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Chef Anthony Bourdain once said, "If you're young, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel- as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them wherever you go." Those words inspire me and impacted my whole being. I'm 25 and fortunate to have traveled the world and absorb what it has done to me. Through it, I realized that traveling is a better investment than more material things. Why? It's because there are so many life lessons you can learn from it. I can tell you some of my favorites.
1. IT IS OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
There is nothing more like diving out of your comfort zone to make you realize that you are a newbie in life no matter what your age is.
When I was younger, middle eastern countries used to be terrifying and scary to me. Maybe because the way these countries are portrayed by media can sometimes be negatively biased. But that has all changed when I visited Abu Dhabi and experience it first hand.
It's exhilarating to forget what's familiar for a bit and expand your horizons. Once you do, there is no better feeling than taking on unfamiliar territory and making it familiar. All it takes is pulling the trigger, and you'll come home with endless stories.
2. IT DE-STRESSES YOU
It helps us break our behavioural patterns when we feel like too many days look the same. It's also a great way to add a new dimension to your life, which makes the hustle bearable.
As cliche as it sounds, sometimes we don't know how to handle issues and what we want to do, until we step away from our family, friends, workmates and tune in to our inner voice. Travel gives you the space to just be you and think alone in a way you could never do back home. It's so much easier to deal with issues and solve problems when you look at them from the outside. It gives you a lot of time to think without destructions and make healthy decisions.
3. YOU GET TO TASTE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOOD
Life is too short to eat the same type of food every single day. Imagine there's a book with thousands of pages and you read over and over the same first page never turning it once, that's how most people live their lives. I never thought that pelmini, sushi and kimchi would become some of my favorite dishes in the world until i tried them country to country. Try a restaurant serving ethnic food and avoid the touristic ones with equivalent food from home.
As a cook, I cannot go to a restaurant in a foreign country without mentally reverse engineering the food that I am eating. Many times your waiter will tell you the recipe. Afterwards, I try them out in my kitchen. Not only it gives me the pleasure of eating the food, but also helps me become a better cook.
4. IT IS A MORE ADVANCED FORM OF EDUCATION
Traveling is like condensed education. So many scales and new forms of interconnected knowledge merged together in a travel experience. It gives you a detail of insights whether about Geography, History, International events or even Language which others only study in school books. It makes you realize how much you don't know, and it opens your mind and broads your perspective. These absorbed information will stick around a lot longer than what you learn from school. After all, experience is the best teacher of all.
5. YOU MEET NEW PEOPLE
The best part of traveling is the people you meet along the way. I've found out that it is extremely rare to come across another traveler who isn't eager to hear your stories, where you've been, or where did you come from. You listen to their stories, tell yours, share the same interests, hear various opinions and experience things together with people.
Some of my favorite friendships are the ones I found from traveling. To name a few: with a Mexican guy called Arnold and a Danish old man named Ben. During a carnival in Veracruz, a man named Arnold approached me and asked stuff about my camera, turns out he is a blogger from Tampico who came to celebrate the carnival. He gave me a liter of local beer and took me to his group of friends and partied all night. The other one is with Ben, who offered me a lift to Esbjerg downtown because he was worried that I'd be walking longer than i thought. And the list goes on. Who would have thought that simple situations like these help you build relationships that would last a lifetime.
It is a beautiful thing to say that you're friends with people around the planet.
6. YOU START TO UNDERSTAND OTHER CULTURES
Living somewhere completely different gives you a new perspective that's different from just hearing or reading about it. People fear what they don't know or don't understand. Just because someone lives in another geography than you do, their skin color is different, and they believe different religion than you, it doesn't mean they don't share the same emotions. When you travel, you'll find that most people are good and welcoming, and they'll share with you what they have in order to make you feel good.
The act of being somewhere new allows you to fully immerse yourself and appreciate that new place, from the people, the language, the clothing, and everything in between. Taking the time to interact with the local culture is the way to experience and appreciate it fully. Again, this can't be taught, only experienced.
7. YOU'RE EXPOSED TO NEW IDEAS
Whether you are staring at a menu realizing you have no idea what the items are, or jumping on a bus that you hope will get you somewhere familiar, traveling is exciting. It forces you to do new things, and it's gonna be easy after the first couple of times which eventually makes you learn the system. Being in new territory will probe new ideas and curiosities- what the local customs are, the local food, what language is spoken and religious practices. It gives you a better understanding, and therefore turning these curiosities into discoveries. This will then make you hungry to learn more, ask questions and completely immerse yourself into a new place.
8. IT MAKES YOU MORE INDEPENDENT
One goal in life is to be independent. Meaning, if it comes to it, you're own set of tools is enough to keep you going. Most parents are overprotective and do not allow their children to face the hardships in life until it's too late. You grow up in a bubble, and the reality hits you like a brick on the face. When you travel, you will learn one of life's most important skills, self reliance.
I remember the first time I visited Venice, I was alone by myself, only got 2 euros in my pocket (I had enough cash but in a different currency which isn't acceptable in the local area), without an internet connection and even got lost, since the city was pretty sketchy. It didn't bother me. Instead, you'll find it more valuable. Nothing like being lost in Venice where every corner has beautiful little bridges that serves you a very peaceful view. One's paddling the Gondola, while some walks slowly and taking their time, with their eyes mesmerized. You have to trust yourself and understand that life's circumstances aren't bad at all and sometimes it'll lead you to somewhere even more beautiful.
9. IT FORCES YOU TO BE MORE SOCIAL
People says we're always connected because of how technology develops. But a digital world is an invisible world. Sometimes, people lack of personality because they no longer go out to form one. Due to our indoor existence, we are forming our personalities based on almost the same type of pattern provided on the internet, until we become products of what companies wants us to be. When we travel, we get to have real life conversations, talking to people we don't know and learning from them. Our connection should be invested in real people, from our neighborhood to the world.
10. THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARS
It's only when you travel that you will realize how big and diverse our world really is, but also how similar we are as one people. What if world war III would happen. The people that will be harmed are the people you became friends with, the people you met in the cafe, or in carnival, people who gave you a lift, gave you recipes, people who smiled at you on the streets, or the receptionists who are very courteous, the children you saw on their way to school because they have dreams. You will realize it's never going to be okay to see them injured or get killed. I think, even world leaders would feel the same.
People are our most treasured gifts in this life. Go meet them. Let them see we are all one too. If we could do that, we can change the world. One traveling peace maker at a time.
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Nolla (zero) cabin Designed by Robin Falck, Vallisaari island, Finland
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