What Travel Has Taught Me
Travel can be an enriching experience, it can teach you things you never thought you’d learn about. Being exposed to other countries, cultures, languages, ways of life and all sorts of other weird and wonderful experiences can really broaden your perspective, open your mind and teach you many new things. I believe travel is one of the best forms of education that you could ask for so here are some things I’ve learned from travelling to 33 countries so far…
Spice Journey
Confidence
Travel has taught me to be more confident than I ever thought possible. Having to read maps, work out my public transport journeys, get on planes, find hotels, navigate through new cities and make choices about what I do and don’t want to do and see has made me more assertive, confident and positive than I ever was before.
I strongly believe that travelling solo is the best for boosting your confidence as you don’t have another person to lean on and allow them to take some of the strain of travel from you. You’re forced to do everything for yourself and whilst that might seem terrifying and exhausting and overwhelming it could actually be the best thing you ever do.
On my travels
Patience
Delayed flights, missed trains, buses that never turn up, hotels that aren’t where they say they are and all sorts of other factors can mean that travel is a loooong and confusing experience. If you travel for an extended period of time though, you’ll quickly realise that you have no choice but to grin and bear it and the chances are you’ll become more patient as a result of it.
Exploring
Be more open-minded
When you’re seeing cultures, countries, languages, standards of living and everything else that you’re not normally exposed to then you’ll find that you have to quickly learn to be more accepting and open-minded to the different ways in which other people live. Sure, there might be a big element of culture shock (there certainly was for me when I visited India!), but it should affect you in a positive way and teach you to be more accepting, more compassionate and far more aware of the ways different people around the world live.
Shimla, India. A world away from life in the UK.
Be more street smart
Travelling to unfamiliar places means you’re automatically more cautious with your belongings and yourself. You learn not to put yourself in situations that you feel uncomfortable in, learn to keep a great watch over your stuff and learn how to really look after yourself. These are street skills that you can then use all the time, even at home in surroundings where you feel the most comfortable as it’s often at these times that you will fall foul to something sinister.
Discovering the world
Travel shows you the beauty in life
Travel exposes you to new, beautiful places around the world and when you don’t have the distractions of everyday life (phone, work, emails, twitter, facebook etc) then you’re kind of forced to focus on what’s before your eyes. You might just find you like it.
Beautiful travel views
I’m Emma, a twenty-something Scottish girl who’s obsessed with travel.
I’ve been to 38 countries so far and had some incredible adventures around the world.
My passion for travel and writing led me to create my person blog Emma’s Travel Tales.