This post will clearly answer why travelling is important for your own personal development and growth. I believe this is a very important question as we live in an age where we can travel to the furthest shores so easily and yet so many of us choose to stay in the same places our whole lives.
We all want to grow as people or at least we should want that for ourselves. For me, travel simply has to be the best way to make that happen.
- I understand routine is tempting and comfortable but come on! There is a whole beautiful and mysterious world out there just waiting for us to explore.
It would be easy to argue that I am clearly a self-declared travel nut and yes, I have spent many years on the road (I don’t actually know how many.) However, I believe travel is important for us all. The benefits for personal growth and mental health are overwhelming and here are my 10 reasons why I think that is so.
So Why is Traveling Important?
Let’s get down to It. Why would you want to spend your hard-earned cash on an experience in a foreign country and have nothing physical to show for it in the end? Well, let me answer why travelling is important at all.
For many, this is a no-brainer and the answer is blindingly obvious. However, we do live in a world where money is fleeting so the answer to why travelling is important had better be a good one.
Well, these are my top 10 reasons travelling is important to me and played a pivotal role in me becoming the person I am today. Read it to the end and see if my thoughts resonate with you. After all, life is all a matter of perception and there is no right or wrong answer. However, I truly believe travel is food for the soul. I can’t imagine living my differently way quite frankly.
1 Traveling Makes You Seeing the World Differently
If a person grows up and lives their entire lives in the same place, they will only be able to see the world from one extremely narrow point of view. When answering why travelling is important, at the very top of the list would be to learn.
Why is travelling important for learning? well, because there are countless ways to experience life and travelling is essential so you can see a little of what someone else does. Logically speaking there must be something of value you can draw from a culture that is completely unlike your own.
I once read that we don’t live to work. We work to live and I wholeheartedly agree with that viewpoint. The importance of travelling quotes like this is they are easy to understand for everyone. We all know there is more to life than working hard and paying bills. It would surely be a crying shame to reach the end of our lives having never done anything for ourselves.
It is not just cultures that change our view of the world but experiencing planet Earth in all its natural beauty will change the way you see life in a positive and productive way.
What’s more, I believe that seeing how beautiful the world is will make you appreciate your own life more. Not to mention, question your place in it and that is something that is intrinsically human.
2 Travel to work on your own bucket list
Everyone has things they wish they could do or see in their lifetimes and I think it’s fair to say there is a very good chance that many of those things won’t all be in the town you grew up in.
It’s never been easier in human history to make your dreams a reality. Air travel is still relatively inexpensive and with the advent of Air B&B and cheap hotels, you can easily make it happen with a little planning and research.
There is nothing wrong with spending time on planning and research either, as we all need a good reason to get out of bed on a Monday morning and what better motivation can there be than to make your own dreams a reality?
I believe the definition of success is making life go the way you want it to. Financial worth is of little value if you are always miserable. Ticking off the list of places you want to see in your life can only be good for your state of mind.
3 Benefits of Traveling
We rarely get a chance to take a step back from life and see it as a whole. Travel gives you just that and the benefits of being able to do so are twofold.
Having a break from the reality of the continual grind of life allows us to identify the things we are doing wrong so we can then improve those areas. Life flies past so quickly working and paying bills, we often don’t have time to think of such things.
It also gives us the chance to see what we are doing right and perhaps inspires us to improve the good things and make them even better.
I can not overstate enough how many times I have found this beneficial. It was during my last trip I realized I was not on the path I truly wanted to be on. I would not even be writing this if I had not had the clarity of mind to be alone and think about the direction of my life. For me, it is definitely a primary reason why travelling is important for personal growth.
4 Learning Through Travel
It is a secret to no one that there is a lot to learn in this world and travelling will certainly make that more apparent.
It could be the time you have on your hands to read that book you always wanted to read or perfect a skill you have not had the time to do back home.
It could be a brand new skill like stretching those hamstrings on a yoga course in India or perhaps diving in the beautiful reefs of Indonesia. There are countless opportunities for you to discover new passions in life you never knew existed.
Lastly, there is the chance to learn about the new environments you are experiencing. The History, culture and nature that will be all around you. My advice is to utilise every moment of what will almost certainly be some of the best times of your life.
5 The benefits of Travelling to eat new foods
You may be asking yourself what eating new foods has to do with personal development. Well, diet is important. You are made of the foods you eat, right? It pays to know what you like so you can broaden the nutrition you are taking in when you get home. Travel can help you find ways to take in better nutrition more enjoyably.
What’s more, travelling with your tastebuds has to be one of the greatest joys of discovering new lands. Diving into new cuisine and discovering new flavours can help you to understand what you like. We all have to eat so why not make it good?
What food is available is also one of my big drivers in choosing a destination. I have been a chef for over 20 years in high-end kitchens across London, so food really interests me. I have always found the fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables the world over to be beguiling and it never ceases to amaze me how bountiful the world actually is.
I would advise you to consider food yourself when choosing your next destination as you will be eating a lot of whatever is local.
Also, you can forget your Keto diet when you travel. Eat as much of the local food as you can as you will be hard-pressed to ever find some of it again. Or at least cooked in the same way. Sometimes it is ok to indulge.
6 Traveling Encourages Self-Development
Travelling to new places can be challenging, to say the least. Over the years I have had to deal with everything from civil unrest to natural disasters. The world can be an unforgiving place and there is no denying that fact.
However, dealing with all the problems the world will throw at you will help build inner discipline and reliance. When challenges come and you have no choice but to deal with them it makes it a whole lot easier when situations come up back home.
Travel has helped me to find good in times when it can be very hard to see. For example, I was travelling in the Himalayas and discovered the next bus was not for another two weeks! There was not very much I could do about anything as a glacier had melted and washed the road out. Instead, I went trekking to pass the time and it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.
