Come Dec. 19, I’ll be on a plane to beautiful New Zealand for winter break on yet another international adventure. It seems like the more I try to get my close friends to accompany me on trips, the harder it is to get them to come. I understand that traveling abroad can be very expensive, and it takes time away from work, school, and familiar faces, but the experiences, perspective and growth that come from traveling are worth the costs.
Travel is in our blood. The curiosity for the unknown, the desire to discover, the ability to adapt to foreign environments — the human species yearns for exploration, especially when they’re young, independent, have energy and are, likely, more open-minded. It probably started with our urgency to populate the global landscape. Then it expanded into exploration to other lands for mapping, trading and capturing natural and human resources so civilization could grow. It was necessary. Then, in the mid-1800s, leisure travel allowed those who weren’t swimming in vast amounts of money or being paid for their expeditions to see the world.
These days it seems like a lot of people are itching to graduate from college as soon as possible and get on with their careers. I get that. College is expensive. But what about a gap year, or a semester off, or some time after graduation to plant some temporary roots in another country? Aside from the priceless sights you’ll see while abroad, traveling inspires formative qualities that you aren’t going to find in the safety of your college campus. Traveling brings out characteristics you didn’t know you had. It pushes you to adapt and find your way in what feels like the most unstable and uncomfortable settings you could imagine. Traveling pushes you from all angles and forces you to exceed the physical, mental and emotional limits you thought you had.
Traveling also allows people to engage with one another. If you’re not meeting people and going out of your way to hear their stories, you’re doing it wrong. People naturally gravitate toward “their own,” whether that be tied to language, race or what have you. But traveling allows people to escape the public stereotypes of home and realize for themselves that people are people no matter where you go and, for the most part, they are good. They’re the same as you and me, with some cultural variations here and there. We aren’t so different. This, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful discoveries someone can make.
Traveling has the ability to change people, to humble them. To instill appreciation and thoughtfulness for the planet and its inhabitants. To increase confidence in personal capabilities. To become more informed and understanding of other people and the lives they lead. So, before you set yourself on graduating as soon as possible only to sit down at an office computer for the rest of your adult life, consider taking some time to go someplace new. You won’t regret it.