Why I Will Never Stop Travelling
Disclaimer: This opinion post spawned out of another one of its own will - read at your own peril of needlessly long words, purple prose, and lecturing (I AM a grad student after all).
Anyone who’s travelled will tell you how it changes you. You’ve been bitten by the travel bug, they say.
Well, they’re not wrong.
My first trip to Europe opened my eyes, it created an awareness of the rest of the world. Obviously I knew it existed, but it wasn’t tangible. There were simply some far off places whose people and events barely had an impression on my own existence. That first trip made me realize something terribly important that has since shifted my priorities: the rest of the world is within reach. There is little stopping you from going out and seeing it.
After that trip I knew that there was no going back. I’d been exposed to the richness of other cultures, the diversity of ideas, the unfathomably long and surprisingly resilient history of humankind, different flavours, styles, opinions, people. The list goes on. The potential for learning and personal growth that travel provides is next to few others. Travel makes you more open minded, more socially aware. It teaches you to overcome your fears and your doubts, that being uncomfortable isn’t the worst thing for the sake of something so great. Immersing yourself somewhere completely unknown engenders humility and shows you how kind and familiar the rest of the world really can be. Travel makes you realize that what you need to be happy are not things, but people and experiences. It broadens your mind, expands your creativity, opens your heart. It just plain makes you a better person. You can’t travel and expect to remain the same.
And it can be sad; saying goodbye to who you used to be, or to people you once knew. The more you travel, the less people can relate to your experiences. But is it worth living a shallow life for fear of the different and of the loss? What is a pond to an ocean? I don’t want to let myself be limited by my own impressions of what is feasible or not. I don’t want to let my dreams lay untouched until it’s too late. I will not let my experiences become stale and static, nor will I let myself become narrow-minded and ignorant for the sake of comfort. The change brought on by travelling is everything, and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Whether it’s to the next town over or halfway across the globe, I will continue to travel for as long as I can and as long as it remains such an important element to my personal growth. As Hans Christian Andersen put it so concisely;
“To travel is to live.”
- Gen
