THE ADVANTAGES OF TRAVELING | Why You Should Travel More

Traveling has been a great passion of mine and my biggest prioritization for as long as I was allowed to make adult decisions and in general, be in control of my own life. Little did I know when I first started traveling, that there are several scientifically proven advantages of traveling too. 

You see, traveling is more than just fun and spending your savings.

Sometimes I think about traveling as a natural instinct of us humans. Do you ever think about how we used to be nomads? Walking and moving around. Settling down in beneficial places and exploring the unknown. Wanting to learn and discover is an instinct and something not to be taken for granted either.

Because once we stop being curious about the world that we live in, we simply stop living at all. 

And this makes us bored, unhappy, and stagnant. Numbing our brains with useless TV, social media, and other types of entertainment just to do and feel something. 

If you need any more convincing on why you should travel more, keep reading below. 

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What are the advantages of traveling?

1. Traveling Improves Your Health

This just proves my point above and is a wonderful fact, but one of the greatest advantages of traveling is that it’s proven to improve your health. Not just physical either, but also both mental and emotional. If you don’t believe me, read this article about the proven health benefits of traveling.

Just think about it.

Physically you will probably move around a lot more when traveling than when you sit at home on your couch in September, which is already lowering the chance of you getting heart disease. Whether it is going for a hike, exploring a new city, or floating around in a swimming pool – you are using your body and that is good for you.

Full stop. 

Mentally you are stimulating your brain with new inputs.

Remember what I wrote above about us numbing our brains because of boredom?

Well, here we have a solution since experiencing new things is a very healthy form of entertainment. 

Your emotional health is bound to be impacted by the things above. Moving around produces endorphins and your mental health goes hand in hand with your emotional one. 

However, a downside to traveling is that it can be difficult to eat healthy on the road. When I traveled around the Philippines and South America I really struggled to find food that was good for my body. A way to solve this is by packing some emergency healthy food to bring with you. For instance, here is a really yummy cream-of-anything soup mix that is easy to prepare on the road and really delicious.

2. Traveling Broadens Your View

Staying in one place your entire life and never moving around is like being handed a very informative and interesting book, and then only reading the first page.

This page is the place where you were born, where your parents decided for you to grow up, and where your daily life ended up taking place. 

You have your experiences, your social group, and later your job in this place. While this is great and can mean stability, security, and happiness, it also means that you have stayed in the same bobble your entire life. 

Sadly, this is also the full narrative of many people who never step out of their comfort zone. How can you know what the grass looks like on the other side if you never read past that first page of the book?

What if the best story is actually on page 73?

When you travel, whether it’s domestic or international travel, you extend your overall understanding of the world around you and that is healthy. You visit new places, get new experiences, and encounter new cultures.

For instance, embarking on a Croatia cruise holiday introduces you to the breathtaking beauty of the Adriatic coast and the rich history of its islands. This kind of experience enriches your worldview and immerses you in the traditions and daily lives of the locals.

So go out and explore. Book a vacation to a new place more different from home. You will survive having noodles for breakfast and driving on the other side of the road. The places that differ from home might surprise you in a very positive way. As long as you travel wisely, you will have the time of your life. If you are scared of theft or pickpockets, then get an anti-theft travel bag before you go to have peace of mind.

In addition, if you are a student take advantage of the exchange student and Erasmus programs!

This is the easiest and cheapest way to live in another country for a while. As an exchange student, you have the opportunity to have an everyday life in a different country. You get a daily routine and a social network without even having to work significantly hard for it. 

3. Traveling Makes You Smarter

When traveling broadens your view and sets your life in perspective, another advantage is that travel makes you smarter. 

Whether you are traveling solo or in a group, you will naturally understand the world better. When you have seen more, you know more and therefore you learn more about how the world works. This includes social, political, financial, cultural, linguistic, climatic and the list goes on.

Basically, anything that you don’t usually see, hear, talk about, or experience at home is new information that your brain will process.

Besides making you smarter in general, it will also make you internally smarter. By this, I mean that you will better understand yourself. Knowing what you like, don’t like, and how you react in situations is knowing your personality.

And who should know you better than yourself?

4. Traveling Improves Your Creativity

In terms of the great advantages of traveling, another one is that it will make you more creative. When you see new things it will inspire you and make you look at things differently. 

In your country, a bus might be red and in mine, they are all yellow. It’s as simple as your brain not only associating buses with the color red anymore. 

And this applies to everything new that you see while you are traveling. Your brain will extend its sense of imagination and sense of creativity. 

Through this, you will think more out of the box and outside the norms of your usual surroundings. Maybe there was another smarter and better solution to a problem, that you picked up from one of your trips abroad. This is whether you wish to do a road trip through South America, visit stunning French cities, or hike the national parks of North America.

5. Traveling Improves Social and Communication Skills

Besides meeting new people and making new friends being a benefit of traveling in itself, traveling helps improve your social and communicational skills in general. 

This happens naturally from interacting with new people. We are all different and broadening your view of the world, also involves understanding people. 

When you can’t communicate in the same language, for instance, you have to seek new methods. Now you start using your body language and have to pay more attention to the person in front of you.

Are they receiving your message correctly?

Do they understand you and are they giving you the right directions?

Did I offend the person or are they still smiling?

All this will make you understand the way humans interact better, making it both easier and more natural for you in the future. Try testing out some hotel alternatives for meeting new or local people and creating unique experiences.

6. Traveling Improves Your Problem-Solving Skills

A taxi driver once took me to the wrong place which meant that I missed my ferry. This ferry turned out to be the last one of the ENTIRE weekend.

The worst part?

Oh just that it was also the last day of my visa and I was facing a border security guard. 

“Ok, so what next?” – I had to ask myself.

Even though I can’t remember exactly what my solution was, I know that I did not starve or sleep on the street. 

New situations occur all the time and while traveling is fun, it is also going to challenge you at times. 

After being in transit for hours, starving the entire time, and maybe dealing with intense heat, your body goes into survival mode. You will be amazed at how many incredible solutions you can come up with, in order to feel a bit more comfortable. 

When you are constantly faced with new challenges, you also constantly have to come up with solutions. Once this has happened over and over again, you start to realize how much you are capable of solving.

This will make you more confident, and less scared, and let you solve even more problems – and so the circle of beautiful problem-solving continues. 

7. You Create Memories For Life

This is the final but, possibly, also the greatest of the advantages of traveling. 

Traveling means life experience and memories for life. It will enrich you as a person and the people you shared unique moments with. 

Whether big or small, good or bad, long-distance or short, your trip will have an impact on you in some way. Sometimes the impact might be so small or seemingly insignificant, that you don’t even notice it. 

Over time, however, all these experiences and the advantages of traveling will work their magic and shape you as a human being. 

In addition, when you travel you experience more in a compact period of time than you do for years while staying at home.

I believe, that when I am old and reflecting on my life, it will not be the TV shows I watched over the years that made an impact on my life. It will be the places, the smells, the people, and the experiences along the way that will stand out as something truly significant. 

Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment below.

//Josephine