In the early days of this website, I waxed poetic about travel in a short, heartfelt love letter. What I’d settled on was that travel had the power to transform me by changing my perspective of the world–and my place in it–in both small and substantial ways. As such, I’m always eager to read other viewpoints on the transformative nature of travel.
Earlier this week, the Lonely Planet blog published the results of a survey in which it asked its Facebook and Twitter followers “Which destination has changed your life the most?” With over 1,000 of Lonely Planet’s followers weighing in via social media, locations like India, Cambodia, and Nepal took the top honors as “life-changing” locations.
As I continued reading the piece, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by the emphasis on the physical destination as a change-maker. In my opinion, life-changing travel experiences can happen anywhere. In fact, life-changing travel has little to do with location at all.
It’s terribly seductive to believe that the power of transformation is reserved for far-flung, “exotic” locales that possess social and cultural elements completely alien to one’s own. Certainly those stark differences between a foreign culture and one that’s more familiar disrupts routine, and once our cozy, comfortable habits are broken, we become much more receptive to change.
But do you have to travel to the farthest corners of the earth to experience a life-affirming event? In a word, no. Travel is less about the destination itself than it is about what you bring to the experience. It’s why some of us prefer destinations that others simply can’t stand. Travel is intensely personal and you’ll get out of it what you bring to it.
So if you’re looking for a “life-changing” travel experience, the destination itself doesn’t matter. You don’t even need a passport. Just travel with open ears, open eyes, an open mind, and an open heart wherever you go–you might just come back a different person.
Very nice! All we need is to travel with an open mind! I really like the slogan of your blog- I sometimes feel we want to spend so much time with other people that we never know how to be just with ourselves. And if we get bored by ourselves or don’t like to be alone (not lonely) then we’re dependent!
Yes! I so agree! Although time spent with others brings balance, I love travel for the opportunity to get away and get to know myself and how I’m evolving as a person. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. 🙂
Yes, yes, yes! I completely agree. Any travel, even short distances within our own countries are sometimes all we need to put us in a totally different mindset that allows for possibilities. A change of scenery is a change of perspective, no matter where it is.
I totally agree with you. For me, going to Toronto (my parents home and where I grew up is in a suburb just outside of Toronto) is a travel experience and always offers up something new for me. There is culture and diversity and something new always just around a corner. I used to hate the city but now in the recent years I have come to love all that I used to hate. Enough so that I plan on making Toronto my next home base. Just sitting in a resturant above the city and looking over the city scape makes me catch my breathe and adore being Canadian even more. Toronto was life changing for me because, as I said, I didn’t like the city in the past. I had negative images of it but when I looked at it and ventured in with my own eyes, my opinion changed. So much so that I have a few ideal places to choose from when I eventually move there. Travel does open your eyes to the good and the bad whether it is far or near. All I know is that I am happy seeing the world with my own eyes and experiencing it myself.
Rhona–I know what you mean. It’s easy to become bored by a place that you’re accustomed to, but then one day, your heart and mind are in the right place and bam! Magic happens. P.S. I gotta get to Toronto sometime…
Marsha I concur one hundred percent with what you have just written here. I think like with many events in life it’s our own attitude that we bring to the situation, in this case solo travel that decides how good the outcome is going to be.
In 2001 after losing my home and all my possessions I had nothing to lose by catching the overnight train across the state boundary to Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales in Australia. All I had to my name was a suitcase with my clothes in it and $700 in the bank account. I arrived in a city I had never been to, knew nobody and had to find somewhere to stay and get a job as quickly as possible. I found somewhere to stay within minutes and a job within a fortnight.
I found that in Sydney my mindset had changed from “my life is over” to “my life has just begun”. I loved exploring the city for the first time. Looking for the nearest McDonald’s for breakfast made me feel like a little kid again on an easter egg hunt. Catching the Manly ferry made me discover that I was not seasick after all. Walking over the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge and looking eastwards towards the ocean is a scene that took my breath away. These are first time memories that I will not forget quickly.
Most importantly what I learned from my time in that city and what keeps on bringing me back there is that I learned that I was capable of doing anything that I set my heart on, that I was a capable person, that I could do it on my own if I had to and that breaking the mold was not only impossible but highly enjoyable in the process.
I have solo travel to thank for all of that.
Wow, Matt, your story is amazing and encapsulates precisely how powerful it is to venture outside of your comfort zone and to let yourself be open to experience. It’s something I’m still learning how to do. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