Howdy all and welcome to Sunday’s thoughtful post on travel and why we should look to travel again. I’m feeling somewhat jealous seeing that in some parts of the world people are off travelling here and there. For here in Australia – to be more exact Victoria – to be even more precise, Melbourne, can’t go anywhere at the moment. Lockdown has been reimposed as cases of corona virus, just when it looked like they were under control, have spiked. Not only can’t I leave the country, I can’t even leave my city.

Other places in the world haven’t taken as hard a line towards the virus as we have, and I’m jealous in some ways, and then in others I guess I’m thankful that things aren’t worse and that despite my concerns, I’m still less likely to get corona than others in other parts of the world. In fact to be honest I’m surprised how open Europe is right now, a couple of countries excepted of course, and I think probably the UK is the biggest concern there.

But hey – it may yet be a fair way off, but we WILL travel again! I think a definite date would really help my moral, but that’s just not possible and I confident we are talking at least twelve months before I can travel internationally. What is frustrating now is that it looks to be months til we can travel interstate at this stage. We were hoping to get away for a week in November. I think that is highly doubtful at this stage.

When we can get back to the skies, when we can cross borders and visit other parts of this globe of ours, well, as long as it is safe to do so, and if like me it’s a passion of yours, we SHOULD. And today I thought I’d do a post on why we should.

1. People

So. There is, to me at least, nothing more important than meeting people when you travel, especially when you travel solo. The connections I made when I was travelling in places such as Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Georgia and Iran previously have been one of the greatest parts of my travels and have made my travels so much more worthwhile than I realised they could be. Taken into people’s homes, sharing people’s lives, food, friendships and more. It’s really what I have taken most from travel.

For stories about some of the amazing people I’ve met whilst travelling check out my post – ‘The Kindness of Strangers’

2. Revitalise

There’s no doubt that getting away from your daily grind, whatever your work may be, is really important. I know that after working for six months without a break and I am in desperate need for not only some time off to recharge, but just to get away because getting out of the country, or getting out of Melbourne also gets me out of the same headspace that I’ve been in.

And boy, by the time this pandemic is ‘over’ – when we can finally travel again, at least when we can leave Victoria, I think I’ll be completely stir crazy. I’ve been up and down for ages now, and it’s really starting to get to me somewhat. The less chance to get away from work you have, the bigger part of your life it becomes. I shouldn’t complain though, there are many people now who no longer have a job!

3. Self-Discovery & Challenges

Oh yeah so I got a little bit ‘ohm’ with this one (sorry, struggling to find the perfect word there). But really, you do learn about yourself when you travel, and when you challenge yourself when you travel. There is nothing wrong with a holiday where you just relax and unwind, and I like to take these too. BUT the ones that I come back with the most out of them, are the ones where I mixed in the relaxation with the challenges. Doing a trek, going somewhere you wanted to go but weren’t sure about, going somewhere that was hard to get to or just doing something you never thought you could. And hey – sometimes what you discover about yourself is actually that you CAN’T do something, or something you thought you’d enjoy, you don’t. You discover your limits.

Read about trekking in the Simien Mountains (in Ethiopia) here – Trekking the Simien Mountains

Read about some of the best hikes I’ve done here – My Best Hikes

And a caveat to that – always have a backup plan and ALWAYS take out travel insurance!

4. To Recover

And at the present, you might want to recover from lockdown, restrictions, having to wear a mask every day, or you might need to get over a failed relationship, or a traumatic event in your life, or you know, something less severe lol.

Travel can be great for this. Okay, it might not work too, sometimes there is no ‘quick-fix’, but the year 2003 was for me a really rough and difficult year, and so by September I had decided I was going to take 2004 off university and travel. It was just what I needed and I settled back in 2005 and completed my degree.

5. To Appreciate

Finally, there is a real appreciation that comes (well, it might not always but it should) from travel. Appreciation of many different things. Firstly, what you have. There is nothing like travelling to the parts of the world where people have less than you do, and yet will give you anything you need because you are a guest in their country – to remind you of just how lucky you are.

And if you are able to travel internationally, you are lucky because when it comes down to it, this world is filled with people who can’t travel beyond the borders of where they live. Appreciate that fact. And appreciate the world we live in. With all its faults, with all the things that go wrong, we have a beautiful world here on Earth with so much beauty and wonder. Appreciate all the people you meet, those that go the extra mile for you. Honestly, to be able to travel this globe is a great blessing, don’t ever forget that!

Well, thanks again for popping in on my little blog and seeing what I had to say today! What do you think? Do you have anything to add? Please do comment! And May the Journey Never End!