Many of us dream to travel the world when we grow up. To see what life looks like beyond the figments of our imagination. To see a new place, explore and experience.
Practically speaking, it is impossible to go around the world in a lifetime. For most of us, this dream remains only a dream because as we grow older, we also find that our priorities change. The little of the world we have seen beyond our homes remain only the few places we have ventured out to, for studies, work, or health care and hardly leisure.
Afterwards, travelling becomes a luxury that only rich people with time can afford. We could be fond of travelling, but even that becomes a not-good-enough-reason to pick a suitcase and go somewhere just like that. We are battling against time and money, priorities and families- the process which is likely to go on till we age and are no longer eager to see that new place anymore.
This, however, does not necessarily mean that we cannot travel anymore in the positions we are placed. After all, it’s all in the mind. As Henry Ford has said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
It may be impossible for all of us catch an international flight and go abroad, or for that matter, even visit a city outside the state for leisure. But who says only those places are worth travelling to? I have always observed with wonder children and teenagers who come to bigger towns for the first time from far flung rural areas. It is magical to see in their eyes, the sheer wonder of spotting magnificent buildings in the town, even as they try to count the cars passing by.
It leaves me with a nice feeling. I think it is joy that they express in their faces. The joy of travelling. Because there is always an element of surprise in a new place, and I think they feel and experience that. It maybe no big deal for town dwellers, but it is for them, who can even count the number of vehicles visiting their villages in a year, and suddenly, they see hundreds of them swarming the road.
We must travel to learn and widen our thoughts. Especially young people must travel as much as they can, whenever they can. Because one can only have that youthful zest when we are young. We are also open to more ideas, and willing to learn when we are young. And also because, youth is fleeting and it is only once that we get to be young.
Travel. Not necessarily to big cities in the country, but to wherever you can. How wonderful that we can learn and enjoy each other’s culture, provided, we step out of our comfort zones; meet new people, learn new things, simply experience the joy of travelling.
We must travel because unless we do, we never know how blessed we are. We never know the random kindness of those people we call our own unless we venture out to feel and experience it. But above all, take chances to travel because there are some insights that only travelling can teach us.
