Have you ever been so passionate about something, you can almost feel it oozing out of you?
For the past year or so, I’ve been sharing posts about travel. Places to go. How to save money. Practical tools and gear for travel. But why? Why have I spent hours in front of my computer writing and researching and proof reading and engaging with readers? Why have I spent my hard earned money on plane tickets and hostel reservations? Why do I continue to leave the comfort and safety of my home? Why travel?
I’ll tell you why.
Passion.
I am so passionate about travel it makes me feel like I’m going to explode. I write my blog posts in the hopes that some day my travels will inspire other people to travel. I want to be an example to the normal, every day people that travel is not only something you can do, it’s something you need to do.
Travel is so much more than getting on a plane or in a car, and staying in a hotel for a week. Travel is more than collecting stamps in a passport or miles on a credit card.
Travel is powerful. Powerful in ways that you have to experience to understand. I have felt the power of travel time and time again, and I am able to look back and see how travel has impacted me through the years.
So, Why Travel?
Travel changed my life
Before my family and I spent a year in Australia back in 2007, I was a very different person. I was a freshman in high school, with a small handful of friends and a fear of my own shadow. I didn’t talk to people outside of my friend group. I had little to no self-confidence. I had no plans or vision for my future. When we moved to Australia, I was beyond terrified. Everything I knew and was comfortable with was on the complete opposite side of the world.
Can someone say awkward young teen pic??
Now, having been through it, I see that I was given a chance to start over from square one; to re-establish myself as whoever I wanted to be. With the chance to re-create myself, I blossomed. I made so many friends, gained a ton of confidence and became comfortable with the idea of challenging myself.
I now have a tattoo in the shape of Australia. Every time I peer down at the top of my foot, I see that black outline and I am reminded to lift my head and venture on with the same confidence that I discovered in Australia. I owe so much of who I am now, to that life-changing experience. Who knows where I would be now if I hadn’t moved abroad when I was younger.
Challenge: Why travel, when you can remain unhappy with who you are?
Returning to Australia 9 years later…
Travel educates me
I can look back at every single trip I’ve taken and identify a key lesson that I learned during my trip. Whether it’s a lesson about life or the world at large, I am always impressed with the ways that travel expands my mind. I learned how to put my trust in others while traveling in Nepal. When I got Zika Virus in Central America, I learned that risk taking is part of life, but I won’t let it stop me from living. I’ve learned about animals, and food, and people and customs. I learned the sad truth about elephant tourism, and the importance of examining how your actions impact in the world. I’ve learned that I love guava, and the medieval cities of Belgium. I’ve learned the importance of a good stock of pepto bismal…
The education that travel supplies cannot be found in a classroom or textbook. You have to get out there and open yourself to what the world can teach you.
Challenge: Why travel, when you can just google everything you need to know?
Exploring and learning about the Copan Ruins
Travel challenges my beliefs
I think back to my time in Nepal, when I first had the experience of feeling ashamed to be an American. I was traveling on a bus with my Singaporean friend and two backpackers came up to us.
“Let me guess…” one girl said, rolling her eyes “You guys are from America.”
My travel companion was very quick to correct them, but I was left feeling like there was something wrong with my being American. Fast forward to a few days later, we were having dinner at a restaurant in Kathmandu. A group of local musicians were on stage, playing upbeat Nepali music. The atmosphere was awesome. That is- until a group of American high schoolers arrived. They were quick to announce that they were from Texas and before long, they were dancing around their tables whooping and hollering and overpowering the traditional music that was being played. In that moment, I felt so ashamed to be grouped in with these obnoxious people, as a fellow American. My time in Nepal challenged my belief of how The United States is perceived in other places. I now strive to be a good and respectful representation of Americans while abroad.
Having your beliefs challenged can be a scary concept for some people. But I think that having your beliefs challenged can make them stronger, and can make you a more open-minded and understanding person.
Challenge: Why travel, when your opinions are the only ones that matter?
I have a belief that birds are the worst. Travel continuously confirms this for me.
Travel expands my comfort zone
Remember that super shy, pre-Australia version of Brianna we talked about earlier? She was also a very picky eater, and cried at the thought of any perceived impending danger. Adventure was not a word in my vocabulary. One time, when I was a little girl at camp, I even voluntarily peed my pants so I didn’t have to use a scary, smelly latrine. Now, after all the travel I’ve done, there are few toilets that scare me. I’ll try just about any food once. And I enjoy the adrenaline rush from adventure activities like hiking to giant waterfalls in El Salvador, ziplining through the Daintree Rainforest in Australia, and black water rafting through caves in New Zealand.
Challenge: Why travel, when everything around you is safe and comfortable?
