Whether you enjoy exploring stateside or abroad, traveling can lead to some of your most valuable memories, experiences and relationships. Traveling can be daring. There’s the experience of going somewhere completely new, the maiden voyage of your passport or your new, used car. You hop on the plane for a lay-over in a country where English isn’t the primary language, baffled as to how you order a coffee. Or maybe you realize GPS isn’t as reliable as an atlas, but that getting lost can be a good thing.
Traveling can bring out the best in us or a part of us that has been dormant for awhile, waiting for the chance to make an appearance. The guide suggests skydiving in an hour. You sign up. The waiter offers you a second helping of a fish you’d otherwise consider inedible. You pass your plate. You’ve never swam in the ocean, hiked up a mountain, or ridden a horse, but by the end of the week you will have done all three. You only know how to ask for the nearest restroom and say yes and no in the regional language, but tonight you successfully learn how to order your drink. You are invited to attend a religious service different from your own practice. You attend respectful and appreciative, for this travel experience has opened your eyes to far much more than museums and monuments.
Traveling makes you compare. You look at this new city, that new painting, those style of shoes and compare it to what you know, your surroundings, your life. You look at the people, listen to them. Are they similar to you? Different? Maybe you can’t tell. The architecture, noises, smells all stick out. You experience sensory overload, but you don’t mind. You are learning, broadening horizons and experimenting. You realize just how much you miss and love your home. Or you realize you never want to go back.
Traveling helps you realize your likes and dislikes. You realize the bustling city is just too much, the people far too many in number. The countryside is too quiet, too secluded. The crime rate and wealth disparity, unfavorable. The night life to die for! The food too spicy, the language too fast, the beaches too beautiful. The people are all welcoming, the views spectacular, the culture enthralling. The houses so quaint, the weather so perfect, the rent is within your budget.
Traveling allows you to meet new people. The artist on the train who offers to draw you a cartoon, the man on the plane who shows you the picture of his Kentucky Derby horses, the woman at the gas station who has had too much to drink. You hear stories of how he got here and how long she has lived there. You learn history, folklore and tales of strife. You exchange email addresses and phone numbers in case you meet in the next life.
Traveling is something that can ultimately define your life. You not only grow in mileage, but you grow in experience, social capital, perspectives, and dreams. You gain moments and memories you can look back on, share and bereave. Traveling is so much more than suitcases and airlines. Traveling is humanly meant to be.
