In Metaphors We Live By (1980), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson introduced the idea that human beings think metaphorically. The basic idea is that we tend to systematically conceptualize abstract and complex things in terms of concrete ones — that is, in terms of things we perceive and experience thanks to the way our bodies function. This idea is sometimes called “embodied cognition.” One of our central conceptual metaphors presents goal-directed activity in terms of a journey toward a destination. Charles Forceville (co)wrote several academic papers on how this JOURNEY metaphor works (see http://muldisc.wordpress.com/).
LIFE IS A JOURNEY: An Animated Metaphor explains the basic idea underlying the metaphor in a short animation film accompanied by voice-over text.
Charles Forceville
Source
Wat een prachtige uitleg van wat je allemaal kan met "reis" als metafoor!
Very nice view on Journey Conceptual Metaphor