Travel. The word can bring forth thoughts, memories, feelings. Yet, it is just a word. A six-letter word. Looking up definitions for such a word, I found many variations. As a verb, travel was defined as early as the 1300’s:
travel (v.)
c.1375, “to journey,” from travailen (1300) “to make a journey,” originally “to toil, labor” (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of “go on a difficult journey,” but it may also reflect the difficulty of going anywhere in the Middle Ages. Replaced O.E. faran. Travels “accounts of journeys” is recorded from 1591. Traveled “experienced in travel” is from 1413. Traveling salesman is attested from 1885.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Sometimes the romantic travel of our lives seems just like this definition – travail. It seems even harder to find comfort in economy/coach class airline seats than it does to find a soul-mate.
The good thing is that airline travel is a temporary thing, whereas the saga of finding a soul-mate seems to last a lifetime. Given the difficult journey of finding someone to enjoy spending time with, maybe one would be better off standing in the TSA line for the rest of their lives.