Why We Travel The World
8 Reasons Why We Travel
We travel for experiences; to meet different people, encounter new cultures and perspectives, taste local foods, and see unknown lands. When posed with the question, “what makes you feel most alive?,” for us, the answer is traveling the world. At times, travel can be mentally and physically draining, but the pros always outweigh the cons. Read below to see why we here at YonderWork are so passionate about travel.
1. It makes you feel like a kid again
As you get older it seems that daily life becomes more routine, and those moments of experiencing something for the first time become rarer. Yet through travel, you get to experience that youthful exuberance in even the most mundane of events and places. Hailing a tuk-tuk, eating a bright red dragon fruit, or figuring out how to say “thank you” can be the simplest yet most novel of experiences.
2. It is addicting
Traveling is addicting and in this way, it’s like a drug. Once you are hooked, the addiction must be fed and cannot be stayed. Another trip completed only serves to deepen the allegiance to the wandering tribe. In time, it will not be enough to check the boxes on TripAdvisor, but instead you feel the calling to go off the beaten path. It is only those deeper authentic connections to people, stories, and places that can satiate the craving.
3. It will force you to focus on the present
Travel is all encompassing, like learning to play a new instrument. It absorbs your full attention and forces you to focus and exercise the mind in new ways. For those who often find themselves unable to let go of the past or worrying about the future, travel is a practice in mindfulness, a form of meditation in being in the here and now. In our fast paced and anxiety ridden culture, it forces us to slow down, notice subtle differences, use all senses, and find gratitude in things normally taken for granted.
4. It will push you to go further
As a sports player thrives on competition, the traveler feeds off unfamiliarity. Travel challenges you to go further, see more, and experience all that life has to offer. Friends and family warn you about faraway places alluding to CNN articles they read. But as a traveler you relish in the opportunity to see and experience these places for yourself.
5. It is Incredibly liberating
When you travel to a new place where nobody knows you, you are not identified by your job, history, possessions, or relationships. You board a plane, with the shoes on your feet and are limited to only what you can carry. Instead, you rely on your wit, humor, and curiosity. While you may come back with a few souvenirs, you will likely return with a treasure chest of moments and memories. And if your lucky, a realization that those are the true riches in life.
6. It is serendipitous
It’s almost as if the universe is in alignment with you. It’s hard to explain why, but when you are traveling you have a much more open state of mind, which allows you to seize opportunities and make meaningful connections. You will meet amazing people and do things you may have never have done before.
7. It is introspective
While traveling the world may take you to faraway lands, the most important explorations and journeys happen internally. Travel is merely a vessel for that inward reflection and a key to new perspectives and maintaining an open mind. Travel frees you from the anchors of tradition and allows you to seek your own truth. Miles on the road affect not only the body but also the soul. You will find your mind stretched in strange ways, but almost always for the better. When you return home you will find yourself more patient, grateful, more accepting of difference, more adaptable to change, and hungry for adventure.
8. It is a lot like love
The further you travel, the harder you fall, and before you know it, you find yourself whirling around with infatuation. It is a romantic feeling, almost like a relationship with a place, filled with its own special memories and connections that will always stay with you. Like leaving a first date that went well, you depart already yearning for more. You flip through old photos in an attempt to relive the feelings you had. You become the annoying kid who studied abroad and can’t stop talking about it. Like love, there will always be those select places that you never forget.
***
Why do you travel the world?
***
Originally published at www.yonderwork.com.
