Chasing a myth? Searching for ‘self’ through lifestyle travel

This paper problematises the concept of searching for self in the context of lifestyle travellers – individuals for whom extended leisure travel is a preferred lifestyle that they return to repeatedly. Qualitative findings on the search for self from in-depth semi-structured interviews with lifestyle travellers in northern India and southern Thailand are considered in light of opposing academic perspectives on self. The study reveals a theoretical tension that exists between lifestyle travellers who may seek a unified sense of self, underpinned by the essentialist position that one‟s „true self‟ exists, and contrasting widely held academic viewpoints that instead conceptualise embodied selves as relational and open to multiple performances.