Travel eases my anxiety
This one honestly just doesn’t make sense to me. But it’s true. Like many other people, I struggle with anxiety. For the most part I can handle it, but there are times when my brain goes straight into panic mode over the littlest things. My social anxiety is a big one. Many times I struggle to converse with other people, and if I’m not mentally prepared to be around people, my brain can trigger a panic response. I’m also a very organized, schedule-oriented person. I like to plan things and know what is happening. Changes in plans can often trigger panic responses as well.
But for some reason, when I travel, my anxiety just falls away. It doesn’t make any sense, as travel often requires extreme flexibility in plans, as well as a lot of socialization with strangers. Somehow, my brain just finds peace within my travels and let me tell you, that feeling is unbelievably amazing.
When my friend and I booked a taxi ride from one small town in El Salvador to another, we thought we knew just what we were getting into. Imagine our surprise when the car showed up to take us, and it was held together with glue and rope! You won’t even believe what happened during the 2.5 hour drive, but it really should have thrown me into a full blown panic attack. But instead, the situation was met with laughter and I merely accepted the fact that shiz happens.
Challenge: Why travel, when you can keep fighting to control everything around you?
Travel gives me confidence
I think this goes hand-in-hand with travel alleviating my anxiety. When my mind is not preoccupied with anxious thoughts, I find myself to be exponentially more confident. I have no problem sitting alone in a restaurant. I speak up, start conversations with people I’ve never met, insert myself into group settings, and shed my need to appear perfect. My clothes are often unwashed, my face is free of make-up, my hair has probably not even seen a brush in days, and yet I feel at the height of my confidence. It’s like I’ve moved to Australia all over again and can keep reinventing who I am. And the best part is, if (and usually when) I make a huge goof of myself- there is comfort in knowing that I will most likely never run into the same people or places again.
Challenge: Why travel, when self-improvement is unnecessary and unimportant?
…And these are merely the ways I have seen travel impact my own life. There’s no telling what it can do for you. There are people who have discovered new skills through travel. Some have found a new place to call home. There are some who have even fallen in love while traveling.
So please, if you are thinking about traveling, or even if you are against it, I invite you to contact me. Send me your questions, your fears, your doubts. Trust me, I’m sure I’ve been in your shoes. I may be a little awkward and huge dork, but overall I’m incredibly average. And I want nothing more than to help you experience the life-changing power of travel.
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40 Comments
Hey, Brianna!
This is quite an inspiring read!
I’m so excited to know traveling the world has changed your life!
Looking forward to reading more from you!
Thanks for reading, Ivan!
I looove this! I’ve seen so many of these things happen to me as well, particularly with my anxiety and shyness totally disappearing when I travel, and all the lessons that we learn about the world! Really great post 🙂
Great article, Brianna! I can associate with all of these! Thanks for your honesty too and taking that plunge, I know just how hard it can be writing up your own opinions and feelings! Cheers!
This is totally the same way that I feel about travel. That and the obvious: because when I’m NOT travelling, all I do is daydream about it 😛 I’ve got wanderlust BAD!
I love your views and insights on how travel has changed you. I genuinely believe that travel changes everyone, whether they are able to acknowledge it or not. Travel widen our world view and challenges our believes (like yours in Nepal). We learn to unlearn the preconceived notions we had been carrying all along.
I love travel for exact same reasons as you, but also just to escape life sometimes. It is a win-win no matter what! 🙂
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Very inspiring read! Travel really is something everyone should do, I feel like everyone has that one defining trip, mine was too California! Happy travels 🙂
Well put. Travel makes me more confident and makes my husband less anxious and is an all around great thing for us as a team!
Great piece! There are always thousands of reasons not to travel or do something that scares you. I agree with everything you say! :p Travel teaches you so many things, I’d never want to stop discovering new territory. How awful that you got Zika! It appears to be pretty serious! Anyway, it wouldn’t stop us from traveling either. Is it still a big risk in Central Amerika right now?
Hi Inge! Thanks for reading. I honestly don’t know if it’s still a big deal. The media hype around Zika has certainly died down, which makes me believe Zika was probably always present in these areas to begin with…
I agree 1000% and now that you mention it, I feel so much more calm when traveling. NYC and work can be so frazzling but when I’m on an adventure, no matter what happens, I’m beyond relaxed. Travel is life!
I could not agree more! There’s something about travel that even the most unromantic places have romance and every moment we are out there exploring are moments that are teaching us something!
For me, the most important reason is ability to prove myself that we can achieve anything we want and follow our dream no matter what 🙂 Great article!
Great summary of why we travel. I can’t say travel eases my anxiety, it probably increases it, but it gives me the skills to not be overpowered or limited by it. Travel teaches me that I am capable and can handle what life deals out.
Nice read; I’m an introvert but travel has taught me to navigate social situations and open up. Even those who travel for leisure, I believe, learn something even if they don’t realize it. Here’s to more travels!
I enjoyed the way you put those challenges at the end of each part. Travel means different things to different people, and everyone has different reasons and ways to experience the world. I travel so that I can understand the whys and hows of this giant jigsaw puzzle better.
