Why I Love to Travel and Why You Should Too

As a society, we are complacent. Complacent with where we live, how we live, where we work. Complacency is comfortable but no one ever found their dreams by living in their comfort zone. I don’t warm up to the thought of being uncomfortable, so I find it challenging to put myself in that place.

I travel because it scares me. I have been to 26 countries and I still get nervous before each trip. Did you know that I am a nervous flyer? I always have been. That will never stop me from travelling, in fact; it gives me more reason to travel. Below are the reasons why I love to travel and why you should too:

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Travel Changes You

Travelling can be uncomfortable and incredibly rewarding. I don’t always speak the language or understand the local customs or culture. All that said, I still enjoy the process. I enjoy the stress of getting through airport security, the language barriers, the long flights and landing in a foreign country eager to learn how people on the other side of the world live. It has changed the way I live my life and has fueled my desire to work less and live fully.

When we visit other countries, we are often struck by how happy and carefree the locals are. Places like Italy and Greece prioritize their quality of life so it makes sense why they are some of the happiest societies in the world. It’s admirable. In North America, people work to live rather than living to work. We always joke that we’d like to move to Italy one day. It’s certainly shifted our focus to what is important and what we would like to get out of our own lives. I spend more time doing the things I love and less time stressing about work when I should be enjoying my family. This past year and a half without being able to travel has made me cherish and appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to visit different parts of the world. It’s the longest period I have gone without travelling in about 5 or 6 years.

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You Learn to Love the Experience

I love all parts of the experience. I love to spend time researching the must-do’s and finding some lesser known sites and restaurants that are local hotspots. We always come armed with a few phrases so we can communicate (on a very minimal level) with the locals. Knowing a few pleasantries in the local dialect goes a long way and we find that we often end up in some of the most interesting conversations that way. We have learned some valuable lessons about ensuring you understand the local faux pas. When at restaurants, A and I will often share of bite of each other’s meal, we learned the hard way that this was not OK in Japan (we silenced an entire café and a few couples actually got up and move farther away). Lesson learned. Nonetheless, we wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. It’s just another story we can tell, and we laugh about it now.

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You Learn to Embrace the Challenges

Like figuring out the subway systems at 1 am after a 10-hour flight. This usually leads to a few tears, but we always figure it out in the end. Every single time I return home from another country, I have learned something about myself. I have learned how resilient I can be, and how little I need to be happy. I have learned that no matter how overwhelmed or tired A & I are, we can always figure out where we need to go.

The challenges are what keep me coming back. Remember when I said that travel scares me and I'm a nervous flyer? Well, I didn't mention that A suffers from anxiety (and maybe I do a little too). We make quite the pair when we travel. I already mentioned that travel changes you, but it's worth mentioning that it's the challenges that force you to change. It's the part where you learn the most about yourself and you have to overcome obstacles on the fly (like how to read the bidet toilet in your AirBNB in Tokyo. Yikes!). They give you the best experiences and probably the most laughs!

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Travelling is Grounding

Travelling is a very grounding experience. It reminds you that the world is big, with lots of people who all have different values and beliefs. It has certainly opened my eyes and it will always be a part of my life while I am able. It is something that I do believe that everyone should try it at least once in their life.

Travel has a way to bring you back to reality, it changes your perspective on different things. For me, it was the way I live my life. I have grown to cherish experiences over things which has been the best thing for me. It's why I prioritize travelling and why I give it its own category on my budget (that's for another post).

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You Get to Eat All The Food

This is definitely a bonus. Some of the best food I have ever eaten has been while I'm in a different country. It inspires me in the kitchen. A and I love to learn new recipes from the countries we have visited. I also research some of the must visit restaurants and ask locals of any hotspots they would recommend. We did just this in Rome and ended up sitting next to another Canadian (who worked for the UN) and his colleague who was a local Italian. The interesting thing was that the Canadian spoke minimal Italian and the Italian spoke minimal English. They were teaching each other. We never would have had that experience had we not done our research.

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There are definitely more to love than this list but I think that is up to each person to figure out on their own. All I can say is travelling is worth it and if you don't end up being a traveler; that's ok. At least you gave it a shot.