- 21 September 2009
- 1:56pm
- Filed under
Profiles, Shared Experiences, Thorn Tree, Thread of the Day
Does travel change you?
Venessa PaechLonely Planet author
Does travel fundamentally change you? That’s a question our community members are currently pondering.
Sure, it can alter your perspective on things, at least for a while. But can a trip truly transform you, or is that just feel-good nonsense?
The consensus seems to be that you have to be at least a little open-minded to be changed and it helps if you venture outside your comfort zones.
We asked a couple of Lonely Planet staff members what they thought.
For Mark, it’s meta: “I find that travel changes people, but only in the sense that they come to realise who they are deep down. So, if anything, it is a meta-change. For instance, waiting ten hours for an Indian train to arrive may make you realise the limits of your patience. In essence, travel provides extreme moments like these, which allow us to confirm our idea of ourselves.”
Jane says, “The biggest change I find is when you come home and you realise that, at home, you look down. When you’re in a new city you’re constantly looking up and around in wonder at all the amazing details of things you’ve never seen before. So come home and look up! It’s amazing how refreshing your home town can be if you put your wide, open, tourist eyes on.”
When I come home, things always feel smaller. I’ve had my mettle tested and learned things both delightful and confronting about myself. I’ve invested serious time overseas and had those ‘through the looking glass’ experiences that bring you and your homeworld into sharper focus. Travel has ensured my curiosity doesn’t atrophy – and that’s nothing but good.
Here’s some other takes from travellers on our Facebook fan page:
reminds us that “For some, travelling broadens the horizon. For some, they change from thinking that they are better to believing that they are indeed better.”
Vanessa Laraine says, “it’s changed my perspective and made me realise there are very few situations in life that are truly catastrophic (learnt this in Bulgaria when my bus didn’t turn up, and an old toothless man though I was coming on to him)”
For Amanda Kathryn Scoggins, importantly, you can’t undo the journey: “If you really don’t want it to, maybe not, but overall I think so, definitely. I have traveled a lot and lived overseas as well and I always feel a bit like Frodo or Bilbo, not quite fitting in in the Shire anymore when I come back .”
Lisa Mitchell thinks where you go makes the difference. ”I’ve been all over the world, but until I spent time in a developing country, I’ll admit that I didn’t feel changed. Sure, going up the Eiffel Tower is exciting, but did it change me? No. However, learning how to emotionally come to terms in the face of *real* poverty and appalling social conditions in India? Yes. One of the most life-altering things I’ve ever gone through. Words aren’t enough.”
Herbert Bryant nails that slightly disembodied feeling of coming home: “The here and now no longer seem as normal, neither here nor there. After travel, home has a freshness to to it not sensed before. It’s a process of de-familiarizing, of making new, like poetry.”
How about you?
[Photo: Courtesy Iuri Fernandes, erix!/Flickr]
A lot depends on who you are when you set off. I was very young, straight out of school and sure it changed me. I learnt to be independent, responsible for myself and realise that there’s an awful lot of options in life. I seriously recommend a good 6 months plus away to any young person who can get it together finacially and practically.
If you are open to ideas and cultural diversity yes it is a very enriching experience. If ytou spend all your time with people like yourself you get very little. That applies as much to backpackers doing all the back packing things as it does to package tourists. It does not stop you being a mere tourist if you have a rucsac.
Be sensitive and make the effort ot listen to people and yes it chnges a lot.
Travel made me realize the universal human being that I really am. Travel opened my eyes to the ingenuity of man; living in different parts of the world. I realized there are so many ways of living life, creating art, building architecture and celebrating life through festivals. To believe that this art or architecture is superior to another is a waste of time. Just enjoying everything in the universe is the way to happiness.
I beleive that if travel changes you it really depends on a lot of factors, your destination, your age, how you travel. Personally for me, yes it has changed me. I can see the world in a differant perspective, i have seen great wealth and poverty, desease too. I undersand the politics of certain areas and has made me “worldy” wise. i do not beleive that you are truly educated until you travel.
