Why You Should Travel More
As someone who has moved a lot in my current 21 years of life… I know that a lot of who I am today is due to the different cultures that I have grown up in. When a plant is growing in its pot, it absorbs all the nutrients it needs from the soil. When it outgrows it’s pot and is moved to a different one with different soil, it doesn’t leave all those nutrients behind or shrink back down to the size it used to be before that pot. It brings with it what it has taken and keeps growing in the new pot. A lot of the way I look at life, I know I have brought with me to all the pots I have lived in. This post isn’t trust why you should travel, its why you should travel with an open mind and immerse yourself in the culture of the place you’re visiting.
I know we’re currently in a global pandemic so traveling has halted quite a bit. But think back to what life used to be like. Where was the last place you took a trip to and what did you learn there? My last trip before COVID was actually back home. I went back to stay with my Gran for a few weeks in Glasgow. I’ve only been back four times in the almost 11 years that I’ve lived in the states and I learn something new every time. I’ve learned things about my family and of my Grampa who passed away before we moved. Now that I am older and I know more of Scotland’s history, I connected more with the earth. I went on hikes through the Trossachs, breathed in the air and I hugged trees that my ancestors might have passed.
Me hugging a tree in the Trossachs in Scotland near Loch Lomond
In 10 Powerful Reasons Why People Love to Travel by Betsy Goldberg, she explain that traveling opens your mind to other ways of life. It is important to see that the way you live, as much of a hoot as you might be, isn’t the only way. In this article, Goldberg also discusses other reasons to travel such as connecting more with your travel partner, building lasting memories with your family, challenging yourself with new obstacles in new places, exposing yourself to the holidays or traditions of other cultures, and to escape your life at home.
Another reason to travel the world is to find the love of your life. According to Dwight Shrute, your soulmate is very unlikely to live near you: “Three billion women on the planet, most of them live in Asia, so the numbers just don't add up” (S5E18 of The Office). There’s a song by The Proclaimers that I grew up listening to about how the singer is going to travel to all of these beautiful beaches and tropical places and he uses the excuse that his soulmate might be there. In “Whole Wide World,” he travels to Tahiti, the Bahamas, where the Caribbean sea is blue, and a tropical beach under a tropical sun. He also asks the question,
“Why I’m hanging around in the rain out here, trying to pick up a girl? Why are my eyes filling up with these lonely tears, when there's girls all over the world?”
Whether you’re bored and looking for an adventure, wanting to expand your knowledge of the world, or looking for the love of your life… you should already be planning your next trip. Make it somewhere you’ve never been before where you’d like to learn about the culture. Maybe try to visit during a national holiday. For example, go to Norway in time to see Russefeiring or to Greece for Carnival Season.
Make a list of the top places you would like to visit and start planning!
Comment below some cool cultural events or facts about where you live so other readers and myself can learn something