Seeing the World is Worth It

By Amy Barr with The Lukeion Project

Are these people actually having fun with travel? Maybe not.

The first time I traveled abroad, I was a college sophomore. I was so nervous on the flight to Amman, Jordan, that I barfed…twice. Perhaps you imagine something more glamorous for world travel? Maybe a luxury for trust-fund kids and their wealthy parents?

I had saved every penny for 10 months to pay for my first trip. I was an archaeology major. I hoped with every fiber in my being that this would be my first excavation of many. I needed to pay for the international flight and two months room-and-board in Jordan, in advance. I was putting myself through college with a part-time library job and student loans (mom or dad never volunteered to pay a dime). I skipped owning a car, buying clothes, or eating anything but bad cafeteria food for my first year of college. I even made a little cash by dumpster diving for aluminum cans back when recyclers paid for them. I sent letters asking for travel donations from distant relatives. The financial challenge of travel seemed completely impossible right up until the moment my plane took off. Those were well-deserved barfs if I do say so myself.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Since then I have done my best to "see the world" by but even after many trips and nations, my bucket list is still quite long. Here are a few things that world travel taught me and why I’d recommend everyone make the sacrifices necessary to see this world. There are many benefits of real travel but these are the three most formative reasons I included my children in travel as early as possible.

1. World travel makes you thankful.

Travel in one’s home country is comfortable stuff. Restaurants, stores, language, clothes, and even social customs are relatively uniform. Aside from unexpected traffic jams, most surprises will be voluntary (Yosemite vs Niagara Falls, In-N-Out Burger vs Skyline Chile, Disneyland vs. Disneyworld).
Travel abroad will stretch your perspectives in ways your perspectives need most desperately to be stretched. Approximately one block from the airport, your travels will begin to show you how much you take for granted. Your little corner of the world is not normal for all human beings.
Breakfast cereal and a big mug of coffee in the morning? Easy commute and plenty of parking for your car? All types of food options for lunch? 8-hour workdays in temperature-controlled cubicles? Fast food for dinner by 6 PM? Single-family home? Virtually nothing about your normal day is normal everywhere.
As you travel you might begin to experience longing and then thankfulness for the small pleasures you regularly enjoy that, perhaps, others do not. Thankfulness, in time, gives way to increased inquisitiveness. Newness stops being scary and starts being desirable.

2. World travel makes you open to newness.

Ever spent time with a rigid person who needs everything just “so”? Not a ton of fun. There will always be those that cling to the details of their personal preferences as if they had been handed down as divine law. I can't say that travel will ever change such a person. As a tour organizer, I can happily say those that encounter new experiences, view them in a spectrum from delightfully exotic, to mildly inconvenient, to occasionally uncomfortable. This is normal and this is what begins to change us.
Depending on your personality and the length of your trip, you will begin to view an increasing number of cultural differences as positive, if not desirable. Italian coffee? Greek souvlaki? Turkish baths? French pastry? Jordanian hospitality? Yes, please!
Travel always makes one more open to newness.

3. World travel makes you more tolerant.

Remember when tolerance truly meant “live and let live”? The more you travel outside of your home country, the more tolerant you must become. It is a natural side effect of seeing life, the universe, and everything through dozens of new lenses. You aren't permitted to go about your day as usual. You must learn to adapt or you won't be able to navigate even the simplest task of eating or getting to your next location.
Travel makes you more tolerant of both inconveniences and people who are not at all like yourself. Travel makes you more open to viewing differences as not only good but often preferable. In turn, I would hope we become more thankful when pleasant days go our way. Can you imagine a world full of truly tolerant, thankful, inquisitive people?

Shameless Self-promotion Department

Join me next year, May 18-31, 2020, in Spain. My husband and I are filling up a busload. There's still time to join now. We use the WorldStrides travel company and they'll arrange financing, flights, hotels, everything. In case you would like to know more follow this link. Our best price ends on October 2. Those who register by then and complete the trip will also receive 1 free Lukeion semester course of your choice (giftable if you don't feel like being a student any time soon).