Travel? Waste of time or life-changing experience?
Note: Travel in this post refers to indepent, long-term (preferably solo) travel. I am excluding all-inclusive holidays where everything is taken care of for you and you are almost completely insulated from the local culture.
I have spent around a quarter of my adult life travelling. There is always an opportunity cost. If you choose to do one thing, then you are by default choosing not to do something else. For example, I have had to make some hard decisions to depriortise career and relationships in favour of achieving my travel goals. Everyone is different and has to make these kind of hard life decisions.
I personally regret absolutely nothing. As the Butthole Surfers said on their classic rendition of Black Sabbath’s Sweet Leaf: “It’s better to regret something you have done, than something you haven’t done.” Many very successful people go to their grave wondering if it might have been different had they made that world trip, but other life commitments got in the way. No-one ever said on their death bed, “I wish I had worked harder”. I hope no-one will be saying at my funeral: “That guy Steve… what a great IT project manager he was!”
How to travel – luck or hard work?
I worked very hard to establish myself as an IT consultant. This gave me the financial freedom and time to go travelling. But, to be honest, I have been very lucky. My family could afford to send me to university and I finished with relatively low debt. I was able to capitalise on new trends, like the internet.
Later I discovered completely by chance, that I was eligble for Irish citizenship. My grandfather emigrated from (what’s now Northen) Ireland to New Zealand. Whilst travelling in India, I attended a crazy cricket match between New Zealand and India. I happened to bump into a fellow kiwi who suggested I apply for an Irish passport. My grandparents died before I was born, but my Dad still had his Dad’s old birth certificates. We submitted them to the Irish Embassy in New Zealand and voila, I had citizentship and a passport. I was extremely lucky because my late grandfather was born 2 years before the partition. Ireland considered it to be part of Ireland, not the UK. I was not complaining.
Having 2 of the best passports in the world (NZ & Ireland) is not only extremely handy for travelling. It has turned out to be the determining factor allowing me to pursue my dream life of travel. Without EU citizenship, I would require sponsorship for a working visa to live and work in Europe. I would not have been able to work as a self-employed IT contractor.
Career impact – hindrance or help?
Being able to travel so much while I was still young and fit has been a blessing. By working as an IT contractor, I didn’t have to explain changing jobs so regularly. Usually, I relied on my network to pick up a new contract, thus by-passing the standard recruitment process.
In the last years though, I have faced reality that I can no longer maintain a long term travelling lifestyle. I decided to settle in my new home, Berlin Germany, with a steady job. When applying for jobs through the standard recruitment process, I often had to explain the gaps in my c.v. in interviews. I came to realise there were 2 types of interviewers: those fascinated by my background and the skills they I could bring to the table; and the rest who saw the gaps as some kind of moral failure. What this second group did not realise is, of course, that travelling teaches you numerous life-skills which have a massively impact on your life and self-development. I don’t blame these people – it’s simply ignorance from having never travelled themselves.
So, in this article, I will attempt to state the case for travelling. Here is my list of the top benefits you get from travelling:
1) Have amazing experiences
This is a no-brainer. You will see and do things that will blow your mind – bustling cities with amazing restaurants, culture and nightlife; natural wonders from incredible mountain peaks and glaciers, stunning waterfalls in dense jungles, to white sandy beaches on tropical islands; adventure sports like mountain biking, hiking, surfing and scuba diving; amazing street festivals and carnivals; incredible fauna – from safaris to gorilla trekking and experiencing the undersea world; the awe-inspiring ruins of ancient cultures – the list goes on and on.
Of course, not all experiences are super amazing. Some are shocking like seeing real poverty. Some are not so much fun, like getting sick or robbed. But overall, the advantages way outweigh the negatives. Even a negative experience is a learning one. So, if viewed in that lens, all travel experiences even if unpleasant at the time offer some life lesson or character-building experience (see point 6 below).
2) Meet new people and experience new cultures
Meeting locals and other travellers from all over the world is one of the best things about travelling. You make new friendships for life and experience the riches and delights of other cultures. Learning how peoples from other cultures behave and communicate is not only fun and educational, but gives you a different perspective on your own culture (see point 3 below).