Amazing post! Travel (especially solo travel) has given me so much more confidence and just makes me darn happy. There’s SO much we can learn from traveling to different places all over the world. In every corner of the world, there’s something to learn!
Love this! Totally agree with your reasons too. Travel gives us so much!
Very enjoyable read. Travel does change you. It teaches you so much that you would not have known by staying at home.
I’d hate to think how my life would have been without travel. …… 45 years of it ?
I agree, “shiz happens”, and traveling with all its ups and downs certainly prepares you for the unexpected. Would you say the car ride was a “once in a lifetime” experience?
Haha! Let’s hope it was once in a lifetime!
I agree – travel is amazing and can teach us so much and help us grow into more open minded, confident, tolerant people. The one thing I would add is to remember that travel is a privilege. There are so many people that can’t travel due to finances, health reasons or other responsibilities. Travel isn’t for everyone but I think it’s fantastic!
Ah! Everything is so true. I’m so similar in the part about anxiety. It’s really weird because I love being social but my anxiety kicks in and I don’t want to be around anyone and have a hard time talking to others. But when I’m traveling, I love to talk to others no matter what and suddenly my anxiety disappears completely. Lovely post!
Travel is the way to get new insights into life that can help you find the person you are and what you like.
You are amazing! I was nodding my head to hard while reading this, thanks for sharing 🙂
I can see your passion just through this post alone. I love hearing about the reasons why people travel. It’s important to understand that traveling is also something that heals our minds and I love that you included that here with your struggle with anxiety. ❤️
I”m kinda old now but these are the exact reasons I wish I had travelled when I was your age!! Great post!
Great post! Rings very true to me 🙂
Such an interesting read. I totally agree with you about travel expanding my comfort zone, and truly benefiting from that in my everyday life!
Lovely to read the story of how you came to love travelling, and about the reasons you love it. I share many of those same reasons, especially the ones relating to learning about the world and learning about myself. I love to see how others live, work, play… how their lives are the same and how they are different to my own, it’s just such a wonderful way of expanding one’s mind and experience.
I definitely have learned a lot about myself while traveling so I agree with so many of these. I also have had the feeling of being embarrassed to be grouped with other “loud Americans”. I just think I can maybe change people’s views of us by being respectful! Hopefully… 🙂
Thoughtful and inspiring post! I love the part about starting over in a new country — while I didn’t ever move abroad, I appreciate the chance to start over and reinvent yourself. That’s what I feel like I did by quitting my job and traveling more. Traveling has also helped me to become less anxious and I can go with the flow more. Missed a train? OK, I got this, I can figure it out now. So cool that you lived in Australia, btw! 🙂
Cheers for this post girl!! I can absolutely resonate with almost everything you’ve said! My first big international trip was studying in Spain at age 20, and it literally changed my life from there on out. I changed my major to Spanish, and here 10 years later I’m a highschool Spanish teacher traveling in the summers. It gave me confidence, passion, and of course so much more knowledge. Happy travels!
All of the same for me! Plus travel enriches my life@
I love this and I agree, travel really changes us, our perspectives and preconceptions. I love to see what life is like all around the world, seeing amazing sights, seeing how different and challenging life is for other people.
Just delightful Brianna. This is why I love travel. It means different things to us all and shapes us in different ways. It teaches us different things and hopefully makes us all better people. Good on you for using your experience to shape you and to grow into a strong, sensitive and giving woman. I love that Australia helped you reach these realisations within yourself. As a proud Aussie, I love my country and the opportunities it affords me also.
Love this! I really love and resonate the bit about becoming more adventurous. Travel definitely can push you to your limits and when you look back and realise that you survived, you realise you can take on much greater things in future!
I agree with you on every point that you’ve mentioned on this blog. For many people traveling is a waste of money, but for some it’s a way of life. Say now, if you’ve visited Nepal already, don’t you have any plans to come to India? Pretty sure many shocks and pleasant surprises lie in wait in my country 😀
The incident about Texans hollering and just making noise was disheartening to hear. I honestly hate when anyone does that, especially if I’m at a place where the local traditions and customs deserves more respect. Really wish people knew how to behave as guests.
I plan on being a traveler too one-day, till then trying to make ends meet. Come pay my blog a visit if you’re available, I’m sure you’ll like it! Looking forward to reading more from you, Brianna.
What I love the most when it comes to travelling is that it really fills my heart and my soul. It helps me ease my mind, helps me to meditate, this is my way to express my love for myself, to nourish my mind. It helps me to relax and help me gain my strength again from exhausting situations from my work or whenever I encounter a heavy situations in life. Thanks for this post!
I am passionate about creating recipes like you are passionate about travel. I think about what I am going to create ALL the time. I love to travel also, and would love to see more of the world.