Travel experience and being-toward-death

The unity of travel, life, and death needs deeper exploration. This study introduces Heidegger's notion of being-toward-death to cast light on the underlying travel experiences of cancer patients. A total of 98 travel experience narratives of cancer patients from digital mini-blogs were collected and analyzed, and a framework was proposed to structure the mechanism. This study found that the meaning of travel is reflected in two pillars of being-toward-death: structure of care and way of dwelling. The two main travel experiences—hedonic and contemplative—were embedded in being-toward-death, and contemplative experiences included meaning, equilibrium, mystery, and poetry. This study enriches achievement in the area of travel experience and also offers practical significance for cancer care.