Where do you want to go? How do you know you want to go there? Ask people and they will instantly be able to list a number of places they want to visit. But, if you ask them how they know that's what they want, they will have to think about it.
The media plays an enormous role in our wish to travel and see new places. Everywhere you look you are being influenced in your choice of destination. Books, advertisements, magazines, television, films, radio, the Internet, have all influenced you. Without those influences, perhaps no one would ever want to travel. How boring!
They say travel broadens the mind, but so does the media in its interpretation of travel. We can relate places to things we have seen or read or heard immediately. Recently my brother described toilets he visited in Liverpool as being worse than the ones in Trainspotting - he needed to say no more.
I've never been to Greenland, but thanks to Smilla's Feeling For Snow I now know what it looks like and can imagine what it must be like to be on an ice-breaking ship and hiking over snowy hills. I still don't think I want to go there, but now I have an opinion.
How many of you now want to go to Ibiza? Ibiza Uncovered is a catalyst for teenagers everywhere to go somewhere wild and uninhibited. Also in the Uncovered series were the Caribbean and Greece. Were you were influenced by those programmes?
Are Ibiza, the Caribbean and Greece on your list? A big influence on travel to Africa over the past decade has been Out of Africa - Karen Blitzen's beautiful book was made into a movie with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Every week on television there are numerous shows devoted to travel, from the mainstream to the exotic and the horror stories. There is now a satellite channel devoted entirely to travel.
Travel writing is one of the most sought-after jobs in the media. The idea of going to lots of places is enviable. But travel writers have a important role to play in interpreting their travel, to educate you on what to expect and give you background on your destination.
One of the greatest modern influences on travel now is the Internet. In surveys about the Internet and its uses, travel always appears top of the list. For a supplier, it is the ideal environment to promote your country, city, airline, hotel, etc. For you, instead of asking your travel agent what the weather in Warsaw is like in summer you can consult the Internet, where you can also get information about places to visit, good restaurants, trendy nightclubs, who's playing where - plus local input from chat-rooms. Galway is the most visited city in Ireland by students, partly because NUI Galway students are great promoters over the Internet of their city - it has achieved cult status among European universities.
The world's most famous travel guides all have websites: Rough Guides, Insight, Fodor's, Zagat, Conde Nast's Traveler and Frommer's.
Popular travel writing began with the Victorians, who were great travellers. It was considered vital for every young person (upper classes only) to finish their education with the Grand Tour, and stories from the Grand Tours started appearing in books and diaries, educating people about other cities and countries. Fortunately, today, travel is more accessible to everyone. Irish travel writers include Dervla Murphy, who has often travelled on a donkey or a bicycle. Maeve Binchy of this newspaper has travelled extensively and written about her experiences in a very personal and entertaining way. Other influential writers include Bill Bryson, Clive James, Paul Theroux and Douglas Kennedy. Robbie Coltrane did his bit for America in a Cadillac.
And of course there's Michael Palin, whose television series on travel up and down and around the world have been very influential. I can't wait to go to South America after seeing his experiences.
next week
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