7 Traveling and Mental Health
If you are travelling alone this is a fantastic time for self-reflection. A time to get to know yourself better when we can drown out all the noise of regular life. There are very few other times in your life when you can be so liberated in your choices and so completely free of judgment.
Trust me when I say swinging from a hammock watching the tide go in and out on a tropical beach or walking in the mountains is simply soul-charging.
Travel also has a dark side. There is also a lot of pain and suffering in the world and for me seeing what other people have to live through every day made me appreciate how lucky I am to be me. It has definitely made me appreciate what it is I have already.
8 Strengthen Relationship
Couples who travel together will create memories that will last a lifetime. Travelling the world will probably be some of the best times of your life and it’s so nice to have someone to share them with,
After all, when you get home and your friends ask you how your holiday went the question is almost rhetorical. Nobody actually cares! The only people that do is you and whoever you shared that experience with. Good or bad, these things will inevitably bring you closer as they play a huge significance to the individuals.
It does not matter if it is your life partner or your friend from work, travelling the world together is sure to strengthen your relationships that will last well on into the future.
9 Travel for inspiration
Surrounded by so many new influences and with all the extra time to think with, inspiration tends to come thick and fast.
And it’s not just me! The beetles came up with the inspiration for the white album while on holiday in Rishikesh. Hell, Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution while travelling in the Galapagos.
I am sure among the flurry of new smells, sights, flavours and sounds you are sure to encounter on the road you will find something that gives you some kind of inspiration. That is reasonable to assume for the best of us, right?
10 Travel is good for your own humility
Seeing how other people live and crossing cultures can be both awe-inspiring and humbling at the same time. I believe this will inevitably make you more understanding and compassionate to others. I don’t think you have to be a genius to work that out and the vast majority of the people reading this would agree.
This can only be a good thing as it makes the world a better place to live in for everyone and we all have a moral obligation to make that so.
You will learn to tread gently when visiting fragile cultures and in the natural world. These behaviours will follow you for the rest of your life.
Importance of Traveling for Youth
Children are very impressionable and in my humble opinion, it is important to provide them with a sense of curiosity about the world.
Speaking from personal experience travel was a game changer. I came from a very disadvantaged background and grew up in the care system. But, then I had the good fortune to attend one particular school for naughty boys and girls that took me to India to take part in a charity project way back in the early 90s and it changed the way I saw the world forever. It literally turned my life around.
I learned that despite my shitty upbringing my problems were really not that bad in comparison to others. Right at the start it’s obvious that I was there to help them and they were not on holiday working or not to come and see me. In fact, the notion of ever coming to see me was unthinkable for them.
I remember buying what I thought was a meagre amount of sweets from a tiny shop and the local children looking at me like I must have been a millionaire. Shortly after I wound up giving them all away.
That memory stuck with me for the rest of my life because when you attach emotion to learning you get a long-term memory. Those memories made me grow up appreciating life a thousandfold. So why is travelling important? well, for reasons like that.
In conclusion the advantages of travelling for personal growth
so…… it turns out the answer to the question of why travelling is important for personal growth is quite obvious. It is something that I believe will benefit anyone who does it in one way or another. The art is to utilize any and all of the precious time we have travelling to foreign lands to extract as much as we can from it.
I do hope you enjoyed my the importance of travelling essay. It has been written with heart and is my genuine viewpoint. To me, there are way more than 10 reasons to travel, but this post is geared towards those solely for personal growth. There are easily another 5 reasons to travel or even 50 for that matter.
Further reading
Despite me not covering every place I have ever been I am trying to go through as much as possible. It is only me, myself and I so it is slow going. However, here are some of my best suggestions for further resources.
How to travel
So if you want to learn how I travel and pull off these incredible adventures then I have a whole section on how to travel. You could start with a post my post on how to get the travel experience you actually want. That post is a great start as it is a very concise guide although there are many more in that category so please feel free to utilize my mistakes to your advantage.
Indian travel
I have spent almost half a decade in India travelling around the country so I see myself as a pretty good resource of information on the subject. Start with my guide to India travel for 2023 and beyond. Knock yourself out with this section as it is quite extensive.
Pakistan travel
Here you will find plenty of well-informed information regarding travel to Pakistan. If you are planning to travel to this amazing country you could do a lot worse than check out this section in my humble opinion. Check out my guide on travel to Pakistan to learn why you would want to go to this amazing country.
Nepal Travel
If you are heading to Nepal then very well done on your choice. This tiny little country packs a massive punch.
I have spent over half a year travelling here and there is still so much left to discover. If you only have two weeks then you are going to need to maximise your time the best you can. Even a month in this incredible little country does not equate to very much time. Start with 10 things you should know about travel in Nepal for a good overview.
Malaysia travel
Malaysia is a country that imedianetly sparks thoughts of the exotic and the reality is sure to exceed your expectations.
Malaysia spans over three beautiful landmasses and each is completely different to the next. There is so mcuh to keep you busy in this country it is hard to know where to reccomend first. You can start by reading my complete Malaysia Travel Guide to gain an idea of what appeals to you most.
External resources
There is only one clear winner I would recommend to my readers and that’s the one I have been using for many many years. The lonely planet has been a valuable resource for travellers the world over and I wholeheartedly recommend utilising it for yourself.
Of course, they have a well-oiled website linked above but I will always suggest getting an actual book. I am not sure if it’s me being old-fashioned but scrolling through a digital copy is a pain in the £%$* when you need to flip through it so frequently.
Anyway, I hope that this post was useful to you and if you do have any further questions about why travelling is important or anything else then please let me know.
