Why is the word ‘wanderlust’ often broken up as ‘those who wander are lost?
In my view, they are the ones who find meaning in life. They value experiences more than textbooks. And that is the right thing to do. Books teach us what the world should be like; when you travel, you see what the world has to offer.
Why is it that some people want to spend their life traveling? It is because of their thirst for knowledge. They are on a quest to discover and explore more. There are several things that traveling has taught each one of us. Most of them are life lessons.
For me, the real world means packing up and leaving your comfort zone, the familiar, your safe place, and experiencing strange things – a new place, new people who may not understand you, unfamiliar customs; the list goes on.
Here are the life lessons that travel can teach you:
- Going Out Of Comfort Zone
- To Be More Patient
- Embracing Your Solo Travel Experience
- Appreciate Different Cultures
- To Adapt Quickly
- Your Health Is Priceless
- To Live Simply
- Failure Is A Learning Opportunity
- We Never Stop Learning
- Smile Is A Universal Communicator
- Amazing Things Lie On The Other Side Of Fear
- Thinking Outside The Box
- Experiences Have No Price
- Be Willing To Seek Help From Others
- You Don’t Have To Be Rich To Travel
- Finding Happiness In Small Things
- To Accept Kindness And Humility
- To Make Friends With Strangers
- Appreciate Nature
The 19 Life Lessons You Learn By Traveling (Revealed!)
By stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things you get to learn so many things. Here are some of the life-changing lessons you learn by traveling:
1. Going Out Of Comfort Zone
If you always stay at home and flit between work and home, you’re not leaving your comfort zone. You’ve found a comfortable routine where your heart doesn’t need to skip a beat often.
Traveling brings about the opposite effect. You are forced to leave your comfort zone whether you like it or not because you are in a new country with a new culture, and things are different. You are leaving behind friends, familiar foods, and often a familiar language.
Entering new territory, however, is exhilarating. There is no better feeling than expanding your horizons and coming home with endless stories.
2. To Be More Patient
When you travel overseas, only some things will flow like you want. You’ve probably grown familiar with how things roll in your home country and hometown. But when you travel to other parts of the world, obstacles will arise, and you will have to find a way to deal with them.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned through my travels is that it’s okay to wait and have lag time and if something happens to go wrong, to be patient when seeking help. Though traveling isn’t luxurious, like advertisements and glamorous Instagram accounts make it out to be.
Your flight gets canceled because the pilot is sick. You’re stuck in the airport, you catch a stomach bug, and you’re on bedrest, your bus is late, you get on the wrong train, bad weather will minimize outdoor activities – it happens on every trip, and trust me, it builds character.
If things always went smoothly, the adventure wouldn’t exist. Patience is a virtue, and you’ll learn to tackle the circumstances as they come, making you appreciate the experience even more.
3. Embracing Your Solo Travel Experience
Admittedly, traveling alone does get lonely.
You’re constantly saying goodbye to new friends going to different places, having to leave a new place you’ve mastered and made familiar with, and taking on new territory with minimal information and sometimes no one to talk about the amazing day you had sightseeing with.
Learning to eat meals in restaurants, go to bars, or walk around a new city alone takes some time, but it’s okay to do these things alone. Being alone and having time to reflect on your experiences will help you appreciate them more, and you won’t be distracted by outside opinions.
You also won’t have to deal with conflicts of interest or compromise on activities! It’s the best; you will come home with a new sense of independence.
4. Appreciate Different Cultures
Isn’t the best thing about travel experiencing new cultures?
We all learned about cultures at school, but it’s different. Experiencing a culture is different.
From visiting museums and admiring landmarks to eating out in a local restaurant, you are exposing yourself to people and lifestyles that are usually totally different from what you find back home. You don’t have to stay in a country long before you start picking up local customs.
The vast difference between one country and another’s culture depends on the countries themselves. But generally, every new country you visit will teach you to appreciate new cultures.
