This article is all about how traveling can help you break out of your routine, see the world through new eyes, and grow as a person. It emphasizes that travel can be a short walk or contemplation as well as a long planned journey, and that travel is an important experience that exposes people to different cultures and experiences that expand their thinking and make them reflect on the meaning of life.
There’s nothing like the word travel to make you feel good and get your heart racing: the trepidation as an airplane races down the runway to take off, the cyclical sound of the wheels as the train rolls down the tracks, the scenery as it passes by outside the window – none of these things can be missed. Traveling is a moment when you take a break from your busy life, where you are the protagonist, and look at the world as a spectator. If someone asked me what they should do, I would say, without hesitation, “Travel.” I can confidently say that it is traveling that grows you more than anything else.
Traveling doesn’t necessarily mean making a plan and going away for a few days. It can be walking down a path you don’t normally take, taking the bus back home, sitting on a bench you pass by every day without thinking about it, and getting lost in thought. If we can just step out of our busy, familiar lives for a moment and observe the world we live in, that’s enough to make it a trip. I prefer the bus to the subway because it’s a bit more circuitous and slower, and you can see the changing scenery outside the window. It’s easy to get lost in thought as you watch people go about their daily lives, and when you need to clear your head, you can become a spectator and watch the world without thinking. People travel for different reasons, but this is why I travel. Traveling is about movement. Whether it’s by train, bus, or whatever means necessary to get away from the familiar and see something new. It’s great to just stare out the window and watch the scenery pass by, but it’s even better to ponder things you wouldn’t normally take the time to think about.
I don’t like to cover my ears with earphones while traveling. Not only does it interfere with my contemplation, but keeping my ears open allows me to hear the stories of people living in different parts of the world. This happened on the train to Tokyo. The carriages, which were empty when we left Osaka, started to fill up as we passed through Nagoya. Inside the train, people were chatting happily in groups. I had my earphones in to keep me company, but I started to listen to their laughter. As they talked about their lives, their finances, and their children, the loneliness of traveling alone dissipated, and I was soothed by their friendly dialect.
Another joy of traveling is encountering the unexpected. This is what happened to me while traveling in Florence, Italy. It was time for the museums to close, so I rushed into the closest one, the Bargello Museum, and my steps took me not to the exhibits but to the garden, where an unknown pianist was playing the piano as if in conversation with the famous sculptures. The shiver and thrill of the moment kept me there until he finished playing. I could see in his expression and movements the passion and joy of doing something he truly loved, and it made me reflect on what I really loved and what I was so passionately engaged in. This experience was a calming influence on the excitement of traveling.
When traveling, you sometimes encounter unpleasant experiences. But even those experiences are meaningful. While traveling in Italy, I was often frustrated by slow employees. Not only in general stores, but also in museum ticket offices and train stations, the staff are often slow and sometimes even blunt, but strangely enough, I was the only one who seemed impatient. Once I realized this, I couldn’t hold back my anger any longer. Is ‘faster’ really the right answer? I wondered if I had missed something in my fast-paced life, and I wondered if I had missed something in their relaxed way. It’s no surprise that Italy is the birthplace of the Slow City movement, and their laid-back attitude reminds me of the excitement and pride that Italy once had when it dominated Europe.
They say it’s better to see something once than to hear it a hundred times. We’ve all heard of the Grand Canyon in the United States or the Jungfrau in Switzerland in books and videos, but no matter how much you try to describe it, it’s hard to convey the feeling of actually seeing it. It’s not just about traveling abroad to see nature’s great landscapes, it’s also about the view from the top of a mountain near your home, or the river from a hill in the Olympic Park. It’s not the scale or grandeur of nature that matters, it’s the realization that there’s more to the world than the gray structures we see every day when we’re stuck in a forest of buildings. It makes you think about how you can broaden your horizons. Getting out of your comfort zone, seeing new things, experiencing new environments, and getting to know them first-hand is the key to breaking out of a narrow mindset. These experiences are not limited to nature. You can get the same thrill and emotion from seeing historical and cultural sites and artworks, such as the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, the pyramids in Egypt, or the Colosseum in Rome. For me, traveling with such diverse experiences has made me realize that different cultures are not wrong, but different, and has made me more considerate and understanding of others. When traveling abroad, I try to integrate myself into the local life as much as possible. I walk the streets they walk, buy fruit from the supermarket they use, and try to eat at local favorite restaurants rather than the more touristy ones, so that I can experience the culture from their perspective, even if only for a short time.
The most memorable trip for me was the first time I traveled alone. I had just finished my military service and was traveling to Vietnam for 14 days and 15 nights. I didn’t have any big problems at the time, but it was a great opportunity to reflect on myself. When traveling alone, there are moments when you have to solve every situation on your own, and you have to talk to strange locals. These situations gave me the confidence to know that I could do it on my own. I also carried a notebook with me to organize my thoughts, writing down even the smallest thoughts. One of the notes stuck with me to this day. “When you get comfortable with things that are awkward at first, you move on to another place. People often compare love to traveling because it’s a similar process of getting to know the unknown. “So, does love also leave again when it becomes familiar?”
When I return from a trip, I wonder if I was really there. I remember the beautiful sunsets, cool ocean breezes, and wide-open spaces like a dream, and then I’m back in the routine of life. The outward appearance is the same as before the trip, but the mind and thoughts that remember those vague dreams are definitely different. Traveling is a teacher who teaches me about the past, a place of learning where I can feel the present, and a warm embrace where I can think and plan for the future.
