Helps You Disconnect
Many of us live in cities and deal with stress and crowds on a daily basis. Our regular routine involves rushing from place to place, using crowded public transport and creating busy schedules for ourselves. Gradually stress begins to accumulate, burnout makes us dissatisfied and we struggle to find time for an adventure. Getting caught up in it all can be overwhelming and see us dreaming of escaping to greener pastures. It’s important to know when we need to take a step back, take a deep breath and… get ready to take off. Travelling can disconnect you from your daily routine and help you break the repetitive patterns that can leave you drained. As your mind enjoys a much-needed reset, you may find yourself thinking about things in a new light. In the end, you’re likely to come back feeling refreshed and with a whole new perspective on your life.
Enhances Your Creativity
One of the biggest benefits of travelling is that it takes you out of your comfort zone, especially when you’re travelling to a place you’ve never been before. New stimuli attack all your senses. You see new architectural styles and try out new foods. You hear new music, smell new fragrances and get a little lost. Exploring other places and breaking out of your routine introduces novelty to your brain, which is known to improve cognition. When we step out of our comfort zone, the mind gets more creative. This is because facing new challenges leads to new neural connections being created in the brain. We are, quite literally, expanding our minds! And if they ask you how you did it? Point them to travelling.
Broadens Your Horizons
While our reasons for travelling may differ, one thing is for sure: those who travel always develop empathy and a deeper understanding of other cultures. Travelling helps you connect with different people who have their own values and beliefs. This diversity provides an education that is impossible to get in school or at work. Even if we are in diverse workplaces, there is no substitute for the real thing. Becoming more understanding and tolerant makes us smarter, more empathetic and able to see things from other perspectives. You could think of it this way: with everything you read or watch, from a book to the news, while it does make you more aware of the world, there is a catch. Someone else’s perspective narrows your mind to a unique and perhaps biased point of view, instead of broadening your mind and pushing you to form your own opinion. Travelling will make you think more critically about the information you’re used to, and even help you see the issues and challenges of your own daily life in a new way.
Improves Your Social Skills
Another huge benefit of travelling is that you learn how to communicate better. This is because your native language may not be widely used in the areas you visit, which in turn forces you to think creatively about new ways to communicate your ideas. At first, you’ll need to be quite ingenious with your pointing and gesturing, especially when attempting to find a place to stay or buy something, but gradually you’ll pick up new words. Most people enjoy brushing up their knowledge on commonly used phrases in the places they visit, which helps them reach out to and relate better with locals. All this happens while you’re also learning a lot about a new way of life, which may trigger you to look at your own life in a new light. Moreover, learning new languages will lead you to seeing interesting improvements in your memory and brain function over time. We dare you to tell us it isn’t so – and look forward to your language of choice.
Boosts Your Confidence
Travelling doesn’t only enhance your tolerance for uncertainty, it also boosts your confidence. While travelling, you might find yourself stuck in situations you wouldn’t normally experience in your day-to-day life. You could find yourself stuck in situations where things don’t go as planned, all while you’re alone in an unknown place, with no family, friends or language skills to rely on. While difficult at the time, this helps you learn to cope with uncertainty, face the unknown and think differently. Travelling forces you to be resourceful, but overcoming the new challenges turns the story into an adventure and boosts your self-belief when tackling the next obstacle. These experiences also help you understand yourself and how you react in such situations, preparing you for future encounters with the great unknown – which could be anything, from ordering dessert in a new language to telling someone how you feel. It’s not all about getting lost in the jungle, unless that’s your thing!
It’s Just Fun
No matter how young or old we are, we all have an inner child who wants to jump and play and go on an adventure from time to time! When you travel, you are essentially saying yes to that part of you. No matter how insignificant, a new experience that you’ve had in a new place will stay with you and you’ll keep remembering it for many years to come. Just think about how you feel when you open a photo album. It only takes a minute or two before you find yourself smiling while going through the memories. We teach ourselves and learn based on what we take from our experiences as we go, whether solo or with a group of people, and no one can take that away from us. Our memories are more than stories we tell others, they are part of who we are, part of our identity. It makes sense then that we want to remember the happy moments we shared with friends, cheerful and filled with energy, and relive them again and again.
When it’s time to go, don’t forget that Priority Pass has over 1,300 airport VIP lounges in more than 600 cities across 148 countries. Visit one if you’d like a little bit more luxury before your flight, whether you’re coming back home or going to explore your next destination. Chances are that you’ll find a lounge to relax in nearby, wherever you’re flying from. Get ready for adventure with Priority Pass.