Why Traveling is Important

When the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak, I was forced to cancel two trips that were planned for 2020. On top of that, I gave up any hope for planning additional trips for the foreseeable future.

The first trip I canceled was my annual trip to France to study French in an immersive environment and the second trip was a trip to Poland for a work conference.  

My inability to travel, and the subsequent feelings of wanderlust, have led me to the conclusion that travel is apparently a fundamental part of who I am.

I realized this one day as I was wasting spending time scrolling through Pinterest. If your Pinterest feed is anything like mine, there are a lot of Pins about travel (clearly Pinterest knows what mama likes). 

Anyway, my point is that I think the goal of the majority of those travel Pins is to provide the promise of changing and improving your life. You know those Pins I’m talking about, the sort that have these real eye-catching, attention-grabbing headlines (to which I am immune, natch), such as “5 Scandinavian Habits That Will Make Your Life Happier And Healthier”, “How to Dress like a Parisian”, ”French Habits You Should Steal”, and “How to have Parisian Style” (I’m starting to think I have some deep-seated complex about needing to be une femme Parisienne). 

While indulging in my feed the other day, I started to reflect on what a brilliant idea it was to start a lifestyle blog that focuses on food and travel during a worldwide pandemic (sarcasm). This amazingly intelligent idea of mine led me to wonder, why is travel such a fundamental part of who I am? Why do I travel? Why does travel fulfill me? And why do I feel the need to blog about it? Even better, why do I think you should be traveling too?

And I realized that there are A LOT of reasons why I love to travel. Experiences such as seeing Le Tour Eiffel in real life, hearing the call to prayer during Ramadan, seeing whales breaching the surface of the ocean while kayaking in Alaska, and climbing to the summit of Mount Olympus in Greece, all fill up my emotional cup, so to speak.

So what is the most important reason for traveling?

Having said all of that, the most important reason for traveling is that it allows us to learn new things about ourselves, which is ALWAYS a good thing. ALWAYS. Travel allows for personal growth, which helps prevent us from getting bogged down or set in our ways. We are forced out of our comfort zones. And by moving away from all things comfortable, we are more open to experiencing other cultures and ways of life firsthand. This provides us the tools we need to approach the differences between each other with grace and elegance instead of judgement and anger. Travel allows us to hold onto some semblance of joy, and wonder, and hope in a world that appears to be designed to steal these emotions from us. 

Personally, travel humbles me.

Travel teaches me.

Travel inspires me.

Travel rejuvenates me.

Travel allows me to connect with myself.

I’m not sure what the future holds for travel–I’m still mulling that over. But I do know that it will be different for the foreseeable future and possibly forever. Whatever it does look like in the future, I know that I will be a part of it, or rather it will be a part of me.

So what about you? How do you feel about travel and how do you feel about travel for the future. Let’s continue the discussion in the comment section.

And to answer that question about why I feel the need to blog about it. Well, that’s simple. I hope to inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and live your lives.

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