I can still vividly remember my first trip abroad. I was just 6 years old. I was too young to know what was going on, the baggage check-ins, the security checks, the ticket checks were all just a little alien to me. All I cared about was trying to get a reaction out of my baby sister who was trying her best to fall asleep in her stroller. As we entered our flight, the gentle aroma of freshly ground coffee beans enveloped our senses, spreading a fleeting sense of calm throughout our bodies. The calm and repetitive reminders to fasten our seatbelts and keep our seats in the upright position, was a little strange to me. As the aircraft slowly made its way through the tarmac, the little humps and lumps were felt ever so slightly on our seats. In a matter of seconds, the world outside through my window was becoming a huge blur to me. Any second then something big was going to happen. I could just feel it. And then take off! The exhilaration and nauseousness I was feeling, was out of this world - literally. I watched the glowing city lights become smaller and smaller, until all I could see was a small piece of land blanketed with colourful shiny throughout. I was on my way to the Americas!
I will be forever grateful to my parents for their appreciation for the outside world. I count myself very lucky for having innumerable opportunities to venture out into plenty a foreign land thus far. Of course, as the years have gone by, I’ve travelled alone, travelled with close friends and no matter where or with whom, not for one moment have I not thoroughly enjoyed myself. Travelling is a whole lot of fun. So far in my escapades, I’ve skydived from 2000m above ground in Thailand, parasailed over the most gorgeous of landscapes in Malaysia, scuba-dived to witness Mother Nature’s infinite beauty, swam with the dolphins in Singapore, sat amongst chimpanzees and pet a menacingly huge white tiger in Dubai, and sometimes just wandered off into the night, left alone with the stars and the reassuring sounds of nature. The list, believe you me, can be a story of its own. But I’ll stop here.
Most of us, including myself, like travelling for the pure entertainment of it all. And who can blame us? After all, we come back home with a host of new ridiculous stories, fond memories, irreplaceable experiences, and a huge pile of photos as proof of the fun we had had. But there is also a side to travelling that can really influence how a person is shaped. Travelling helps you really mature to a young adult. It makes you grow from a mere pubescent boy, into a young man. This article is just that. I’ll be taking you through how I feel travelling can have a positive impact on a person’s life.
More than anything else, travelling, I feel, helps a person get perspective in life. There is no faster or better way than to travel to a third world country and really try to empathize with other people’s predicaments. It’s a very humbling experience when you visit a place like Africa or Kazakhstan and you see people on the streets that can barely get through 1 square meal a day comfortably. People are worked to the bone in dingy factories, for a little or no pay at all. Seeing the atrocious living conditions, the abysmal education systems in the country and you know you’re blessed. All the small petty things you complain about in the past just don’t seem important anymore. The fact that you’re not getting to watch your favourite show, or the fact that your shower did not spew water at the perfect pressure that morning, or even the fact that you think your math homework is impossible to do. It just does not feel important anymore. This is what people mockingly have termed “first-world problems”. Travelling just makes you reflect on your life, and really re-evaluate what you think is right or wrong, good or bad. It really makes you think. And it makes you appreciate what you took for granted back at home.
Most people stuck in their 9 to 5 jobs get so completely comfortable with their monotonous lives, that they totally forget that there is whole world out there just waiting to be explored. It broadens your horizon like any other educational course. The bottom line is - travelling helps you grow intellectually. It gives you an opportunity to witness first hand, the problems different people with different cultures face. When you’re in a foreign land, simple things like making it back to the hotel after wandering the streets with absolutely no English street signs or conversing with people having a dearth of English speaking skills, or trying to learn a foreign language travelling abroad will definitely put your grey cells to work. Travelling will force you to take on new challenges, no matter the complexity. These new challenges will help you build new skills and free yourself from your former limitations. The premise is, if you are good at doing something in a foreign country, there is no reason you can’t do it on your home ground – a familiar turf.
Travelling helps you figure yourself out. You can really look deep within yourself and self-evaluate various aspects of your personality. What you’re good at, what you’re bad at, what you can try to improve on. Travelling can be your greatest teacher an irreplaceable mentor. Travelling does not only help you dwell into your inner self, but also gives you a greater appreciation for the people who matter the most. When you move away from the world you are familiar with, you’re forced to start with a blank slate. This is when a person will really rediscover what makes him happy.
With all the added benefits already mentioned, a very important one is the experience of travelling often makes you a more interesting person. Imagine starting a couple conversations like “…years ago, while I was backpacking across Europe…” and you begin to get a clearer picture. You’ll have a plethora of interesting insights that you gathered along the way, and a bunch of interesting people that eventually makes your life more multi-dimensional. You would have discovered so many new cultures, so many new stories, so many new jokes and more importantly, many different ways of doing things!
Traveling helps you realise that the grass is not always greener on the other side...and you'll be grateful for it.
- Swaraaj Sankar
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