BENEFITS OF TRAVELING
The benefits of travel are endless and so we can't emphasize enough how important it is to travel. The benefits of traveling are not one-dimensional: it changes you not only psychologically but also physically. Having little time or no money is not a valid excuse to stay home. We have been traveling around the world on a budget as much as we can. Nowadays, it is easier than ever to find cheap flights and take time off. Just get out of your comfort zone and do it!
Soon, you'll find out that traveling affects YOU too. We strongly believe that travel brings positive change to someone's life. See below the main benefits of travel, grouped into four broad categories. Simply click on the one you want to learn more about or scroll down the page to find more.
Table Of Contents
Health Benefits of Travel
Mental and Emotional Health
The most prominent, and possibly the most important health benefit of traveling, is reduced stress from home and work. While traveling, you break your daily routine and immerse yourself into new surroundings and experiences. Being away from work and your daily worries resets your mind. After a trip, people often feel rejuvenated and refreshed. Traveling is therefore also the perfect remedy if you are burnt out or find yourself in a mid-life crisis.
Besides, it is also proven that traveling boosts your mood and even increases your happiness. Happiness has a lot of implications such as promoting a healthy lifestyle, boosting the immune system, protecting the heart, and reducing pain. Read here about Why Traveling Makes You Happy.
The frequency of travel also plays an important role in your health. Research found that people who travel more often are more content with their health and well-being. Generally, they are also less likely to become tense, depressed, or tired. This is especially true as traveling improves sleep patterns.
Physical Health
In addition to the mind, traveling positively affects the body. Of course, this totally depends on the nature of your travels and whether you'll be eating fast food every day. It is more correct to say that travel opens up an excellent opportunity to develop fitness habits. This can mean that you are walking around the city all day or you are engaging in activities like kayaking, hiking and swimming. Most people are generally more active while traveling as they escape their daily routine of sitting in an office chair all day. Find out how to best combine the pleasures of your trip with a healthy lifestyle.
Studies have also found that traveling reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. A study conducted by the Global Commission on Aging and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies discovered that both men and women who travel at least twice a year are less likely to have a heart attack or die from another heart disease than those who only vacation every six years or more.
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Personality & Character
Traveling changes us a person. Visiting new destinations gives us the opportunity to do new things and to gain invaluable knowledge and experiences. Not only does that lead us to change our lifestyle and way of thinking, but it also helps develop our character and personality.
Scientific research has proven that traveling affects a person's "Big Five", consisting of five dominant personality characteristics, namely openness to experiences, extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. By meeting new people and immersing yourself in a new country and culture, you generally will become more:
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Open-minded
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Spontaneous
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Self-confident
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Independent
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Trusting
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Thick-skinned
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Creative
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Productive
Experiences
Another benefit of travel is the experience you gain. Every trip you undertake adds to your life experience. This is because when you travel, you experience things that you could never encounter at home. You visit beautiful places and landscapes, meet fellow travelers and locals, indulge yourself in the local culture, etc. Even though these all sound glamorous, there are also times that you have to cope with unfamiliar situations, problems, and challenges. The skills and experience you gain from these moments give you life-long personal benefits as well as an advantage in the professional world. Overall, it makes you more interesting as a person.
There is no doubt that every travel experience is different. Likewise the life lessons you will gain from them. The most life-changing travel experiences are often longer in nature and involve deeper connections to the country and people. These include:
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Studying abroad
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Living and working abroad for some time (e.g. Working Holiday or doing an Internship abroad)
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Volunteering
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Solo traveling
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World Tour
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etc.
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Development
Personal Development
Another important benefit of travel is your personal development.
Most commonly, travel challenges and transforms your perspective. People make up stereotypes of places and people to better understand the world. This means that you already have a preconceived notion of what Italy, Morocco, or Thailand look like. However, only when you finally step into the unknown and immerse yourself in the local culture of that place is when you will find out. Your hands-on experience might not meet your assumed perspective. This will transform your perspective for better or worse.
Moreover, traveling broadens your horizons. This is especially true when your trip consists of trying new things, immersing yourself in the local culture, and getting out of your comfort zone. The word "new" is key when expanding your horizons!
Finally, travel helps you discover who you really are. By adapting to a new environment, trying new things, interacting with the world, and exploring possibilities while working out solutions to challenges along the way, you become more self-aware. You may discover new interests, hidden talents, and skills.
These personal benefits of traveling are probably one of the most important reasons why you should travel the world.
Professional & Educational Development
In addition to, and often in association with personal development, travel contributes to both your professional and educational development. It teaches you things that you can simply not learn out of books, like social and communication skills, cultural sensitivity and understanding, and global competence. In our globalized world, these skills have become priceless to a future employer.
Besides, traveling gets you real-life education. You will learn about the history, culture, and people in a given country. You may even have the opportunity to learn and pick up a new language! In our opinion, it is definitely more effective to learn a language while traveling and interacting with the local people.
Finally, traveling might also improve other skills. It is shown that in some cases traveling helps improve your time and stress management skills as well as your planning and organizing skills.
So when is the best time to travel? - Student years seem to be the best period when you are mature enough but still enthusiastic. If you are wondering how to allocate time to see the world, when you are stuck with college duties, there is always an option to turn to an essay writing service, find a professional to handle your papers online, and get some free time to spend it with pleasure.
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Award
Thanks to this article as well as our other articles on the health benefits of travel, our website was awarded one of the Top Most Promising Health Websites of 2021 by Li Creative Technologies.