I’ve learned my share of things the hard way.  I’ve also learned a thing or two from incredibly enjoyable first-hand experiences. One of my favorites of those lessons happens to be discovering how much I’ve grown. The greatest teacher of those lessons has to be travel. 

One of my favorite sayings is “you don’t know what you don’t know.”  Before I started paying attention to my experience of myself while traveling, I only brought home memories, photos, souvenirs and a tan. The more times I told a travel story, the more I started to see how I was changing as much as my scenery. I found that I was less anxious (not to be confused with anxiety-free) about not knowing what was going to come next in uncertain situations back home because I’d figured out what to do when my first solo trip out of the country got canceled the morning of. I realized that I can speak up simply when I’m displeased with something and not just when there’s a major problem because I was successfully upgraded after expressing my dissatisfaction in Costa Rica. I realized the power of my words when the creative collaborations and warm connections I expressly declared I wanted manifested in Colombia. 

Now, I can’t say that any of these lessons are exclusive to travel. I can absolutely see how similar scenarios could happen at home. However, these are lessons I was able to see more clearly because they were framed with the excitement of travel! I constantly had a reason to think about the environment and situations they were created in. We relive and reminisce about travel frequently, but how often do you reflect on who you were before said trip?  When was the last time you asked yourself who you were while abroad? 

I’ve made it a practice to consistently check in with myself while traveling.  I take an audit of the major discomforts and concerns I’m dealing with at the time and do my best to look at them from the perspective of making some good of it all.  Something about “vacation mode” has me willing to see the brighter side of so many dim corners. I invite you to travel intentionally and take inventory of ALL the gifts you bring home. 

For stories and resources on how you can travel more intentionally, visit travelnshitpodcast.com.

I’ve personally decided against air travel during the pandemic. While home, I’ve spent quite a bit of time reminiscing on past trips as Facebook and Amazon Photos show me reminders of where I was this day the last few years. Spoiler – I was out of the country. As I look fondly on past travels, I can’t help but recall how those experiences changed me. I’m reminded of the people who went the extra mile to help me find my way every time I got lost (it’s been quite often lol), the friendly strangers who took the time to translate for me, and an assortment of others who went the extra mile to assist in the little ways that make a huge difference.  

Thinking of all the goodness that was poured into me gave me pause – it gave me a reason to reflect on the different ways I pour it back out into the world when I’m not traveling. I find myself much more patient with tourists when I’m out and about and they are obnoxiously not embodying the understood NYC culture of “stay out the f***ing way”. When someone who doesn’t speak English comes into my job looking for assistance, I take my time to be patient and use my translate app.  I’ve always been a kind person but travel has allowed me to see first hand how many different ways I’m able to be more compassionate simply by giving me extraordinary experiences where that compassion was shown to me. 

My travel has also given me the opportunity to sharpen my situational awareness and intuition.  It’s very easy to get complacent with seeing the same things day in and day out. I’m not much of a social person who goes out often, so my opportunity to experience new surroundings has most often been through travel. Constantly being in new environments and trying new things has given me a much more expansive knowledge base to pull from. It’s a constant reminder of how much of the world there still is to see and experience while giving me such a sense of gratitude to be able to attempt to do it. 

Every Thursday I release an episode of my podcast Travel N Sh!t where I discuss the nuanced ways travel permeates our lives and re-enforce the concept of travel being more than a vacation. Visit www.travelnshitpodcast.com for past episodes and more travel resources.