Some of the highlights of my travel experiences have been being invited into local’s houses as a guest. I even got invited randomly to participate in weddings! You have to be careful of scams and invitations which seem too good to be true. But sometimes, you have throw caution to the wind and trust your instincts. In the most part rewarded with amazing experiences. For example, in Vietnam in 1994, I hardly ate in a restaurant, I got so many invitations to eat in people’s homes. In Iran, I did couchsurfing to experience the legendary Persian hospitality.
Tips for meeting locals
Although it is relatively easy to meet other travellers by staying at hostels, sometimes it can be hard to meet local people. This can be due to circumstance, but most often it is the language barrier.
Learning or attempting to learn at least a bit of the language goes a long way to breaking the communication barrier and enabling that first contact with locals. While living in a country, learning the language seriously is mandatory. You realise that language and culture and one and the same and trying to learn one without the other is fruitless.
I recommend travelling solo at least once in your life. Notice, I use the word “solo” here and “alone”. Solo travel is the ultimate character building experience. While you can still have great experiences travelling in a group or with a partner, you often get isolated in your own bubble because you can rely on others for your travel needs. Whilst I admit, travelling in a group has its advantages, travelling solo forces you out of your comfort zone because you have no choice but to interact with others and deal with a whole variety of different challenges. You will never be “alone” because there are always opportunites to meet other travellers and locals*.
* Caveat: I freely admit, locals in some parts of the world are much friendlier and open to foreigners than in others. Do your research.
3) Become more self-aware & humble
Nothing makes you more aware of your own behavior and the oddities of your own culture by travelling. Remember when you grew up you thought your parents were the bomb and your mates’ families were all strange? Then eventually you grew older and realised that maybe it was your parents who were the wierdos? Well, it’s the same with cultural differences. Your country is the most normal in the entire world and all other countries are bizarre and strange.
I first started to realise this was not true when I was first travelling in Vietnam in the 1990s. I met this guy from Israel. He told me he had been to New Zealand. “What a strange country,” he said. What do you mean strange?? I replied. He explained he had been watching the TV news and that the leading story was a rugby game between New Zealand and Australia! He could not fathom why sport would be more important than some world war or major international event. But that is perfectly normal, isn’t it?
I also started to see how others view New Zealander and New Zealanders. Whilst we are known for being laid back and friendly, I had no idea about our another less enviable reputation. Internationally we are renound for being the bad ass weed smokers! Just like Australians are known for their heavy drinking and tolerance to alcohol, we are similarly known for producing extremely strong weed which is smoked pure. We can literally smoke anyone under the table!
So, you realise that maybe your culture is not the no.1 in the world and everyone else is strange. Maybe it’s the other way around. You become more self-aware of your own culture and behaviour. Behaviour or language you might find perfectly acceptable, might be considered offensive or even taboo in another parts of the world and vice versa.
The result is, you become less arrogant and more humble. You appreciate other cultures more and are more aware of your own blind spots and biases.
4) Improve your general communication skills
It is very common for ignorant foreigners on holiday abroad to expect everyone to speak perfect English in the destination country. Not only to speak perfectly, but also to be to understand some horrible dialect from the Scotland or Ireland, which even I as a native speaker would struggle to understand.
Attempting to communicate in a foreign language is a humbling experience which gives you insights into your own language and communication style. You realise that English has its own strange idiosyncracies. When speaking English with non-native speakers, you learn to adapt your communication style to suite the audience: avoiding complex sentence structures, difficult vocabulary and slang; and becoming attuned to non-verbal communication styles like gestures and facial expresssions which differ greatly from culture to culture. For example, it is a no-no in Asia to show emotion in public. People often smile to hide embarassment when a foreigner loses his rag. This is often wrongly interpreted as mocking laughter, causing the ignorant foreigner to get even more incensed!
Back in your home country, you can apply these lessons to your own daily life and work. You can adapt much more easily to different situations requiring different communication approaches. You appreciate the communication styles of people from other cultures and therefore treat them with more compassion.
