Bouts of Travel

Recently a friend said her husband had had two bouts of traveling in his youth.  I was so fascinated by this turn of phrase that I dug into it.  My first impression was that perhaps a desire to travel comes on like the flu.  Fierce, something to be survived.  

Here's what I found:
- a contest or trial of strength,:   a contest between antagonists:   a spell: a bout of illness:    a period of time spent: often something considered distasteful "His tremendous bouts of drinking:"   attack of illness: 

Attack of traveling, bouts of melancholy, contest of strength, .  All these seem to fit traveling into a strange land.  Nature and culture as antagonists.  Something to revel in and triumph over.  (oh there's that pesky preposition!.)   

Another friend, in response to my saying I felt unsettled, said "Well that's sort of the point of traveling alone."  Friends are so good.

I also suspect that traveling is sometimes responsible for tarentellas.  An uncontrollable urge to wild and swirling dancing (often in the streets).  Although in southern Italy in the 15th to 17th centuries, such behavior was attributed by tarantism, believed to be caused by a tarantula bite.

Travel is good.