5. To Adapt Quickly
Some of the most unbelievable situations may crop up during your travels. You must adapt quickly unless you want to return home and give up your dream of seeing the world!
If not, you’ll never appreciate the greatness of travel. Anything can happen when you travel. Sometimes you find yourself in various situations and need to find a way to solve problems quickly without stress.
Once you’ve traveled to a few different countries, you’ll soon realize that the things that seemed like a big deal in your home country are now minor issues.
6. Your Health Is Priceless
We all take our health for granted at times. When you travel, you must care for your health – particularly alone. In a foreign country, it’s not always easy to understand, or maybe they don’t have the right medication.
Get sick during your travels and find yourself in a foreign hospital where nobody understands your words. You will learn to appreciate your health.
Outside of your home country, things work differently. It’s good to realize that your health is the most important thing you have. Take care of it, nourish it, and do your best to stay healthy.
7. To Live Simply
Believe it or not, you can survive with very little and get by just fine. Most people around the world do. Traveling extensively forces you to pack so lightly that you’ll go home overwhelmed by how much you own.
Not only that, but sleeping in rundown guesthouses, hostels with bed bugs, and tents pitched anywhere you can find space isn’t the end of the world, and you learn to live with it.
Steering away from lavish meals on the town and fancy cocktails on outdoor patios is another experience you may have to sacrifice while traveling if you want to save enough to travel longer.
As a result, you’ll come home and realize that you don’t need anything more than the essentials to survive.
8. Failure Is A Learning Opportunity
Take it or leave it, only some things will go to plan when you travel. You are going to fail at some things, and it’s going to be hard.
Maybe it’s the language barrier or the inability to accomplish certain things during your travels. Either way, travel teaches you that failure is a learning opportunity.
So what if you messed up the local word and asked for rotten eggs instead of bread at the grocery store? Nobody apart from yourself cares anyway.
All you can do is accept your mistake and learn from it. That is all we can do: learn from our failures.
9. We Never Stop Learning
You will also learn, see and discover new things wherever you go. Traveling is a learning opportunity. That’s why it’s usually the most curious of personalities that long to travel.
Every day you can learn something new.
This isn’t exclusive to travel because you can still learn something new daily. But when you travel, the opportunities to learn come in abundance.
You’ll explore and discover new cultures, people, and foods – everything is a learning curve and a chance to broaden your mind. Every experience and every conversation you have teaches you something new.
10. Smile Is A Universal Communicator
Although learning a few phrases in the local language is always good, smiling is universal communication. Sometimes you won’t always be able to get your point across or converse with people as you travel around the globe.
The good news is you always have gestures you can use. One is smiling, which is the best way to show people you’re approachable. Frowning, on the other hand, does not.
You can’t go far wrong in a foreign country if you smile. You can express many things with a smile: happiness, friendliness, and gratitude. Traveling teaches you the importance of smiling.
11. Amazing Things Lie On The Other Side Of Fear
Fear paralyzes us. A lot of us miss out on so much because of fear. Traveling alone, for instance, may be something you’ve always wanted to do.
What stops you from doing it? Aside from money, it’s probably fear. You overlook all the excitement and focus on all the bad things that could happen.
Sometimes, you need to do the things that scare you the most because you’ll discover the most amazing things on the other side of that fear.
Push yourself to do new things, try new things, and push through those feelings of fear. It’s the most liberating thing ever! If traveling to an unusual destination, one should find sources that give reliable on-the-ground advice.
12. Thinking Outside The Box
Sometimes it takes a little thinking outside of the box to get by. Need wifi for directions? The restroom you entered is merely a hole in the ground? The buses to your next planned destination are all booked?
There are always alternatives, and bumps in the road should never keep people from traveling. Studies show that travel people think more creatively and better adjust to new situations.
Again, traveling isn’t full of glitz and glamour as it’s portrayed. There will always be something to overcome, forcing us to be creative.
