Writer, broadcaster and adventurer Ash Bhardwaj has spent years exploring the world, from war zones to wildernesses. In his recent book Why We Travel, he unpacks the motivations behind travel. In this interview with The Journey Team, he reflects on the power of walking, exploring Britain, and how curiosity shapes the way we see the world...
How has your relationship with travel evolved over time?
My work had always involved a lot of travel, both as a travel journalist and a defence and security journalist. But then three major events happened. COVID, which obviously was not good for the travel industry, my mum going into a hospice with ovarian cancer, and then my daughter being born. I was suddenly going to travel less. I was also reflecting on the environmental footprint of travel, so I realised that some didn’t feel rewarding at the end of it, whilst others were life-changing. I asked myself: ‘What made the difference?’ It wasn't distance, and it certainly wasn't expense or luxury. I figured out that it was basically the alignment between why I wanted to leave home on that particular trip and what I did during it.
This realisation led me to write my book Why We Travel: A Journey into Human Motivation. I identified 12 key motivations for travel: curiosity, inspiration, happiness, mentorship (which is learning), serendipity, hardship, service, empathy, healing, wonder, eroticism and hope. For example, I took my dad's ashes to India — that was travel, but it wasn't a holiday, but it was healing. And I also took my mum's ashes to New Zealand, and that was travel, but it was actually a way of transmuting grief into hope. If you spend your time thinking about the motivation first, then you'll construct a more fulfilling travel experience.
How did your upbringing shape your view of the world?
I only travelled around Britain when I was a young child. I grew up in social housing and we lived in Windsor — which wasn't a bad place to live in social housing — so Mum would take us out into the Great Park all the time. We'd look at the oak trees, and we'd look at the crocuses, we'd look at the differences between a young oak tree and an old one.
How do you share your love of nature with your young daughter?
I live in London so there's not a huge amount of easy access to wilderness, but even just taking her out in a garden or in a park, and it's pointing things out to her like, 'Look, Lyra, the blossom is starting to come out’. It’s not just saying ‘birds’, but 'that’s a crow, and that's a magpie.' Her ability to start naming things means she's noticing things.
The more curiosity you encourage in kids, the more opportunities for curiosity you build into their life. If you do more weight training, you get stronger. If you help young people be curious, they become more curious.
You’ve travelled the world, but what do you appreciate most about travelling in the UK?
There's so much diversity within the UK, and within England and Wales, but we can be complacent about it. North Wales has this amazing glaciated landscape and these phenomenal mountains. And we really undervalue the cultural variation we have. The difference between Liverpool and Manchester, for example, is quite significant, despite the fact they’re only 20 miles away from each other. And you can find culture and history by walking through the North York Moors National Park and seeing the way drystone walling is done, or going up to Sutton Bank and looking at the finest view in England, or looking at a valley and asking ‘how was this formed?’. When you walk, you give yourself the time and space to discover stuff. In fact, walking is the best thing I have learned how to do! I find it the most rewarding experience, that ability to pass slowly through any environment. If you're standing on the Snowdon range at sunset or early morning, there’s a remarkable sense of yourself evaporating away.
Ash’s book, Why We Travel, is out now in paperback, published by Bedford Square.
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