5) Become more independent and confident
Before I went travelling, I was extremely shy and introverted. I grew up in a small rural city in the most southern part of New Zealand. I didn’t know anything about the world, but always yearned to discover it. After finishing university, I took a job an entry-level job and started saving money for travel.
When I told my workmates that I was leaving to go travelling in South East Asia, they all started to warn me about the impending catastrophes that would befall me. Firstly, I would get heatstroke, then sick from the food. But that was only the start – I would be mugged, pickpocketed. I would get malaria or some other horrible tropical disease, I would be stung or bitten by snakes, spiders and scorpions. Finally, I would be raped, have my organs stolen and probably be murdered. Lucikly, none of these things happened and I strolled out of Singapore airport without a care in the world! Actually, without even a guidebook or having booked a place to stay for at least the first night! This was a bit foolish in hindsight. Still, I managed and am alive to tell the story.
And, in contrary to my unenlightened former colleagues, who saw the big wide world as full of dangers to be avoided at all costs, you soon realise that travelling is much easier than you thought. Especially in this day and age when everyone has a smartphone and access to instant taxi, hotel and restaurant bookings. This gives you great confidence because you realise that the world is your oyster.Yyou can achieve your goals and live your dreams. I always say, the hardest part about travelling is the leaving.
6) Become more resilient
Sometimes, travelling can be tough. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Independent travel is character building stuff. You are constantly forced out of your comfort zone. You need to be vigilent to avoid scams and rip-offs. You have to endure great hardship and discomfort (long, butt-numbing bus rides with Indian pop music blaring at full volume all night; cockroach infested guesthouses, disgusting public toilets, etc.). You need to have great patience and be flexible when things (often) do not go according to plan. After every challenge you have to just get back up on your feet and keep going. You have no choice. This makes you resilient.
7) Be happier/improve your mental health
In my post about my life lessons from travelling, I outlined the case for experiences vs things. Things give you temporary happiness. Then you adjust to that level of lifestyle and those things don’t make you happy any more. Then you need the next big car, house, boat or whatever luxury item to get a new dopamine hit. Experiences, on the other hand, bring lasting happiness. Money and wealth can come and go, but you will always have your memories.
In a rut? Struggling to break bad habits? Change your environment. Any change can make improvements to your mental health, even a short walk in the nature. Better still a holiday or even better a long trip. Just separating yourself from your normal environment can help you clear your mind. You can take a step back from your day to day problems. This can allow you to reflect on your life more objectively and make positive changes.
8) Develop a sense of gratitude
Travel makes you grateful for what you have. I live in Germany, where the national sport is complaining. The Germans have no idea how good they have it. When I was a kid growing up in New Zealand, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, we took the incredible nature completely for granted. There was even a famous comedian who wrote a song titled “We don’t know how lucky we are.”
This is simply a lack of perspective or frame of reference for which to compare your life to those in other countries. We read in the news about wars, famines and natural disasters and tend to tune out due to fatigue. Visiting a place and seeing it first hand really makes you appreciate what you have. I once did an extreme camping trip in the Amazon jungle. We had to endure horrendous conditions with no electricity running water or even internet! Returning to civilization after days surviving in the extreme wilderness, really made me appreciate things we take for granted back home.
9) Improve your creativitiy
Exposing yourself to so many different cultures and ways of doing things makes you more creative. The more you expose yourself to different ideas, the more you are able to generate creative new ideas and solutions to problems.
In the workplace, the data proves that bringing new perspectives to the workplace (diversity of thought) challenges the status quo. This allows companies to adapt more quickly to changing market conditions – i.e. it is better for the bottom line.
10) Increase your faith in humanity
One thing you realise when travelling, is that no matter where you go in the world, despite huge cultural differences, people are pretty much the same. We all just want a better life for ourselves and our families. You realise that people are mostly kind-hearted and generous. Especially in countries where the people have a lot less than we do in rich western countries.
In a world where we are increasing bombarded with bad news (if it bleeds, it leads) and it seems that every 5 minutes a new war breaks out, travelling restores your faith in humanity and allows you to view people postively with compassion. Yes, sometimes people do bad things, but that does not make them bad people. The next time someone cuts you in traffic, assume incompetence not malice.
Photo by Diego Jimenez on Unsplash