Ibn Battuta just loved travelling. Unlike most other members of his age and class, he considered experience gained through travels to be a more important source of knowledge than the mere study of books. As mentioned above, some people just love travelling. It is an inborn urge to travel into unknown lands or unexplored world. Ibn Battuta is reported to have said when he was quite young that he was "swayed by an overmastering impulse within me and a desire long-cherished in my bosom to visit these illustrious sanctuaries." He took the ultimate decision to quit his family and the town for the sake of travelling. As he says, he resolved, "to quit all my dear ones, female and male, and forsook my home as birds forsake their nests."