Of course it changes you—everything you do changes you. None of us are exactly the same person we were this morning, even if all we did today was survive eight hours of work and crash in front of the television. We’re all the product of our experiences–which is why it’s important what experiences we decide to have.
The real question is not “if” but “how”… Travel for me early on was really transformational—it taught me confidence, independence, and gave me a sense that if I wanted something, I could make it happen, that nothing was outside of the realm of possibility. As somebody who’d spent his teens painful shy and almost self-defeatist in attitude, then come out to flounder in a dead-end job, my introduction to world travel probably marked a turning point in my life.
Another thing travel taught me (and continues to impress upon me) is the sheer arbitrariness of so much of what we take for granted. There’s a tendency to treat whatever you’re used to as “normal” and as the one “right” way of doing things. Travel to another country, even a not so exotic one, and you’re constantly reminded, almost every second of every day, that there are infinite permutations of human culture, none more “right” than the others.
For me the biggest plus is that you start to realize the enormous diversity of people on this planet. I am sure that this made me a lot more tolerant towards other opinions and beliefs.
Traveling surely changes you.U meet new peoples, culture, style of living and find how to get along with them. When we are away from your parental place we learn to live independently, handle the situation with our own judgement, that make you strong and confident.
Travling make us open to a hole new world.
Traveling makes the world a bit smaller if you learn something about where you’ve been. We all share this planet and can celebrate everyone. I have observed and learned from many cultures and have seen the ugly american show up here and there as well. The easy change I have made when I am home is to offer assistance when I see someone with a map looking lost and set them on the right path.
Camille and I have lived outside the USA and traveled extensively in several regions of developed and undeveloped planet earth and we are changed by what we have seen and felt in our visits to other persons hometowns and worlds. It has always seemed clear to us that that no matter where we have been we have found that all of humankind have the same aspirations and hopes for those that they love and rear. Regardless of your religous faith love can change the world but it is a tough task. We continue to learn it’s importance with each visit to another place on this fantastic planet earth.
I feel that traveling and exploring is a part of human endeavor to fulfill his curiosity. It is a part of his education(not what is given in institutions). Traveling to diverse locations can bring a lot of changes in a person. He gets to understand the variety and depth of different cultures and climates. Then only he is able to appreciate the true value of life on this earth.
I’ve not traveled out of my country alot, but when I have, I do feel differently. Alot more perspective, a different attitude. I don’t take things for granted – I certainly don’t take my freedom for granted. I do know that I tend to be cynical about this country (the US), but after coming home from overseas, it looks a lot better than when I left. I still wish we could get it together with inspecting our food, and dealing with healthcare in a truly humanistic, caring way.
I definitely believe that travel will change you if it is long term. My experience is that something happens after you have been away for 6 weeks or more. You detach from your life at home and you start to live more in the present. And not running the rat race back home gives you time and perspective to discover what is really important to you. I really want to encourage more people to take their dream of going off on a long journey seriously. I will change their life forever. And I have met no one so far regretting it, only people regretting not doing it. This is why we have put up this blog http://www.extendedworldtravel.com/ – to support and encourage people to go for it…
I feel like travelling has changed me, and i’m not sure if its for the better :)
I mean i absolutely love travelling, it allows me to feel a ball of emotions, and all in five minutes. Your emotions can become so intense travelling, that whether you like it or not, you have to get on with yourself (most important:)) and deal with your own strenghts, and most painfully, your weaknesses.
However now that i have been bitten by that famous travel bug, i can’t seem to settle down, i have become by definition a hobo – someone who works, just to travel, and so my ” grown- up life “, has taken a back seat, i.e college, career, owning stuff – car etc.
Hm, but you sure can’t beat the experience, and if the price i pay, for living the dream, is that when i’m old, i’ll still be living with my parents, i will pay it, and gladly!
I will live the most i can from my life, as i’ll be an even longer time dead.
When are people gonna realize that everyone in this world is out for the same thing “to make a buck “.Ive travelled around the world a few times ,but from a builder in wales i dintn’t turn into a bead wearing hippy over a twelve hour flight,its not me!if thats u happy bananas xx,but i find it hard to follow the act that alot of people feel a need to play because they have got on a plane ,lots of love,andrew lol