What’s the very first thing that comes to your mind when I utter the word ‘travel’ – Vacation? Meeting strangers? Or maybe, perfect instagrammable posts? While traveling can be exciting and exhilarating, it’s definitely much more than sipping margaritas on a sun-soaked beach. Pico Iyer, in his famous essay “Why We Travel” mentions that ‘We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.’ We basically travel to open our hearts and broaden our minds and learn more about the world as to how it goes around. We travel to bring what little we can to light our ignorance and enhance our knowledge. And we travel, in essence, to become an updated version of ourselves by slowing down the time, get taken in, and fall in love once more. It’s to realize who we are and who we can become. Traveling is all about the internal journey that you endeavor in yourself. It is about having a moment of connection with the people that you meet on the way and capturing the memory of it and retelling it to others.
I have compiled a list of the best reasons why you should travel around the world to enrich your life.
Here, goes the count.
- It teaches you the important lessons in life.
Saint Augustine said that “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” If you travel then it has the capability to teach you much more than your university courses. You can learn about the culture, cuisine, and lifestyle of the respective country. It gives you a sense of how they live and how it’s different from yours. It even teaches you about the history, geography, politics, economics of that country or place. Just roam around in the ancient city of Varanasi or feel the vibes of ‘The Old Smoke’ London or ‘Big Apple ‘ New York City.
- It helps you to reinvent yourself by increasing your tolerance level.
Travelling will inevitably make you more tolerant, independent and confident. While traveling to a new place, you’ll come across different kinds of people and you’ve to be more open and accept their ways. Many a time, you’ll find yourself stuck in some kind of problem as things will fall out of place. In these testing times, your tolerance will help you to search for solutions. In reality, this is the ultimate goal of traveling, isn’t it? Give a thought about tracing your address through the bustling downtown Tokyo or hiking in Scotland’s West Highland Way.
- It creates long-lasting relationships and memories.
Traveling will empower you with several bonds and long-lasting relationships with the locals as well as fellow travelers. These folks give you a glimpse of the outside world, which is different from your hometown circle of friends. Your travel memories get etched in the form of photographs, currencies, postcards, stories, souvenirs and so on. Aboriginals in Australia, Himba herders in Namibia and Kazakh golden eagle hunters are waiting for you.
- It makes you flexible through challenges and adventures.
Writer Patrick Rothfuss said, “A long stretch of road can teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet.” Challenges will be there at each and every turn of your journey. Sometimes your train might be late or flight got cancelled due to snow or didn’t get the room with an ocean view. Overcoming those challenges will give you some of the greatest joys of your life. When you get lost in Hanoi and have to improvise with your limited Vietnamese words and hand gestures and when your legs ache on the Inca Trail in Peru.
5. It’s about the food that you never had in your life.
This is cent percent correct. You will be surprised to see the sheer varieties of the flavors, dishes and cuisines, that the world has on its plate. Then give a try for Cao Lau (soupy noodles with meat and greens) in Vietnam, stuff your face with sinful Rösti in Swiss Alps, have a swig of Snake Wine in Laos or take a bite of Choripan with an icy beer in Argentina or else just drag a chair at the hawker center in Singapore. The most fun foods are those from the street vendors.
So, traveling is all about rediscovering yourself by getting lost in to the new world of excitement, adventure and experience. Travel is about freedom and reinforcing your willingness to broaden your horizons, to get unstuck and to move in new directions. This whole thing is summed up in the beautiful lines from ‘The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’ – “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” Travel is the purpose of life.
– Arunav Moitra
I was born in 1996 and aged from there.
When I’m not writing, I’m in search of delicious eats and busy figuring out what to cook.
I love reading history and geography with atlas printed in my mind.
I strongly believe that the lesser known places offer the best rewards.
