Why I do love traveling

Why I do love traveling

Traveling presents a wonderful opportunity to practice being open-minded and grounded. The voyages you make help cultivate a worldwide community in which we as humans can acknowledge and appreciate our differences as much as we recognize and appreciate our similarities. Though we then return home, the positive impression we leave behind will remain as a testament to the respect and amicability that marked your intercultural interactions.

A truly aware traveler sees each new journey as an opportunity to improve international relations, spread goodness, and gain a greater understanding of humanity. To immerse ourselves in foreign cultures is to open our mind to fresh ways of being.  While we may not agree with all the traditions, practices or laws of a country, abiding by them demonstrates that we understand and respect their value. Staying centered in another culture is often simply a matter of learning about our destination, being patient with ourselves and others.  Traveling is also difficult. Cesare Pavese, one of my favourite  authors says:

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

For how much hard it can be, traveling is representative of life. If you listen to your inner voice and follow your heart, you will find the places that speak out to you, that reach out and touch you, and which make you feel like you’re home.

 

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