Most people want to travel at some time in their life. Whether it is to get away from a hectic schedule, to explore new places, or to meet new people, travel is good for you. The benefits of traveling are not experienced during the travel period only as traveling changes you physically, psychologically, and physiologically. Below are ten benefits of traveling that should motivate you to travel:
- Travel Promotes Good Health
According to a research paper published in the Journal of Travel Research, traveling is the easiest way to detach from a monotonous daily routine that affects your health. As one travels, they experience new environments, meet new people, and they have the ability to plan what they do during vacation. The experiences excite the happiness hormones, which contribute to better health.
When one travels from one place to the next, they are exposed to tiny bodies, their bodies adjust and adapt to these new bodies, and that is how a body learns to fight different diseases. Traveling, therefore, can be a good probiotic as it helps you fight diseases.
When you walk away from a hectic schedule, you are less anxious and stressed. Taking a walk abroad can help relieve stress, which further enhances your health.
- Traveling Makes You Smart
Do you know someone who travelled and came back to speaking a new language? Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia University, associates international travel with enhanced creativity. According to him, traveling increases cognitive flexibility and the ability of an individual to make deep connections between unrelated phenomena. However, traveling alone doesn’t do the trick – one has to engage.
For you to learn a new language, you have to make a deliberate effort to learn. This means that you have to immerse yourself in the culture of the people of your place to visit and learn new things. Even if it means only learning traffic laws, your cognitive abilities will expand a little. People who travel tend to be more open, culturally aware, emotionally stable, and they think more openly.
- People Associate Travel with Happiness
Even when there is nothing much to experience in your place of visit, you will be happier planning for a trip or boarding a flight to a new place. The happiness is more when people go on staycations where they do not have to worry about work, children driving them mad, or the hectic traffic. Although some aspects of planning for a trip can be nerve-racking, the experience is generally stress-relieving.
A study at Cornell University noted that people are happy when they think of a vacation they will take. The anticipation keeps them happy, even if the trip never happens.
- Traveling Helps You Understand World Cultures
Have you ever wondered why some communities behave the way they do? You can only learn to appreciate other cultures when you travel and experience these cultures. A quote by Saint Augustine says, “The world is a book, if you fail to travel, you are stuck on one page.”
Experiencing different cultures open up your mind and your way of thinking. If you travel to a place whose cultures you are skeptical of, you will learn more, and you will end up more open-minded than you were. Things are not as bad as the TV sometimes portrays, but the only way you will know that is when you travel.
- Learn a New Skill
Whether you want to learn beadwork in Africa, the basics of massage in Japan, sculpting in Jerusalem, or how to make tofu in Mexico, traveling is a great way to learn a new skill. If you have lived in the same neighborhood all your life, you may never realize that there is a lot you are missing.
You may never realize how challenging or beautiful beadwork is since you never travel. Even if you only learn a few foreign language words, you will find the travel experience fulfilling. This point is linked to being smarter as every skill you learn expands your cognitive abilities.
- Try New Foods
Shushi tastes better in Japan than in your local Japanese restaurant. When you travel, you realize that the real thing might be different from what you have always experienced. Again, while Shushi might be the same in Japan and where you live, the service method for the dish might be different in Japan.
It is better to have an authentic experience than to have adulterated experiences in your neighborhood. When you go out, say to Japan, try their roast beef, sushi, and other Japanese foods, and feel the difference.
- Expand Your Social Network
Social networks are great for business and career progression. You do not have to travel out of the country to create a beneficial network, you can travel from one part of the country to the next, have fun, meet new people, make new friends, and you will be a better professional. Although it is not always easy to create lasting relationships with people you meet abroad, it is worth trying as this is the only way to progress.
Some of the relationships you create during travel will not benefit your career or your business, but it is great knowing you have a friend out of your neighborhood. You have someone to share experiences with.
- Traveling Makes You Appreciate Your Home
Most people love complaining about what is not going right in their home country. It is true that you may not be living in ideal conditions, but traveling can open you upon the beauty of your home. If someone comes to visit your neighborhood from abroad, they will have a lot of experience to take back home in an area you have lived your entire life. When you see the same things every day, you belittle their importance with time.
When you visit new places and find they have a hill the same as the one behind your house, you tend to appreciate your home more. You might find traffic snarl-up that stays for many hours in New York or any other city, while in your home, the traffic is only a few minutes. You may also find that life in other areas is so expensive that you start appreciating your home.
- Make Lasting Memories
When you are old and cannot travel anymore, you will have your memories with you. You can narrate your escapades like walking with the lions in South Africa, or swinging in Bali, or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to your kids. The memories always evoke a good feeling as if you are reliving the moment.
Traveling makes an impression on you. The fact that you have experienced something out of the ordinary and out of the office means you have something to relish, and that is good for your mind and your body.
- Get on an Adventure and Improve Your Overall Wellbeing
Nothing can replace the benefits of being outdoors. The fresh air, the sweet sun, the breeze, and the scenic views all promote your psychological and physiological wellbeing. When you travel abroad and want to have new experiences, you live like an adventurer and walk whenever you have the chance.
By walking, you will have enough vitamin D, which promotes your health, you will exercise more, your concentration improves greatly, you heal faster, and you are happier especially if your exercise area is green. Exercising in nature has more benefits than exercising in your basement or balcony.
The feeling of being an adventurer makes you happier, and you end up feeling good about yourself. So, start traveling when you still have a chance.
Conclusion
While traveling has so many advantages, there are also stresses associated with traveling. You might get lost abroad, or miss your flight, or face challenges communicating with the locals. To experience the benefits of traveling, you need to plan your visit right so that you do not face the challenges that might wipe out all the benefits you might have experienced while traveling abroad. It will make a great story, “The Day I Was Lost in Congo Forest”, but it is a story you’d rather avoid.
Travel when you can, stop procrastinating that vacation.