Envision yourself eating a plate of homemade pasta while you overlook the Coliseum in Italy or catching a glimpse of the Eiffel tower as it twinkles amongst the night sky in Paris. How about enjoying a pina colada on the black sand beaches of Hawaii? I bet after the last few stressful weeks we’ve all had, any of these things would be absolutely amazing right now not only for our sanity but because believe it or not traveling is actually good for us.
Although traveling isn’t a necessity in the average persons life and for most isn’t even an obtainable dream. Traveling is something that provides us with a type of satisfaction that you can’t get from a new pair of shoes or a night out partying with your friends.
There are about 7 billion people on this planet, living in approximately 196 different countries. There are over 6900 languages being spoken every day and over 4,500 different religions that people are practicing. There is so much to learn from different types of people around the world and you can only learn so much from Google-ing or reading. This whole world is a classroom and traveling gives you the opportunity to embrace it and learn from it. I mean you can read an entire book on Italy and never know what it is really like until you see the Colosseum for the first time or sit on a gondola as a local rows you down a canal in Venice. You can learn so much when you travel, the opportunities are endless and it really gives you a whole new appreciation for different cultures and people.
Traveling around the world can give you a much better understanding of how the rest of the world is doing and give you a new perspective on how you can live your own life. With traveling comes perspective and sometimes we often lose sight of the greater picture living the hectic lifestyles we lead. We often forget that there is more to life than school, work and bills. The world is huge, wonderful and chaotic and there are infinite amounts of things to see and do – and no matter how bad we think we have it, we live better than many other parts of the world. We often forget that there are still countries that don’t believe women should have rights or expect you to believe in one type of religion. Traveling in a weird way knocks us back to reality, reminds us how lucky we are and how we should never take anything we have or do for granted.
When you come home from an amazing adventure you feel rejuvenated. Traveling is like self-medicating yourself. Whether you are physically or emotionally hurt or overwhelmed or stressed – when you travel all of a sudden the things back home you were dealing with don’t seem like such a big issues and you can foresee a life beyond them. It’s funny how a change of scene can make things at home seem a lot different and how sometimes you just need to escape from the familiar and throw yourself in a situation you aren’t immune to, to put you back on track.
I have been lucky enough and blessed with a number of opportunities that have allowed me to see several parts of the world already in my lifetime – and although I understand traveling isn’t realistic or obtainable for everyone right now, it is defiantly something you will never regret doing. Traveling will give you so much more then just the souvenirs and photographs. It will provide you with a hands-on learning experience, it will change your perception of this world we live in and it will rejuvenate you.
Remember “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
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