Historically, simple travel was abhorred. The next city state down the road was seen as a place of barbarism, disease and little understood magical and religious practises. Visitors often became the subjects of quarter-day fires. Committed to the "bone-fires" their ashes were scattered on the fields to invigorate the spirit of the land.

When people moved they "flitted." Flit implies travelling quickly by the fastest route, ordinarily along a straight line. In days past, disadvantaged folk were legally bound to the land and could only visit, for purposes of marketing, wining, dining and cohabiting at the so-called "quarter days. In southern Britain these were the times of mid-winter, mid-summer and the spring and fall solstices.

The routes of the travelling-folk is still seen in the stone-marked "leis-lines" which criss-cross that countryside. The landed gentry were well-advised to stay clear of all roads at these times, and cross-roads were particularly dangerous places for them. This may explain why witches, of a somewhat later date, were said to assemble at such magical placers. While on the road he way-farers were so good at escaping the notice of their betters they were rumoured to possess cloaks of invisibility. and it was said that some of their black magic fell away as they travelled. This invisible substance littered the leis lines and accumulated with great dangerous potency at intersections.

The outcome of travel was always uncertain in medieval times, thus we find that the words host, ghost and guest (obs. ghuest) all spring from the the Anglo-Saxon gast, originally interpreted as "soul, spirit," or "breath." The Germanic poltergeist, a "lively ghost" is a related concept, as is the English "ghastly." These words are also related to the Latin hostis, "a stranger, an enemy." From it we have "hostile" and "hostage." The superfluous civilty of Scottish hosts dates from the days when the land-lord himself might eventually expect to be taken and held for ransom. So much for the hey-day of "travel."

As the civilizing arts of law and medicine developed, less emphasis fell on the dangers of unadulterated old-time travel. "Touring," or travelling a circuit, beginning and ending at the same point in the landscape, gradually became possible. The "Grand Tour" was usually an individual (or small group) effort, involving many months of travel. Only the wealthy could afford such lengthy diversions from work, and this type of tour was first popularized in Europe.

The "excursion" had its origins in military operations, and was conceived as a sally-forth, a zig-zag of travels determined by the reaction of the enemy. Quite often it resulted in bringing back a collection of unwilling guests or hostages. At first, it had the lesser meaning of "a departure from a direct or proper course." Later, it came to be understood as "reactreational travel" rather than that aimed at laying waste the countryside. Excursions still continue to carry the connotation of a highly organized type of travel.

The "expedition" was supposedly "expediated" travel, noted for its organization and swiftness of execution. This sort of travel was also, at first, the business of the military. Today, expeditions are usually thought of as having a scientific component and they are noted for having a specific person and involving people of some consequence (at least to themselves and their cohorts).

Ocean travel used to be particularly onerous and the medieval Caledons, who were among the first to sail the Oceanus Diu-caledonius (Arctic Ocean) had the word immrama, to describe an expedition; and echtra to characterize a voayge of adventure. All voyages, of that period were understood to be the obsessions of merchant-mariners, holy men or fools. In other words they were regarded as Devil- or God-driven folk. The immrama or voyage after wealth was generally considered to be a little more sensible than an echtra. This last was usually prompted by a dream of some western wonder-world. Christians usually lusted after a sacred isle where they could cohabit with god; pagans were usually drawn after an otherworld woman of exceeding beauty and gifts. These mariners rarely returned to their homeland with their wishes fulfilled.

We still have travel, tours, excursions and expeditions but precious little adventure! Today's "adventure tours" and "eco-tours" are often mass activities, which have followed the mature development of mechanical means to travel. Both of these forms of tourism seem strangely contrived, reasonably safe and a completely trivial, but, perhaps, a step up from running a treadmill at the office?

"Adventure-tourism" is actually a contridiction in terms since true adventures are found experiences; happenings,  as opposed to a carefully crafted packaged experiences. Further, I have seen that eco-tourism (whatever that may be) can trample a lot of vegetation, and at best, astound wild animals.

National parks are a bit of  a bluff as far as the wilderness experience is concerned. In the real wilderness you end up with brambles in the face, lots of scratches and dings and you are at hazard. In a national park the paths are cleared and water hydrants, toilet facilities, and power lines are never far distant. On the whole, they are a good idea since they keep the damage to the environment within bounds and they are an easy walk when one does not wish to be tied to a compass.