People who love to travel and do so frequently often get asked how they can leave their home and family for days on end, how they can put their career and relationships on hold just so they can go and explore a new place. Solo travelers get asked questions like, don’t you get lonely? What are you running away from?
The fact is, it’s not that simple. There’s no single answer to these questions. We all have our reasons for traveling: wanderlust, wanting to get the travel bug out of our system, wanting to learn about different cultures, a desire to meet new people, the need to simply leave everything behind, or maybe just the need to forget.
Travel means different things to different people. It can mean the excitement to discover something new, or the freedom to do what one wants, or it can simply be an escape from real life. To some, travel is everything. To others, it’s checking things off a list to say they’ve been there and done that. Some travel to lose themselves, while some do it to find themselves.
The crux of the matter is, travel is a way to broaden our horizons, a way for us to delve into the unknown, knowing that no matter what happens, we will come out of the other end all the better for it. Science has proven that travel is beneficial to humans. It makes us healthier, relieves stress, enhances creativity, boosts happiness and satisfaction, and most importantly, travel lowers the risk of depression.
It not only opens our eyes but also our hearts. To new experiences, new opportunities, and new friends.
It is a chance to read the world. On each page, you might find a new, taste, flavour, scent, vision or sound that will make your world a richer place. Of course, you will enjoy some ‘pages’ more than others – but even the parts you don’t enjoy at the time may have a profound effect on you later in life.
As St Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
To conclude, we normally get so bogged down by our worldly problems—10 to 7 jobs, loans, bills, taking the kids to school—that our days can get pretty monotonous and our routine starts to weigh on us. And as we mindlessly move from one day to the next, we often lose track of what’s important and what our goals are. We get so caught between commutes and errands that we forget how to breathe and smell those roses.
Our mind, dear reader, is shackled by the familiar. But when we travel and then return home, home is still the same. It has not changed. But something in our mind has changed, and that, in itself, changes everything.
I miss travelling. Have not gone anywhere nice in years.
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