7 Reasons Travel Can Change Your Life
When we meet other travelers, usually the ones who have saved up all year for their two week vacation, after they get over the initial shock that we travel full time, the next question we get after ‘how can you afford it’ is ‘how has it changed you’?
Does travel change you? Yes, definitely! For the most part, for the better.
We are not talking about those people who come away from home just to let their hair down, drink copious amounts of alcohol, party endlessly and act the fool. These are not travelers. We are also not talking about people who book two weeks in a luxury resort, get pampered with endless massages and mojitos and never step outside of the front gates. These are also not travelers. Or the ones who book a fully escorted tour, where you get shuffled from one place to the next, taken to set meals, staying in approved accommodation and never even speaking to a single local person on the whole trip.
We are talking about people who go to a new country, place or area and immerse themselves in the experience. Learning about the local sights, customs, people, food and language. Embracing the opportunity to try something new, something different just because it’s different. This kind of travel will most definitely change you as a person. But we believe it will change you for the better. How?
1. Travel Opens Your Eyes
In the western countries we live in relative comfort. We have all the mod-cons we need to make life go smoothly. And we believe that we need every single one of those things for a good life. When you leave your home comforts you realize that the rest of the world doesn’t live like we do but they still have a good life. You realize that other cultures have different values and that works too. And you realize that underneath all our differences we are all he same. We all want a happy, safe life for our families and loved ones.
2.Travel makes you more appreciative
You lean to appreciate so many things! And it’s usually the little things that make all the difference. The ease of communication in your native language. Your own soft bed. Having toilet paper in the public bathrooms. Having a working toilet you can sit on. Travel makes you appreciate all the small insignificant things in your life like being able to drink water straight from the tap, or brushing your teeth without a water-bottle. Walking into your supermarket and knowing which isle the items you’re looking for are in. or shop assistants willing to help you find it. I know these are stupid things but when I go home I really appreciate the richness of the country I live in.
3. Travel makes you be in the moment
Unlike our hectic life in our home countries, travel makes you slow down and appreciate the moment. You don’t have appointments to keep, deadlines to meet or other pressing hints to do so you learn to slow down. You get to enjoy sitting on a beach watching a sunset for a couple of hours. You have the time to have an afternoon nap if you feel like it. You can choose to sit around sharing travel stories with strangers you just met. And you learn that you can exist and even thrive without checking your social media for a whole day. Life still goes on.
4. Travel makes you learn how strong and confident you are
Travel is all about problem solving. You will have challenges that you couldn’t even imagine at home and you become very resourceful in solving them. Not everything will go according to plan but you lean how much discomfort you can put up with and its a lot more than you think. You learn to compromise and accept new possibilities. You learn that your way is not always the right way. You learn to chill and not sweat the unimportant stuff. And you lean to appreciate the help you receive from complete strangers.
5. Travel makes you more social and you collect friends
At home I never would have dreamed of asking another diner how their food is or asking the how much they just paid for a certain item. But when you travel all of a sudden it’s ok to strike up conversations with complete strangers. We are all in this experience together and it’s a bonding experience. I will quite happily stand next to someone and listen as they bargain for something, even offering that if I buy one can we get a better deal. After that how can we not go and have a drink with our new best friend?
6. Travel makes you more adventurous
Just the fact that you travel makes you embrace new and different opportunities and experiences. You will do things you never thought of just because you happen to come across it. And you learn to cherish those experiences. They’re not always the high adrenaline ones either. Some are just awesome chance happenings. Like drinking tea in a tiny local tea shop at 2am in Shanghai that we just happened to walk past on our way back to the hotel. Or getting to swim with sharks in Thailand because our tour guide knows the place they live. Or even trying and liking foods we never knew existed. Travel makes you brave!
7. Travel makes you want to travel more
You realize what an amazing place our globe is, the variety in both people and scenery is never ending. Traveling and talking to other travelers makes you want to see and experience all the thing you haven’t yet. And the best part about it is you get to inspire others to do the same.
