No Existential Mode

Inner peace; not to be found in our charactersIn A Phenomenology of Tourist Experiences, Erik Cohen explores the main modes of travel that humans exhibit either completely or in some combination when setting out from their homes. While reading the explanations of each of the five types I could not help but draw parallels between the types of tourism and the characters from the books we have read for class so far this semester. That is until I came upon the bit about the existential mode. It became apparent that none of the books we have read in class so far follow the events in the lives of existential travelers.
The closest any character comes to traveling in an existential mode is Winterbourne from Henry James’ Daisy Miller. Winterbourne, being an expatriate, has clearly found a “center” that speaks to him for otherwise he would still live in America and would not live in Geneva. But while he may find Europe suits him better than America, there seems to be a lack of evidence that Winterbourne finds spiritual nourishment from living there. A large part of truly being in an existential mode of travel is that one feels religiously and/or spiritually enlightened and/or refreshed. If one does not attain this state than one cannot truly be classified as being in an existential mode. Winterbourne may have such a sense from being in Europe, but it cannot be gleaned from the text with any confidence for it seems that he is much more concerned with social mores and the clashing of new and old generations.
It can also be argued that the expatriates of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises are in an existentialist mode for they have adopted a new home in Paris that suits them better than America. However, much like Winterbourne, there is no sense of spiritual and/or religious growth, development, or stimulation of any kind. Instead there is a lot of drinking and sexual tension. It seems that Jake falls more into the experiential mode, for he lives vicariously through bullfighters, the only men he considers to actually live life to its fullest potential. He is true to his experiential mode because he takes great meaning and enjoyment from watching bullfights, but he never becomes a part of it himself.
Besides that, there really aren’t any characters that can truly be considered traveling in an existential mode. Sophie in The Evening of the Holiday travels in the recreational mode for she has every intention of returning back to her home once her vacation is over and she does just that. Marlow in Heart of Darkness travels in a bit of an experimental mode as he tries out the whole imperialism thing and finds it not to his taste and moves on to the next thing. Port in The Sheltering Sky is in a deep diversional mode as he sees no meaning in anything and his traveling makes that dearth of meaning just barely tolerable,, but even that does not last as he dies practically at his own will. Sal and Dean in On the Road are very experiential/experimental as they have adopted the lifestyle of making constant search the very meaning rather than drawing much from the ends of that searching. Furthermore, wherever they go they seek to “dig” everybody there to see what their up to, perhaps to live vicariously for a moment or so. This is also why Sal asks every girl he meets what she wants out of life; he hopes that one will tell him that she takes great meaning from life and thus will be living proof that such meaning does exist in the universe. Aschenbach in Death in Venice travels in a recreational mode so that he may “re-create” himself and go back to his duties at his “center” but is foiled by the alluring charms of Tadzio. Mary and Colin too fit into the recreational mode in The Comfort of Strangers as they hope to “re-create” their relationship with each other.
I think it is too bad we have not read anything about a traveler who exhibits the characteristics of a true existential mode. I consider myself to be an existential traveler who lacks the means to make my true center of authenticity my permanent residence. Given this I would love to have read some books that yield insight into the lives of those who found peace of mind upon arriving in a particular place and circumstance and how that shaped their lives and personalities.