Good excuses to travel more, not less

As one of my favourite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson once stated, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Once the travel bug bites, you become addicted to moving, learning, appreciating, understanding and the urge to keep getting out of your comfort zone. In this post, I have accumulated nine reasons why I say everybody should travel more, not less.

1) You learn about the world you live in.
Reading a book or watching a documentary is nothing compared to standing on the country’s terrain and breathing in the air while you take time to appreciate their scenery with your own eyes, as you learn about their history and culture. Speaking to locals and listen to their stories, also helps you to grasp an insight into their reality.

2) You open your mind.
The world does not revolve around you, or the people you associate yourself with. The world revolves around all human beings, all animals, and plants. This revelation humbles a person and changes your priorities in the life you currently lead. “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” And that is true.

3) You see the beauty of the world amidst its chaos.
It may be difficult to acknowledge the small things in life when the big picture overtakes the limelight, especially when on a daily basis we are bombarded by the media with all the chaos that is occurring, seeing the wonderful wonders of the world sure makes us appreciate the beauty our world withholds.

4) You find your true self.
You have to get lost before you can find yourself and that is what travelling provides. Each time you wander the streets of a foreign land, you only have yourself to guide your way, and that is one of the best experiences in life.

5) You create experiences that will last a lifetime.
Nothing else will last as long as your experiences and memories. Therefore spending the time creating those experiences with people you care about is priceless and boosts your happiness.

6) You meet new people and create new opportunities.
Not only do you gather friends from all walks of life and all over the world, but creating these precious friendships allows you to have more doors open and therefore you are free to a world of opportunities you never believed could have been possible.

7) You become street smart and aware of possible dangers and how to avoid them.
Being a tourist is not always pretty and stress-free. If you wish to see the reality of the country and explore for yourself, you have to open your eyes to the possible dangers and how to avoid them, enabling you to become a wiser and stronger person at the end of the journey.

8) Every new country is like a breath of fresh air.
No country is like the next, and no country is like the previous. There is never a dull moment when you travel, and breathing in the fresh air and viewing the exquisite beauty that specific country holds is what keeps life exciting and keeps you speculating about what is to come.

9) You become a better version of yourself at the end of it all.
After all the long, grueling hours on a plane, eating whatever you can find and struggle to get to grips with the language, you will become a better version of yourself once you have overcome all of the downsides to travelling and explored the territory which pushed you out from your comfort zone.

I hope that the reasons which I have stated have helped you to persuade yourself, and even those around to continue travel and never stop. Because I believe that you should never stop travelling until you find the end of the world, which will hopefully not occur for hundreds of years to come.