I don’t necessarily believe in single events being life-changing. I believe that all events, great and small, change our trajectory in some way. I’m probably guilty of writing that one of our tours is “life-changing” and I mean it, I truly do. But I also think that it’s an over-used term because a trip to the grocery store can be life-changing if, let’s say, you happen to meet your future husband in the check-out line.
Every trip I take changes me in some way. I learn something about myself. I learn something about the person or people I’m traveling with. I learn about those I meet along the way. And there are always many take-aways that affect me long after I return home.
*****
This week I’m off to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to speak at a conference for widows. The idea to speak at this event actually came from one of our (widowed) tour participants a couple of years ago. She had been to this conference and, after taking our Santa Fe Culinary Tour, thought that what the tours and I had to offer, would be an excellent healing step for widows. Not a widow myself, I was a bit hesitant about speaking to this group, but the conference director agreed that this would be an excellent opportunity for the widows (and widowers).
In my travels running a tour company, I’ve both experienced and been witness to just how, um, life-changing, travel can be. I’ve seen women blossom and gain confidence after spending a couple of weeks away from home. I’ve seen them cry at the sight of Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan and at the Taj Mahal in India. I’ve seen life-long friendships being made. I’ve seen dancing, and laughter, and a-ha moments that no one could ever have predicted.
Our participants arrive unsure about the group and the destination. They depart having made new friends and filled with memories of amazing sights and encounters. Most importantly, they return home with a renewed sense of self.
So Why Does Travel Change Us So Much?
1) While traveling, you’re away from your usual routine. You aren’t drinking a pot of coffee in the morning to get your buzz on. You aren’t rushing out the door to work, coming home to clean the house, pick up after the family and prepare dinner. Away from the routine, you become more observant and open to what’s around you. Everything’s new. And your eyes are wide open to every experience.
2) On a trip, you have time and space for new experiences. You’re not being bombarded with television, radio, or the internet. You’re experiencing life NOW, what’s right in front of you. Your mind is open and you quickly adopt a child-like wonder about everything that surrounds you.
3) When you’re out of your element, you’re open to new experiences. Whether it’s bungee jumping or trying a fruit you’ve never encountered before. Without having the usual friends, family and colleagues at your side giving their opinion or advice, you’re completely open to making your own choices. And you just never know what path that might lead you down.
4) When you’re on the road, you’re exposed to not only new sights but also new ways of thinking. Hopefully, you’re open to this – you may even change your own viewpoint as a result.
5) By traveling (especially abroad) you’re more aware and (hopefully) more tolerant of the diversity in the world and in your own backyard. Exposure to other cultures and ways of living can never be a bad thing.
*****
Whatever your life situation, it might just take a different perspective, like the one out of the plane window, to send your life in a different trajectory.
Have you been transformed by travel? Do share.
Travel Well,
Beth
Related links:
On Traveling: With Resilience
On Traveling: Solo Safety Issues
Photo credit:
Bird & Moon – b_lumenkraft
Sophia says
Hello Beth,
This post is rather fortuitous, as I just finished posting on my blog my thoughts on how travel enriches:) I love your observations and can relate to many of them. So true that travel and other cultures opens us up to so much more than if we stay at home in our usual surroundings all our life. Traveling through Morocco, I remember seeing desert nomads and thinking that there are so many other ways of walking through life that people are content with. There certainly isn’t just one way of doing things and life is so much richer when we get to experiences the alternatives.
Happy travels!
Sophia
Beth Whitman says
Exactly, Sophia! So much we need to open ourselves up to. I love your observation about the nomads and the variety of ways to walk through life.
Beth Shepherd says
Travel has changed my life in every way possible, from spending my junior college year in Amsterdam (and traveling around Europe that summer), to relocating myself to the west coast, to visiting Tibet with my husband (who I wouldn’t have met if we both hadn’t traveled to the west coast), to making many trips half-way around the world before bringing home our daughter.
Carol says
Lovely! You have absolutely summed up why I love to travel. Thanks for putting into words here.
Nicole @ Suitcase Stories says
Travel has definitely transformed me! My hubby and I left Australia 13 months ago for perpetual travel. I think if I went back to Australia now, half the people wouldn’t recognize me (and I don’t mean physically).
I feel like Im a new woman. I used to think people couldn’t change fundamentally, but Ive been proven wrong. And I LOVE this version of me! I never want to go back to the old version.
Thank you for a great post! I really connected with it.
D.J. - The World of Deej says
Great post…if only there were a way to live as if we were traveling all the time (which I guess in some ways we are). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “why don’t we do this at home?”…
wandering educators says
Love this. and it’s exactly what DJ said in his comment – why don’t we do this at home?!
Terry at Overnight New York says
I think because travel is by definition a liminal period it changes us so dramatically — and wonderfully. Nice item.
Cat of Sunshine and Siestas says
I read Frances Mayes’s “A Year in the World” before moving to Spain, worried about how I would perceive both my new home and my old. Mayes makes your point, too, that so many decisions we make – big and small – set us on one trajectory or another. My 27 years of life and traveling have all come down to the curiosity I’ve had as a kid, and it’s led me onto another continent and life in another language. I sincerely believe that it’s been a whole series of small decisions that got me here.
Great post, Beth.