Why travelling is important, even if you can only do it from home.
The short answer is that the ‘School of Travel’ opens your eyes and the knowledge that comes from this is invaluable.
If you don’t travel, what do you really know about different cultures and countries? Will you be able to point out a country on a map if asked to do so? Do you know of the people and cultures who live in that country? Or do you only know of stereotypes created surrounding the country or the people? How does one remedy that? Travel. And you don’t even have to physically travel to gain knowledge of far of places. So you travel and gain knowledge, but why is that important?
Travel, or learning about countries and cultures, can break down barriers between people and overcome stereotypes. Let me give an example from my own experiences. I recently passed through Turkey. Beforehand, I selected the most conservative, most unnoticeable clothes and headscarf not wanting to offend. What I got there was totally different from what I had expected. There are people there from all walks of life and seem very tolerable to one another. Not to mention how pretty and clean the city was. Their respect for animals is something to witness and never once did I feel unsafe. Stereotype busted. I would gladly go back and encourage others to do so as well.
I also came across a stereotyping towards South Africans on another adventure. A Russian lady was flabbergasted to hear that I come from Africa, the reason she gave me was a shocker. Then she kept asking me were in the south of Africa? I then discovered that she did not know that Africa had different countries and that she thought that South Africa was just a directional term. She then proceeded to tell me what she thought that she knew and was very interested to hear that we have infrastructure and do not live among animals. I was stunned that in the age of information, people know so little of other people and countries. And yes, it sounds hard to believe, but this really did happen. I have a few other stories where stereotypes turned out to not be accurate. But you get the picture from the incidents above.
Another important reason to travel and learn is that it teaches tolerance and understanding. I think this also relates a lot to stereotypes. We make judgements on what we think we know and what the news tells us. Getting to know people and why they do things is an eye-opener. As is learning a bit of history. History does shape us and our actions. If everybody learns about others’ background, and as a result show some tolerance and understanding, would we not be a more tolerable people? BUT, history is just that, history. It dit shape the past, but
I mentioned that one can ‘travel’ through learning. In addition to the above reasons for travelling, learning also has specific advantages. Learning is a fun hobby for me, but I know that is not true for all. I am a bit weird. 😉
Learning can introduce you to new people and friends. Furthermore, learning may give you new and exciting opportunities. In my case, this could not be truer.
While still at home I took up studying language, culture and a bit of geography of new countries, and in 2 years’ time of exploring countries from the comfort of home, I got 2 opportunities to travel and experience what I have learned at home first-hand. These experiences have also taught me that travel is not this difficult thing. You can either ‘travel from home’ like I did the first few years, or you can pack a bag and go like I am doing now (after a saving and planning marathon). Either is really easy. Don’t be fooled by the stereotypical: travel is difficult and only for the wealthy. Travel is not this ‘way out’ thing. Anyone can do it according to the means available.
I am just circling back to the language learning that I mentioned before. I think that learning a language is a big part of understanding a people. Not just literally, but a language is a big part of any culture. I think that learning the language will expose you to a big part of the culture. This was my experience. Furthermore, language learning has other beneficial effects above the ones pertaining to the context of this post.
Learning a language is exercise for the brain which in turn increases cognitive skills. If you really want proof that learning a language is beneficial, go search for scientific studies on the subject. Those will show you that learning a foreign language can increase attention, problem-solving abilities, creativity and help stave off certain conditions such as Alzheimer’s. But as this is not supposed to be a scientific paper, I will not go into details of this. I just wanted to highlight the good that can come from learning a foreign language. The bottom line is: learning a new language is good.
Learning of any kind is good. I love when people
The bottom line is this. You don’t need to travel to experience the positive effects that travel brings forth. You can still learn of a country, its culture and language from home and from the experiences of others (that is how I started to ‘travel’ and experience the benefits thereof). It is a bit tough to explain this travel from home concept clearly, But go read ‘The world through different lenses‘, ‘How I started to travel from home‘ and ‘souvenir traveller‘ which will help explain this concept that I have. I have also created a list of ‘travel from home things to do’ which will probably explain better what I mean. Once I figure out how to place a PDF on the blog I will do so at once. Otherwise, if you are interested mail me, and I will send you the list of things to do from home.
You can and become a world traveler…. from home.
