Traveling gives you the chance to expand your horizons, to see more of the world, and to improve parts about yourself that you didn’t even know needed improving. People are different when they travel. While they may be cautious at home, comfortable in their lives, and hesitant to shift out of their ordinary routine, travel opens them up to a plethora of possibilities, and this changes them, often, for the better.
You often feel like a new person when you are traveling, but it is when you come home from your travels, whether these travels were a week, a month, a year, or indeed even longer, that you need to maintain and continue what you’ve learned.
There are plenty of things that you can bring back from your travels, and these are more than just souvenirs for your friends and family. There are attitudes, experiences, lessons, and an understanding of different parts of the world that will help you continue with your personal growth, and could perhaps teach others a little, without becoming one of those travelers.
The Food
If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that traveling can open up your palate to some of the most exciting and unique flavors around. Whether you love to cook or have never cooked before in your life, you will find plenty of opportunities to enjoy the most exquisite culinary delights of the world.
Whether it’s mastering a massaman curry after a stint in Thailand or understanding how long to bake chicken breast to give it that perfect, juicy flavor for a classic Texas BBQ, the food lessons you learn while on your adventures will be something you can bring back with you. From here, you can start mixing up your diet and give you an excuse to throw a dinner party.
The Drink
Likewise, the drinks you will find while backpacking or jet-setting across continents may generally be pretty similar to the same ones you enjoy at your favorite dive bar down the block, however, because you’re traveling, there’s something exotic about the flavors.
If you look hard enough, you can also find local drinks that are a little different from what you’re used to, such as a Pisco Sour, popular in Peru. It’s not all alcohol, though, and travelers worldwide have discovered a love for smoothies, flavored tea, and even a range of coffee blends that they would never have considered trying back home.
The Music
We live in this bubble where our music is better than all other music around. But if everybody thinks that there’s no way that any can be correct, is there? You might not find the sexy riffs of your favorite rock bands while traveling, but you can be introduced to something else.
Local music, whether that’s the salsa you find all across Colombia to the relaxing and tranquil folk music you find in Southeast Asia, can make you feel closer to the community you’re living in. When you come back, it’s a great way to separate yourself from the typical Billboard 100 tunes that populate the airways.
The Attitude
Traveling is a superb way to transform your attitude for the better and manage to make a change in your life that could prove highly beneficial both socially and professionally.
The attitudes you develop traveling, which is typically a laid back approach to life, can follow you home. You don’t want to stop caring about everything, of course, but realizing that the world is more than just work, work, and more work, will help put things into perspective. Through this, you can focus more closely on the critical elements in life, and these are the things that make you happy.
The Passion
With the variety of opportunities available to you when you travel, you’ll likely discover and develop a passion for things you never before considered. Many people go on adventures without ever wearing a pair of walking boots in their life but come back wanting to get out and hike as often as possible.
Similarly, you may fall into something unique. Perhaps a jiu-jitsu class in Brazil, or skiing anywhere in the world. You may even come back home looking to throw yourself even further into this passion. Travel is the chance to reinvent yourself, and with these fantastic opportunities, you get the chance to do just that.
The Language
Learning the language is an excellent way to immerse yourself in a culture, and if you’re traveling for a long time, it’s something that is highly recommended no matter where you are. You can learn Spanish when traveling through South and Central America. You can get to grips with the basics of Thai, Vietnamese, or Mandarin if taking a trip through Asia. When you return, you can apply these languages in your own way.
It’s unlikely that you’ll need to use the language too frequently. Still, if you want to improve your language skills, there will inevitably be local classes somewhere nearby that can help you stay proficient and maybe prepare you for when you move back to these countries later in life.
The Culture
A nation’s culture is another aspect of traveling you can bring back with you. If you enjoyed anything about where you visited, you could apply this to your daily life, whether that’s how people eat, how people work, or how people relax with family and friends.
There are also souvenirs that you can bring back to remind you of where you have been. This is arguably the most physical thing you can carry back with you, and it’s a fantastic way to feel more connected to your past adventures.
The Memories
If you don’t go traveling to make memories, then why are you going at all? The beautiful thing about your travels is that you can make memories every day, both in expected and unexpected places. These memories are things that you can look back on when you’re feeling down or even those moments of self-doubt.
The advent of smartphones has allowed us to access these memories at any time, too. We can look at pictures or videos that we took, or others snapped, at the tap of a screen, and this can help ease any bittersweet nostalgic feelings about where we are currently.
“the people you meet traveling are often like-minded and go through all of these experiences with you.”
The Lessons
The lessons we learn traveling are the type of lessons that stay with us forever. Seeing new places and meeting new people will help us understand things that we would have never understood at home.
When traveling, we are exposed to a range of different people with a variety of backgrounds. We encounter environment after environment that teaches us about the world, and it’s through this that we can gain perspective about places and people that we never knew existed until the day we set foot there.
We can then take these lessons and apply them to our regular lives back at home. They allow us to be more conscious of everything, whether that’s the environment, other people, or our happiness.
The Connections
You might have some fantastic lifelong friends back at home, but the people you meet traveling are often like-minded and go through all of these experiences with you. These individuals are the type of friends and connections that will stay with you through life, and who you will always remember.
This is true whether you stay with the same group for weeks, or if you meet someone for a day hike or activity where you both go through something challenging but ultimately rewarding. You may not speak to one another often, but you always know that you can check up on them if you are in the same city, and it will feel the same as it did when you were out adventuring into the unknown.
“traveling will not only enhance your experience, but it will also set you up for living a more fulfilled life when you get back home.”
The Independence
Finally, independence is a massive thing for those who have traveled the world, even if they did not do so alone. When traveling, you are faced with making decisions in an unfamiliar environment, and typically, you don’t know anyone wherever you end up.
With this, you’re forced to fend for yourself. You’re forced to meet people, to socialize, to engage with others and make decisions all by yourself. If you travel alone, there is no safety net, but this is a good thing.
It’s a superb experience traveling with friends. However, it can also hinder your personal growth. Being independent and putting yourself out there when traveling will not only enhance your experience, but it will also set you up for living a more fulfilled life when you get back home.
Everything You Loved
It can be challenging to adjust back to the reality of ordinary life following your around-the-world odyssey. However, if you strive to bring everything you loved about traveling back with you, then you may find the transition a little more comfortable.
As exciting and life-affirming as traveling can be, if you experienced it alone, you may feel stranded at sea once you get home. By bringing your favorite aspects of traveling with you, there is the opportunity for you to share them with your nearest and dearest.