The Things that Traveling Can Teach You

“Traveling is the only thing you buy that makes you richer”. This statement may be an old cliché to some, but its implication can’t be truer until today.

You learn a lot by reading good books and going to school. You develop trade skills as you work in a corporate setting or interact with professionals. You become wise by experiencing pain, rejection, and failure in life. In the same way, success gives you that much needed boost to keep moving forward.

All these things are essential to become good individual. Still, there are unique lessons that only traveling can teach you. Below are some treasures that you can bring home with you as you travel.

You Unearth Some Interesting Facts in the World

If you’ve stayed in a city long enough, you won’t appreciate the millions of lakes found in Canada or understand how Maldives might likely disappear beneath the waves. You also won’t get it why India is considered one of the most diverse countries in the world. And how come Falkland Islands in the UK has 350 sheep for every person. Traveling informs and sometimes amuses you. But most of the time, it opens your eyes to the simplicity and glory of living – all which city living can’t offer.

In the same way, if you’ve lived in a province all your life, then you’re missing out on what city travel has to offer. Just make sure you don’t drive around Barcelona, which is considered the worst place to drive because accidents occur every 19 seconds! You may however, want to visit one of the wealthiest (but also the most populated) cities of the world, Mexico. In fact, it is dubbed as one of the most significant financial centers of the world.

Traveling sets you up in an adventure like no other. At first, you read about these interesting facts online or from a book but experiencing these realities makes all the difference.

You Develop that Problem-Solving Skill of Yours

Not all people are born with this trait, let’s face it. Good news is everyone can acquire and develop this skill through practice. Echoing the words of Patrick Rothfuss, “Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.” Surely, you don’t go out there just to have a vacation or take social media-worthy shots. There’s got to be more reason you put yourself out there.

If your answer is yes, then you’ll agree that traveling improves your physical and mental health. Physical, because it exposes you to diverse environments, helping you develop antibodies. Mental, since it takes your mind off whatever is causing stress back home. Traveling helps you reinvent and refocus yourself. You start to feel calmer, more patient, and more confident with your decisions. You now realize that you can solve problems not by hustle but through that quiet creativity you possess.

You Become a Better Person (Not that You're Bad)

The very act of preparing and planning for a travel itself teaches you a lot of things. During your preparation, you’ll learn that price and value are two different things. You might be tempted to book a 4.5-star hotel that has great amenities instead of a humble 3-star guesthouse. What exactly is your itinerary and where do you plan to stay most of the time? Are you traveling alone or with a group? Do you want to be comfortable throughout the trip or do you prefer a little adventure? These questions should get first-time travelers started.

As you travel more frequently, you’ll realize that not every well-thought-out plan happens, that people can get cranky when starved, that locals might take advantage of foreigners, and that sleeping on the road is not as bad as it sounds. Additionally, you’ll come across pleasant and helpful strangers, forests that will change the way you look at nature, wild animals that are actually adorable, and sunsets that mark beginnings not endings.

Gratitude will become your daily utterance. You see, traveling is experiencing both the bad and the good – the beautiful and the ugly. At the end of the day, it’s impossible to not get your perspective on health, money, people, and love – changed.

You Appreciate the Value of Unplugging from Social Media

Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. In the same way, too much of technology and social media is detrimental to your health. Among the negative effects of staying “logged in” for long periods include decreased productivity, peer pressure, low self-esteem, lack of privacy, creating shallow virtual relationships, and more. It’s bad enough that you stay on your bed or your couch 80% of your waking time. But investing your precious hours staring at the screen and posting your updates won’t win you real friendships – much more boost your confidence as an individual. You must not forget that the real world is out there and not inside your mobile phone or laptop.

Traveling makes use of all your senses – your sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. You’ll see how the clear cloudless sky turns to red and orange at the end of the day. You’ll feel the cool breeze all around you as the calm waves gently sweep the sand on your feet and back to the shore. You get to taste exotic food as well as special home cook meals by the residents. All these and more are the very experiences you can look forward to as you choose to travel. One social media user said, that as she deactivates her Facebook account and have gone offline for the duration of her travel (which is about 1 month), she’s never felt “happier, freer, and more fulfilled”.