic event akin to trauma. Future research should explore the potential for a new type of intrinsically-emerging trauma in posttraumatic growth (PTG;Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006) and the potential for anxiety as a positive construct in authentic becoming and growth.

The Guimi Holidays of Young Chinese Women: Evidence from Cyber Communities

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Travel and Insight on the Limen: A Content Analysis of Adventure Travel Narratives

“…In sum, travel is sometimes used to make a change and demark a new phase of life from a previously unsatisfying one and to seek meaningful experiences as opposed to escapism, which may not result in lasting change or insights (Hirschorn & Hefferon, 2013;Wilson & Harris, 2006). Insight occurs in the limen, after separation occurs, when the traveler feels a sense of freedom and release from the social constraints, norms, and routines of everyday life of home and when they encounter new and novel ways of life and people.…”

Travel as a Catalyst of Peak Experiences Among Young Chinese Adults

“…Explicitly extending Adler's (1975) conceptualization nearly 30 years later in a theoretical article, Montouri and Fahim (2004) more broadly asserted that cross-cultural encounter through travel could yield such benefits as enlargement of one's sense of self, greater awareness of cultural factors affecting one's attitudes and behaviors, and enhanced creativity. Noting that a paucity of empirical evidence existed concerning the potential impact of cross-cultural travel on personality growth, Hirschorn and Hefferon (2013) conducted a qualitative study of persons who had either temporarily or permanently left their careers to engage in foreign travel for at least three months; this study focused mainly on interviewees' yearning, rationale, and decision concerning travel, rather than their actual experiences in sojourning abroad. Increasingly research has focused on tourism rather than work-related travel as a catalyst for personality growth.…”