Whether you’re planning to jet off on a globe-spanning vacation or simply dreaming of it, world travel is more doable now than ever. With international tourism returning to 80% of pre-pandemic levels and airlines offering new round-the-world ticket deals, it’s never been easier to make that once-in-a-lifetime global odyssey a reality.
Those who know and love travel will attest that it has the power to transform you. It deepens your values, expands your horizons and renders you a true citizen of the world, according to the likes of Pessoa, Chesterton and Emerson. And you can’t really put your finger on how it does so; it’s something that has to be experienced.
For many, it’s the people they meet along the way who leave a lasting impression. The friends they make while trekking up a mountain, crossing a gorge or helping a villager clean up after a storm become some of the most valued names on their contact lists and places to visit in the future. They’re also the ones who make them realise that they don’t always have to stick to their home-grown comfort zones. They are the kind of people who can tell you about their time in Mongolia or their weekend in Zanzibar and get you instantly hooked on their stories.
Then there are the skills they learn along the way that make them better citizens of the world, able to interact with different cultures and understand the nuances of their languages. It’s the experience of getting haggled over an ice cream in Thailand or bargaining for a dress in China that makes you appreciate what you have back home. It’s these experiences that teach you to respect the differences of others and a greater tolerance for the differences that exist within our own societies.
As you start to tick off more countries on your bucket list, that feeling of achievement grows, with the satisfaction of knowing that you have accomplished what you set out to do. It’s the kind of feeling that keeps you reaching for bigger goals, willing to push yourself further and further from your comfort zone.
It might seem as though we’ve come a long way from Silk Road caravans and daunting sea voyages, but there are plenty of other changes to the travel landscape on the horizon. Concepts that feel plucked from sci-fi movies are soon to be at our fingertips, with the possibility of passenger drones, biometric immigration tunnels and instant translation transforming how we travel.