Have you ever sat at a desk and wondered, when was the last time you were away from everything that surrounded you? Or, have you looked at a calendar and realized, the last time you were away was for someone else’s reason, and not your own?
Traveling the world is a big part of making you who you are. It shows you the way other people live, what they drink, what they eat, how they live.
Taking time away from your normal life a few times a year is important for overall health and wellness, because it allows your mind to break away from its everyday routine, whether that time away is fast-paced – trains, planes and automobiles – or a week at the beach, reading a book and never worrying what time it is.
A break away is a reset.
Many people get so caught up in their everyday lives, their work, their significant others, and their children, they forget about the importance of giving their mind and body a break – experiencing something new. Even though you might think you are not stressed, and you feel you are at peace, you might not be, and you might realize that when you do go away and have no connection with the world via social media, work, and the people you are not with. Sitting somewhere else gives you the sense of feeling calmness and relaxation – trying to get your brain to step away from its daily activities is hard for many people.
There are so many beautiful places in the world, sea or mountains, warm weather or cold, the diversity across the world – it’s a universe of which you can be unaware. You learn about other cultures and places. People in Spain eat late, Italians enjoy a siesta after lunch … people in the U.S. don’t take all of their allotted vacation time!
You can say to yourself, I don’t have the money, I don’t have the time – there are always excuses.
My father gave me the best advice in the world: “You do not go on vacation to save money,” he once told me, “you go on vacation to experience new things and places.”
Traveling teaches you a sense of independence. It teaches you that you can rent a car, book hotels, exchange money, not speak the language, and have one of the best experiences of your life.
Driving on the wrong side of the road, pulling out a map, the moments you spend in new cultures – these make up the sights, the sounds, the voices, the colors, the tastes you will remember and never forget. You might sit in a restaurant and find yourself talking with someone new. In New Zealand, I met a grandmother who had just done a six-month kayaking trip on her own around Australasia. You sit there and start to develop a sense of where you want to go next.
My best friend’s brother always says to me, “Why are you starting to think about your next adventure? Just enjoy the one you are on.”
What may happen when you are on vacation is that, at some point, you know it will come to an end, you will go back to your everyday life, which may not be too bad, but sometimes you just need a break … the next break.
My suggestions about planning travel – which I’ve been doing since I was 12 -- are: sit on a couch, pick a place, research the heck out of it, and plan what’s best for your group. There are deals to be found, and so many beautiful places to go. Or, have a friend take a map, spin it and wherever his/her finger lands is your destination!
Traveling is about the experience, it’s not to say you’ve been to a place, it’s to say, this is what I saw.
Put simply, travel makes you wealthy.