Throughout time, travel has been considered to be educational. Travellers have undertaken journeys in order to learn, and people still refer anecdotally to the educational benefits of travel. Yet there is belief among many that education happens primarily in the classroom, even though learning can occur in many contexts, including travel. Travellers gather knowledge as they “understand, learn, discover, explore, and make sense of other places”. If you’re here on our website, you’re probably thinking of travelling already.
If you need that final push to go on your next trip, how about we give you 10 good reasons why travel is good for you.
1. Travelling improves your health
The most obvious and potentially most important health benefit of traveling is stress reduction. Traveling has the ability to take you out of our daily routine and into new surroundings and experiences and this can reset your body and mind. Which Anna Wattoo and I have noticed as well. We look forward to a break from our routine and take ourselves into a new surroundings. Travelling has amazing benefits for you mental health. Travel helps with health and fitness, hiking the mountains and Alps, walking through famous gardens, castles or climbing towers are some of the activities which forces you to burn more calories which in turn have rewarding effects.
Stress has an extremely detrimental effect on you physically, mentally and emotionally. It can cause a whole host of issues: headaches, indigestion, sleep problems, chest pain and changes in your sex drive. Stress can also cause anxiety, restlessness and sadness or depression. All of these can trigger undesirable or even destructive behaviours such as eating disorders, angry outbursts, alcohol or drug usage, smoking and withdrawal from your social circles. Travelling for leisure! Hop on a cruise, fly to an exciting new destination or even go on a peaceful retreat helps you to relive stress.
Other benefits related to health are…
- Re-evaluate and reinvent your life.
- Improves your mood, satisfaction and self-confidence which can have propounding effect on your health.
- Makes you resilient, mentally and emotionally.
- Improves your creativity.
2. Improves your independence and confidence
Whether you travel solo or with a group, travelling increases your independence and confidence, especially if you’re doing a new activity that you don’t get to do in your normal daily life. Self-confidence affects us every single day and is important for our mental health, although achieving it can sometimes be challenging. Turkish Baths, Korean saunas, Japanese onsen, chasing the aurora, climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge. Putting yourself out there and doing something new and different will definitely make you a more confident person to express yourself. This assists self-confidence by improving your ability to interact with strangers, speak publicly, be more outgoing and generate social networks.
Travelling enhances your problem-solving skills, attentiveness and initiative which helps to improve your independence and confidence.
3. Learn other cultures
We have been travelling since last 22 years and since we had kids and as they are growing up. Every time we travel different country, we noticed our kids try to relate and understand more better when they experience any other cultural activity in their school or within community. Experiencing a new culture is like stepping into a whole new world. You’re exposed to different languages, sights, sounds, and people. Taking the time to travel to a different part of the world and a new culture will completely change your life. It will be an exciting and thrilling experience that you will never forget.
The world is getting more and more connected. Take advantage of this by broadening your horizons and learning about different cultures. You never know, you may pick up on some habits that you’ll want to bring home with you! Experience other cultures will make you more social, flexible, open minded, and independent.
4. Travel Makes us smarter
As we have experienced from our personal experiences. Your brain is just like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Travelling, as it turns out, uses your brain a lot. From learning bits of a new language to map reading and just being in an unfamiliar environment presents numerous opportunities for you to have to figure out solutions to unexpected situations. All of this exercises your brain. Which may help you develop some new skills. You may very well find yourself becoming a more tolerant and understanding person as you travel. After all, with learning comes open mindedness and self-improvement which are life enhancement skills.
5. Help Improve Social and communication skills
From our personal experience Anna and I were not the type of people sparking up conversations with strangers. It can take a little courage in doing so, as we have travelled through numerous countries, experienced different culture it has helped us to overcome on our this big weakness. What we have noticed the rewards far outweighs the fears of what that other person may think of you or react with you. We not only picked up bits and pieces of foreign languages but also different behaviours and mannerisms while overseas. All of this has helped us improve our social and communication skills.
6. Improve your sense of direction
Again, navigating is a skill that gets better the more you do it. And when you’re in a different country trying to find you way – well! That’s a whole lot of intensive training you’re getting in. You are sure to be able find your way around better after travelling around during your holidays.
All below techniques help you to improve your sense of direction which you use while travelling.
- Look at a map for hours and learning to read
- Remembering Point of reference/Landmark
- Forming a mental map
- Keep your orientation as you walk around
- Don’t just follow someone else or rely on taxis — figure it out yourself
- Remembering names of streets
- Mark the major streets in your mental map
7. Try amazing new foods
Different areas of the world have so many new flavours and dishes that you would never even think of. Travel the world and taste all the flavours that this bountiful earth has to offer. From the freshest fruits to unique preservation methods to the most exotic delicacies. The possibilities are endless. When we first started traveling, we didn’t know much about cuisines. Where to eat, what to eat, or even what to ask to find it. You learn these things as time goes by. But now as we start our decision process where to go or finalise itinerary we do lot of research about the local food as well.
It doesn’t matter how truly weird or inedible the local food looks, there’s a fair chance it’s safer to eat than any local attempts at Western fare.
It’s also worth checking out local food bloggers in your destination to get tips on restaurants and markets, keep in mind some are paid by local tourism boards or restaurants to do just that. Just check few sites and reviews prior to making a decision.
8. Disconnect from your daily grind and comfort zone
We all need to work to pay the bills and support our families, but it’s easy to get ground down by the daily rat race. Escape from it all when you go on vacation! You could be going on an adventurous mountain hike, a laidback cruise, an exciting trip to a party destination or even a digital detox retreat. Get some rest from the stresses of everyday life. Being in our comfort zone is, well, comfortable, but haven’t you ever felt bored by it? When everything and every day is the same old thing, repeating itself over and over and over again. Get out of your comfort zone and experience someplace new. You may not be happy about it at first but when you’re back home you’ll feel refreshed from the change of pace and will leave you with life long memories to remember.
9. Bucket list adventures of lifelong Memories
Get more out of life. Go on adventures overseas! Go white water rafting, climb a mountain, go on a hike, explore someplace new, choose a surprise dish from a menu that you can’t read – whether you want a huge, adrenaline-pumping experience or a fun, new experience, you can get it when you’re on holiday. Experiences that you get while travelling can never be replaced. We have created wonderful memories that we can revisit for the rest of our life. No matter how small or insignificant an event may seem, it may just be the memory to bring a smile back to your face when you recall it in the future.
10. Learn about your friends and make new ones
You’ll discover new things about your friends when you travel with them. How do they handle stress? Can they survive without the comforts of their own home?
Make new friends and expand your social circle by travelling! You’ll meet new people when travelling. When trying to make friends while traveling, remember to be yourself and give advice based on your own experiences. There were times when I failed to click with people or embarrassed myself in conversation. However, I continue to throw myself into it, because I have met many of my closest friends on trips.