The busyness of everyday life can put people into a boring rut of doing the same thing every single day and cause a lack of excitement. Exploring a new place can be the perfect cure to give a tiresome life more adventure.

The differences in cultures around the world are huge and have a direct impact on the way people live their lives. Traveling to a different place where the culture is different from your own expands your mind to a whole new way of seeing things. In the article Why We Travel by American author Jonah Lehrer, he reveals how:  

“Seasoned travellers are alive to ambiguity, more willing to realise that there are different (and equally valid) ways of interpreting the world. This in turn allows them to expand the circumference of their “cognitive inputs,” as they refuse to settle for their first answers and initial guesses… We don’t spend 10 hours lost in the Louvre because we like it, and the view from the top of Machu Picchu probably doesn’t make up for the hassle of lost luggage… We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.”

A new destination gives us the clarity to see the world in a different light and gain a new perspective.

A language barrier can be a massive block in learning a new culture, but engaging in the language creates an entirely new experience. Some of the worst moments in traveling are times when there’s no one to translate the foreign language and you have to communicate through silly gestures or simple words. Researching the country to which you want to travel and making attempts to learn basic phrases and sayings can make a huge difference in your own personal experience as well as the people around you. Unfortunately, there’s no easy or quick way to learn. Learning a new language takes lots of practice and dedication but it has many great benefits that easily outway the negatives. Knowing the spoken language of a country enables you to make connections with the people living there and get to know a country in a whole new way. Instead of looking from afar, you’ll be fully emerged in the culture of a place.   

People often overlook traveling within their own city and don’t take advantage of the many adventures that can be had right where they are. Driving to a new coffee shop or a vintage book store is still exploring something new and makes for great memories. Becoming a tourist within your own city can be a great, inexpensive form of traveling that isn’t as big of a time commitment. Imagine you’ve never been to your city before and look up its most exciting sites. From hidden coffee shops to local inns and hotels, there is so much to discover right where you are.

Sometimes we can forget how lucky we are and it takes losing something for us to remember how much we appreciate it. Traveler Jana explains in her article How Travel Makes You Appreciate Home that, “Those who have never travelled haven’t really tried looking at something from outside in. They’ve never looked at their home from a place thousands of miles away, missing it and understanding it in a way they’ve never known before.”

Distance gives us a new perspective of home and creates gratitude for the great things that are there. The little things that we find annoying at home like washing the dishes or doing homework seem relatively small and simple when you’re away from them and at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than falling asleep in your own bed.