10 Things Traveling Teaches You That School Doesn’t
- How to appreciate other cultures
Learning about other cultures from a book or school is one thing, but actually experiencing it is completely different. Whether a museum or looking at architecture, or a coffee in a café, traveling exposes you to other people, lifestyles, cloths, foods that are completely different. Many find new local customs, culture and new foods exciting and educational.
- Patience
When traveling, sometimes things goes wrong, like losing luggage, wrong directions, finding a bus stop or a taxi brakes down mid journey. In general things are fine, but life doesn’t always go exactly according to plan, even on vacation. So learning how to deal with these things traveling teaches patience. When back home patience come easy.
- The importance of unplugging from social media
Social media takes up a lot of living time. When traveling you are often cut off from any Internet for stretches of time. /everything is fresh and new you often caring about the internet and instead focus on your adventure and fun, regardless. After getting home, you realize that a life well lived is better than a life behind a screen.
- How to live in the moment
In Western society, a lot of time is spent worrying about the future. What should I do for a career, will I get a job after graduation, etc. etc. Traveling, however, makes you stop all that and just enjoy “being the moment”. Waking up in new unexplored city or country, incites excitement and adventure, making it nearly impossible to worry about the future or the past. The difference between experiencing every second of your life instead of dwelling on things out of your control, it is palpable, and it’s a lesson that one carries back home.
- We are all not so different
Regardless of culture, skin color, geographical location, or language, everyone in the world strives for the same things. We all want to be safe, we all want to be successful, we all want to live lives that we can look back on and be proud of. By never leaving your comfort zone, it’s easy to begin thinking in terms of “us vs. them”, but nothing can be further from the truth. Once you travel, you realize that the entire globe is all striving towards the same goal: happiness and understanding.
- The world isn’t as scary as you’ve been lead to believe
If you watch the news, it’s hard to not start thinking that the world is a scary, place, but honestly nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, it’s important when traveling to keep your wits about you and take special precautions, but in general, the average country is just as safe as the one you live in now, and often safer. Danger is always out there, but you have just as likely of a chance of having something bad happen to you in the perceived safety of your home as you do abroad, so why let your fear inhibit you?
- You’re a lot more capable than you ever thought you could be
Travel is a transformative experience, it stems from realizing that you are capable of far more than you think or often could have imagined. Whether it is making friends with new people, dealing with crowded airports, or simply planning a vacation, when you look back on your travels, there will be a sense of pride “like finishing a marathon”. Travel changes you, and in a good way, some how you become more free and secure.
- There’s no place like home.
Traveling is a rewarding experience but there’s nothing like coming home. Traveling to other places helps you see how much you love your own place, city, family and home. Your home food, fast service, even an A/C unit that works! When you live at home or in your home country, it gets easy to overlook the amenities you’ve always had but taken for granted. Once you spend a time away it helps you realize just how lucky and fortunate you have been. It helps you see what you have and you become grateful and happier just knowing.
- Day to day problems aren’t really “problems”
It’s easy to get caught up in your life, small things like a poor haircut or spilt coffee can ruin your day. But, once you travel you realize that problems are just a part of life. Some how seeing how the rest of the world lives, first-hand, in comparison to your life, makes you realize that you have been really lucky “you already won the lotto”, by just being born in a developed country.
- Stay humble.
Some of us have been told how “special” and “one-of-a-kind” we are. Traveling help’s you realize that’s kind of not really so. The average person is not really all that important, it is more about how you live your life. The world is a great place and a big place, we each make up a tiny one in over seven billion, part of it. As complex as life is, we are just passing ships in the night to the person sitting next to us on the bus, plane or subway. This can sound depressing, but it serves as a reminder to remain humble in the great scheme of things, and to “not sweat the small stuff” and hopefully you will see…… it is all small stuff ! Enjoy the journey……
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