REASONS WHY I LOVE TO TRAVEL

Whenever I get the opportunity I pack my bags and leave. I go alone if I have to. I do not do it for anyone else or for pictures on facebook ( though I love sharing my travel experiences ) or luxury or cause travel sites and blogs are urging me to or cause it sounds cool.

I do it because:

Be alone and JUST BE.

Be alone with myself and my thoughts. It’s at these times when I can really hear myself and block all the noise out. To eat alone and enjoy the meal too. Love and accept myself despite all my imperfections. To enjoy my own company. Traveling brings out facets of me I don't even know exist. It makes me so much more accepting, giving and adventurous. 

Value Time.

In a one day stop-over at Helsinki, Finland, I did not waste a single moment and was out there exploring the beautiful city on foot as I had just one day there. It makes me value time and realize that a day is just not 1 day but 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.

Faith.

Traveling builds my faith like nothing else. I realize even the worst of situations turn out all right and that everything will be FINE.

Feel Free.

Its when I am out exploring a new place, meeting new people, seeing new things, gaining new experiences I feel free and not bounded by pressures that everyday life can bring with it. Being in a foreign land with strangers that all guards are let down. No judging happens. The ease with which all this comes during traveling gives me a taste of it and then bring it back with me in my everyday life, imbibe it and make it a part of me, gradually.

Dreamy.

As funny as it sounds traveling brings out a side of me I didn’t know existed. It makes me dreamy, love life and everything that comes with it.

Discover.

It is a big fat beautiful world and I want to see as much of it as possible in this life on my feet with my own eyes. I would like to visit every country taste every cuisine meet people from all cultures before I die.

Meet new people.

Meeting new people with different experiences gives me a whole new perspective to life and how things can be seen.

Learn.

Because I learn more when I am out of a cubicle than in it.  9 years of work experience did not give me as much exposure, learning and acceptance that a year of traveling did.

Gain experiences and build memories.

While all the information I can imagine is available on the Google, my experiences cannot be built by the worldwide web. Stories for children and grandchildren do not come from what I read on Google. Because at 80 or maybe even 90 I want to look back and say YES I had a wonderful life and I saw the world through my own eyes and not a computer or an android.

Be in the present.

To be in the moment and not be lost in my thoughts of past or worries of future. To just BE which is so much of a happier and content space.

Decrease materialism.

While backpacking for 3 months I realized how I need so much less to live on and still be the happiest I have ever been. It made me less materialistic and I do not try to find happiness in things or shopping or that one pretty dress. While I am still drawn to that one pretty dress in my favorite ZARA I know I can travel to a new place and explore a new part of the earth than just another piece of clothing in my wardrobe.

Accept the unexpected.

To go with the flow as the best experiences in life are unplanned and not scheduled. They just happen. And accept things and be patient when things are not going as planned.

Adventure.

To be adventurous and have fun and enjoy this so called journey of life.

Miss family and friends.

I leave to miss the most important things in life. To appreciate the otherwise mundane routine. To miss my bed and my pillow. To realize what is all that I love and miss most about home.

These are my reasons. What are yours?