"Deep thoughts" followup

I got an email from a friend about my mental jottings regarding what exactly travel is, and I liked what he wrote. So I'm sharing it:

... is it travel to go somewhere nearby? I think yes, absolutely. Last week I took the yellow line to the end just for the hell of it ... and I saw all kinds of cool things and people. ... Maybe travel is whenever you go out of your routine? Is travel whenever one is forced to pay attention?

I think that's a good way to look at it - because, clearly, when we're commuting to & from work or running to the post office or grocery store, we aren't really paying attention to our surroundings (beyond the necessary making-sure-the-stoplight-is-green kind of stuff). At least I'm not. Maybe thinking about travel this way will help me to pay attention on a more regular basis, and that can't be a bad thing - even if no one else wants to call it "travel."