It is a well-known fact that travel can make you a more well-rounded person. And if you are privileged enough to travel, it allows you to delve into and learn about new cultures, traditions and cuisines. For us, travel is something we relish and have to do. We feel that the experiences travel has given us over the years have made us more patient, friendly and appreciative people. The things we have seen and experienced, we feel, now allow us to approach life with an open mind and the willingness to accept new ideas and viewpoints and appreciate different lifestyles, religions and general ways of life. I’m sure if you are someone who travels already, I do not need to sell the benefits of it to you. However, have you ever really broken it down and realised how travel has really benefited you? For us, travel truly has broadened our horizons.
Ability to Adapt Easily
When travelling, you need to be able to adapt to things quickly and easily. Whether that be a missed train, a lost hotel reservation or even a theft. In all honesty, the more these things happen to you, the more you become able to deal with them, adapt and think of ways around them. These skills then help us in our day-to-day life too. For example, at work as an Emergency Planner, I find the ability to adapt to a situation easily really helps me. Especially during an emergency when things can change minute by minute. I think it is a great skill to have and one that could benefit you in the workplace or even your personal life, too.
Broadens the Mind
One of the more personal ways travel has broadened our horizons is by actually broadening our minds. By stepping out of our comfort zones and into new environments, we have learned several new things. Many of which we may never have been exposed to if we had not travelled. Travel has taught us to adapt to new situations and develop new ways of thinking. Both are fantastic skills to have whilst travelling and in our day-to-day lives. It also allows us to understand and, in many cases, appreciate other people’s beliefs and ways of life. Even if they are different to our own.
Face the Unknown
With the internet, travel blogs, guidebooks and trusty old TripAdvisor, there are fewer unknowns now when it comes to travelling than there used to be. Nowadays, you can read all about the place you are visiting and look at numerous photographs of it. However, as the old saying goes, ‘it’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times’. That is certainly how we feel. Visiting new places, often with little research, is our vibe. We find that it helps us find the things that aren’t listed in the guidebook or plastered all over Instagram. We also like to ditch the map and metaphorically and often literally ‘get lost’ in our destination.
Lesser-Known Destinations
We have travelled all over the world and have done a lot of the biggies, well, at least according to those clickbait Facebook quizzes that I cannot resist wasting my time completing. Of course, they are great; millions of people wouldn’t flock to them if they weren’t. Plus, they are more often than not geared up for the influx of tourists that visit. However, after visiting the most popular cities, we now like to explore some of the smaller and more often than not lesser-known destinations. The Netherlands is a great example. Mr ESLT is not the biggest fan of Amsterdam. However, the smaller cities/towns of Utrecht, Leiden and Gouda are more his cup of tea. We often get asked about certain places. ‘Why do you want to go there?’ Our response is always, ‘Why wouldn’t we?’
Make New Friends
I’ll be honest, Mr ESLT and I are quite insular when we travel. We really do love each other’s company, which, after nearly 12 years together, I think is pretty good going. Therefore, we do not have many travel friends. However, the ones that we do have are bloody brilliant and are definitely friends for life. The reason – we have similar interests and tastes, the main one being travel, of course. If you are a bit more sociable than us and have travelled, the likelihood is that you too have great buddies that you have made on the road. If making friends is one of your aims when it comes to travel, but you consider yourself to be quite introverted, why not try a group tour through a company? Top Deck or Contiki are great options. Most people on these tours may be in the same boat, well, technically bus, but you get my point?
Do Something Different
Travel really does break the monotony. As Charlotte Brontë said, ‘I feel monotony and death to be almost the same’. It gives us a break from the norm and allows us to experience new and different things. Mr ESLT and I are certainly not ones for flinging ourselves out of aeroplanes or bungee jumping off bridges. However, we do like to do things that we never would do or get the opportunity to do at home. From wine tasting in Napa Valley, California, to climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, we have done so many things that have been different to the norm, and we have loved them all. Well, most of them. And who knows, we may become more adventurous in the future? When you try new things, you might even find a new hobby. You could go from literally dipping your toe in the water to try water skiing to spending time in a water ski shop because you want to take it up on a more regular basis and want to own the right gear.
Take Advantage of Opportunities
When you travel, opportunities can present themselves in many ways and at various times. It’s up to you whether you grab hold of them or not. We try not to say no to anything and will give almost anything a try if given the option. Providing you think about your own safety, and nothing smells fishy, and you weigh up the risk of accepting the opportunity, then why not say yes? It really could lead to anything – seeing a new place, making new friends, developing a skill, a job offer or maybe even meeting the love of your life. Life is way too short not to grasp onto a great opportunity when it presents itself. Just be wary of things that seem too good to be true.
Take the Road Less Travelled
Only a decade or so ago, if you had mentioned taking the road less travelled, I think I would have freaked out. The idea of visiting certain countries would have filled me with dread. However, the more I travel, the more I want to see and experience. Nowadays, I binge-watch TV shows such as Dark Tourist (Netflix) and The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (BBC2) and find myself saying out loud ‘I’d love to go there’ and adding them to our ‘must visit’ list – Iran, Ethiopia and Hashima Island, Japan are the current top three road less travelled destinations on that list.
Do you feel that travel has broadened your horizons?
Do you do things now because you have travelled/do travel?
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