Traveling is no doubt one of the greatest joys a person can have in this life. It takes you places, lets you meet new people, and even finds you romance. The most interesting thing about traveling, however, is the fact that it makes a better person out of you. If you travel today, you can rest assured that you will come back a much different person. The following are several ways traveling the world makes you a better individual.
It Makes You an Excellent Planner and Decision Maker
Traveling requires careful planning, especially if you are to travel to a place you have never been to in your life and stay in that place for a long time. It requires critical thinking, too. Sometimes, you need to decide which accommodation you should avail yourself of so that you can get the most out of the view of the place. On some occasions, you will need to decide whether you should still visit that famous restaurant down the next block, or simply eat the hotel restaurant to save money.
It Teaches You to be Patient
Patience is one of the greatest virtues traveling can teach you. What will you do if the flight gets delayed? How will you react if the passenger next to you on the plane is trying to pacify a crying infant? Things you experience when you are traveling can teach you a lot of things, and patience is always on the list.
It Teaches You That Good Things Can Come from Bad Experiences
Nobody wants to experience bad things when traveling. As much as possible, the only thing you want is to enjoy your trip and collect only good memories from your adventure. Unfortunately, bad things happen, and most of the time, when you least expect them. One thing traveling can teach you, though, is that bad events don’t always have bad endings. The fact that we learn from unfortunate experiences is proof that something good can come out from such things.
It Makes You a Trailblazer
It’s fun and convenient to travel in a guided tour. It can be very informative, too. One thing traveling can teach us, tough, is that we have the freedom to find our own paths and not simply follow other people’s footsteps. When you’re traveling, always look forward to being able to wander away from your group, and to explore labyrinthine alleys on your own, discovering people and places and experiencing and understanding the city on your own.
It Opens Your Eyes to the Realities of Life
Perhaps the greatest gift traveling can give anyone is opening their eyes to the realities of life here on earth. In one of your future trips, consider visiting a third-world country (if you’re not from one) and compare the lifestyle of the people living there to yours. More often than not, your eyes will be opened as to how difficult life can be for people in other places in the world, and your heart will grow with compassion towards humanity.
It Teaches You to be Grateful
When you see a mother begging on the streets with a child in her arms, or a family eating leftover food and sleeping on the sidewalk, you can’t help to feel grateful and think about how fortunate you are for having a comfortable house to go home to. This is just one of the things traveling around the world can teach you.
It Teaches You to be Independent
Traveling alone can really make you feel insecure, especially if it’s your first time and the people in the city you’re visiting do not speak your language. At the same time, however, it teaches you to be independent. It also teaches you to be resourceful, creating ideas and thinking thoughts in your head like what the great philosophers of our time did.
It Makes a Great Storyteller Out of You
The greatest storytellers are the ones who are well traveled. It’s just inevitable for you to see and hear things that are too wonderful that you can’t afford not to share them with your friends and loved ones. When you have traveled enough, you will have all the memories, experiences, and the skills you will need to be a master teller of tales.
They say investing in memories and experiences is way better than spending money on material things. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially if those memories and experiences are ones you’ve collected through your travels.
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