Travel is healing, travel is about exploring new places but also ourselves, travel is the best way to shake things up when things are stale or stressed.
I recently just got back from Italy; Rome, Tuscany and Positano. My first time to Italy and my first big trip in about a year and half!
Italy is ITALY! Warm, friendly, a food lover’s paradise, a wine lover’s dream and a cultural mecca.
Here are four amazing reasons to travel that you might not have considered before…
Expands our awareness and minds
I have such a curiosity around how people in other cultures live their day to day. While visiting Tuscany we were so lucky to book an excursion with a large family just outside of Florence. In their villa and 20 acres, they make olive oil, red wine and hunt for truffles. The grandfather and grandson took us hunting for truffles up the hill with their dog Fifi (the grandfather has been a licensed truffle hunter for 50 years), while the matriarchs (mother and grandmother) of the family prepared our lunch which was beyond delicious! The father gave us a tour of their very tiny wine and olive oil operation- tiny as opposed to the mass produced giants you might find in Napa. It was lovely and they were lovely, it was interesting to witness how they interacted with each other and you can feel the history of land under your feet.
Invites us to get lost for a second and face the unknown
I arrived in Rome alone and would be for three days. I have traveled alone before, but it’s been a very long time. I have to admit, I was nervous. I don’t speak but two or three words of Italian and had no real set plans but to wander. I realize that energy could also be called Excitement, it’s the same frequency! I took on my three days as an adventure and had an amazing time—clocking in Rome with about 60,000 steps or 30 miles. I witnessed, I people watched a ton, I learned, I conquered and by the time the rest of the crew arrived, I knew my way around town pretty good!
Gives us time to heal, de-stress and regain enthusiasm for life
One of the people in my travel crew was so deeply affected by this trip, since then he’s noticing things that don’t make sense about his life, he’s now making huge changes. Travel takes you outside of yourself, outside of your life for just a blip of time so you can see clearly again. And inside of that, new ideas and new awareness occur.
It helps our flow in life
We tend to do the same things every day, we drive the same route to work, we grab our morning coffee at the same place, we even wear our watch on the same wrist or put our shoes on in the same order. For the most part, we are so routine. Travel puts a big stop sign on most of those things. Travel shakes things up. Travel interrupts the brain, stokes curiosity and awakens our inner child. Travel helps the flow in our body and in our life and can also break habits that don’t serve us any longer.
Travel is a necessity and even if you don’t have the money or time to travel internationally, jump in the car and take a road trip or explore a different neighborhood you’ve never been to, get out of the normal, routine of life just for a second and give yourself a priceless gift that keeps giving.
