As I am writing this, I’m also prepping for the next phase in life. The adventure that awaits me, both thrill and terrify me. Change is a good thing, I keep telling myself.
I do have to say this, I am somewhat a genius. My unprecedented brilliance could be imputed to my hindsight in booking a trip (for myself) before a new chapter begins. The trip turned out to be exactly what I needed - a goodbye kiss to the closing of a chapter, as well as a hug hello to new beginnings.
Listing down the lessons learned after every trip has sort of become a liturgy for this writer. Beyond travel tales, doing so provides insight for my everyday life. I soon discovered five reasons why travel satisfies me like no other:
1. It teaches me about life, in the flesh.
When I first traveled as a preteen, I was completely unaware of the immense benefits of traveling abroad. Sure, one can certainly research and explore the voluminous World Wide Web for insights about life and the world we live in, but it won’t - in any way - come close to experiencing and witnessing it first hand. The mesmerising sunset below is just one of many examples.
Since then, I made a promise to myself the moment I began working - to always be open to explore the world out there. Go where most can’t, do what most won’t. If anything, I have made good on that promise thus far.
2. It makes me feel alive.
In our perpetual pursuit for happiness and contentment, we’ve been told they can only be achieved when we learn to live in the moment, which is impossible to do with a 9-5 job.
The OCD in me loves routine and order, but I highly suspect that I have the soul of a pilgrim; restless the second I get comfortable, forever looking for something I can’t quite put my finger on.
It turns out, when you break the cycle of routine - like getting up at 4am to feel the sun rise on your skin, or waddle in the river to bathe elephants - you let go of your inhibitions. Your self-encasing wall of reservations (read: things you’d never thought you'd do) starts to crack, and little by little, it crumbles and enables you to live freely.
And, there is no better way to live than to live life, unencumbered and undaunted, by anything.
3. It never is about me.
The world is so much bigger than the little corner of the earth we live in.
The reason why there is so much chaos and mayhem going on right now is because, as a generation, we have become increasingly insular. The ‘Me, Myself and I’ deign is brandished liberally because of our familiarity with our surroundings, a high-and-mighty attitude you don’t get to pack on when you’re traveling.
You learn to calmly explain your destination to a haughty cab driver in Hong Kong, though you hardly speak Cantonese. You learn not to sweat the small stuff when you realise your driver’s cheerful disposition, even after being stuck in Jakarta’s infamous standstill traffic for more than two hours. You learn not to judge when a serial killer-lookalike shares a table with you at a cramped eatery in Hanoi (he turned out to be a well-mannered doctor from Philippines).
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| Waited patiently for more than 10 mins in the sweltering heat to get an unobstructed shot of the White Temple. |
Get this - I am, in no way, saying that travel is a cure-all for the world’s problems.
However, when you do it right, travel will teach you the truest meaning of acceptance, tolerance and understanding when it’s most uncomfortable; which will most certainly change you, for the better.
4. It adds to my value as a person.
Karl Lagerfeld said “It is the sum of our experiences that makes us interesting”. My hands and feet are raised in agreement to that brilliant quote. I even wrote a similar one here, before I found his. At the risk of sounding cliche, I guess great minds really do think alike.
Over time and several trips later, I’ve developed an uncanny ability to rely on my own knowledge and newfound skills in order to traverse another country.
From making sense of squiggly foreign signs, to playing a game of food roulette with a menu without any English translation or an enlightening conversation with a local on the sidewalk, I’ve noticed that traveling abroad has boosted my personal confidence, which in turn, overflows into every facet of my life from socialising to being self-assured in career settings.
5. It keeps me in childlike wonder.
I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost anything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.
(Bill Bryson)
Our earth is chock-full with infinite treasures, just waiting to be discovered in a multitude of ways.
With every place I visit, for every sight I see, in every experience I discover… All of it are humbling encounters, which have never ceased to remind me of how incredible our world is and even more so, the God who made it.
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I will end with this - I have caught the travel bug, bad, for which I wish no cure.
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