13. Experiences Have No Price
Materialistic things can give you momentary pleasure, but experiences last a lifetime. Many people like spending money on clothes, shoes, cars, and other fancy things.
It is easy to find their worth in terms of money, but travel experiences are invaluable.
When you have to put restrictions on your luggage and become more accommodating with available food options and other lifestyle choices, you learn to adapt to the prevailing environment.
You rely on life adventures for joy. You learn that happiness can be found in the smaller things of life and that it does not always come with a branded price tag.
14. Be Willing To Seek Help From Others
During travels, many people think we have Google Maps, and I don’t need to ask for routes from strangers. But trust me, an experienced stranger is way better than your Google Maps for many locations, especially for hilly areas where landslide occasionally changes the route to places.
In those places, a stranger may have better ideas of routes.
Humans always face ego, anger, and fear problems now and then. Travel teaches us that you can only solve some of life’s problems yourself.
You can take help from others; asking for help will not make you small. You can learn from others, and others can learn from you. That’s how you can evolve in your life.
15. You Don’t Have To Be Rich To Travel
Many people think that traveling is for rich people. You need lots of money to travel. But this is a complete myth.
You need courage, a plan, and a little money for survival to achieve your passion for traveling. You can take trains or buses for conveyance, eat in small restaurants, and sleep in tents or hostels.
This will make your travel less expensive. This will also show you the real picture of those places.
16. Finding Happiness In Small Things
No doubt diamonds, big houses, expensive cars, premium smartphones, and fancy life can make you feel big and rich, but happiness always comes from small things.
Remember the moment when you first won chocolate in a game? That is happiness.
Traveling teaches you ways to find happiness in small things. You can find happiness when you achieve the target by climbing to the top of a mountain or enjoying an evening at the beaches.
17. To Accept Kindness And Humility
Without realizing it, most of us follow a cynical attitude toward people. It’s a great shame because we sometimes overlook genuine kindness. When you travel, expect to meet a whole variety. Not everybody will be kind, but accept that some people are.
Meeting people through your travels will teach you to accept kindness – sometimes even from strangers. And it is your job to be open to invitations.
Accept the chai latte from the shop owner, accept the invitation to the local family wedding, and accept kindness whenever you can – the rewards will be joyful.
18. To Make Friends With Strangers
It’s easy to build a global network of friends as you travel. If you are traveling alone, you will especially find yourself in need of some human interaction.
The good news is, finding traveler friends isn’t hard. When you meet travelers, they are usually happy to hear your story and share theirs. You both have that mutual love for travel, which only strengthens the bond.
If you travel solo, you will never be alone with all the travelers to befriend. If they don’t speak to you first, you must stick your neck out.
19. Appreciate Nature
Not every day, we appreciate Mother Nature and all she has given us. When we travel, we get the chance to be closer to her and feel her kindness even more. We often take natural beauty for granted. Only when we sit in the lap of nature do we witness her fragility?
When you travel, you learn to appreciate the wonders of nature worldwide. For this reason, people from around the globe visit the Amazon, the Great Barrier Reef, Yellowstone, Maldives, and many more such places of beauty.
We should visit forests, glaciers, coral reefs, and waterfalls before they become extinct and disappear from the earth.
The most powerful lesson that traveling teaches you is introspection. You discover your qualities and inner peace. You emerge as a more confident and powerful human being. You might take a few boring trips in life, but each one will offer something new.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, one of the greatest teachers in the world is travel. It will force you to leave your comfort zone, meet new people, experience different cultures, and develop success traits such as patience and creativity. Travelling can also be a great way to learn more about ourselves.
Travelling is often seen as an indulgence and something that can throw your routine off balance. But when done with the right attitude, it can become one of life’s greatest teachers.
We often grow and change the most when we step outside our comfort zones and challenge ourselves in new ways. Whether planning your first trip or already having a suitcase-filled past, here are just a few of the invaluable life lessons waiting for you along the road less travelled.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Cheers!
