by ChaThe Top Ten Reasons I Love Traveling
1. I can see the world from a different perspective. As the old saying goes, “Perception is Reality.” When you get to know a place through your own eyes, everything you ever heard or read begins to get challenged based on what you see firsthand for yourself. So, I think it’s not confirmed until you have discovered it yourself.
2. Humanity and putting a face on the people of the world. This is a run-on of #1. We all have heard about the people in said country (Iran, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Egypt, etc.). Still, if we have never met them, touched them, or communicated with them. Unfortunately, we tend to see them as faceless creatures we’ve heard about through the media. However, when you get the opportunity to meet people in person, they become real. Your compassion for how they are treated, living, and for them begins to change. It becomes AUTHENTIC. If you could see the starving children in an underdeveloped country, they wouldn’t be a commercial story, they would become a conversation with a heartfelt meaning behind it, and maybe the world would change.
3. Beauty is in the eye of its beholder. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, if you go to the beach and feel the sand sifting through your toes and smell the ocean as the warm breeze tickles your nose, how many more words would it be worth describing your experience? Traveling to the place gives you much more than the photo could ever provide. Sure, pictures are fantastic, they help you remember, but the experience of being and seeing firsthand leaves an impression that will live with you forever.
4. I love to EAT!!! Now, I know you can feel me when I say AUTHENTIC. There is something very different about eating at an authentic Mexican restaurant rather than an excellent ole commercial Tex-Mex restaurant. The Tex-Mex can’t even compare. Now, I love Tex-Mex, so don’t get me wrong. However, I would rather eat authentic Mexican food any day of the week. So, when you travel, you get the opportunity to eat the food the way the people of that particular area intended it. Remember, real is always better than the replica anyways!
5. Learning experience. When you travel and visit a different city, state, or country, you learn much more than you could ever learn by reading, hearing about it from someone else, or watching a movie, documentary, or television show. So, I encourage you to get out and travel, and you will come back with so much more knowledge, which will also allow you to teach other people who will not get the same opportunity.
6. Expand your thought process. We live in a world that can be very narrow, but when you travel, you get to experience things that will hopefully enlighten how you think or see something. Sometimes you even get to dispel rumors about places you have believed all your life. Traveling opens the door to many new beginnings.
7. Relaxation. I love living in the city and having many options, but sometimes I want to rest and leave all the worries of life behind. Traveling allows you the opportunity to do that. If you take a day or two to sit on the beach and be, everything you do in your day-to-day hustle and bustle becomes worth it. Relax and take a moment to smell the roses. When you take this time away from everything that you think you must do, you then learn to appreciate life, and you also get the opportunity to rejuvenate your thoughts and prepare to move forward.
8. Pampering. Now, you should always take the time to pamper yourself no matter where you are, but some of my best pamperings were experienced while traveling. Going on a nice vacation is always a good idea to go to the spa and get pampered. Make sure you eat the best of the best and experience the best parts of the place you visit.
9. Interesting stories. Life is fascinating! At least mine is. When you get the opportunity to travel and see different places, meet interesting people, eat delicious food, and experience things you can only dream about doing. Then you tend to develop the best life stories ever. Remember, everyone is not going to take a chance, veer off the beaten path, or will be able to afford the opportunities to travel, so your stories allow others to live through you vicariously. Live and then tell about it!
10. I get to reinvent myself through my experiences. It’s great to see a different place, meet new people, eat fresh foods, learn something different, and create lifelong stories to tell future generations, but one of the reasons I love traveling is that I get to reinvent myself through the places I’ve been and the things I have done. When you travel, look at it like a snake shedding layers of dead skin you’ve been lugging around for years. What you may have brought to a situation can be shed by being open to seeing, feeling, and being in the moment. At home, you may have become complacent in your environment, but when you go somewhere new, you have the chance to try something you have dreamed of experiencing. If you don’t like who you are anymore, you can become someone known (as long as you aren’t lying to others or yourself). Reinvent yourself and find the courage to live outside the box because there isn’t much room for living inside the box.
