Glamour, Romance, and Reality: Why I Would Recommend International Travel to Everyone
In May of last year, I left home chasing the thrill of travel; determined to discover what all the wanderlust fuss was about. I have since been through two continents and four countries, and despite feeling more than ready to be home by the end of it, I don't regret a moment of being gone, even the horrible-at-the-time bits. If there are a handful of things I could claim as an ideal result of getting up and going, these would be them.
I love Canada. Before I began exploring other countries, I did a four day train journey across my own, rolling all the way from the Pacific Ocean, through the Rockies, through the Prairies and back to Ontario. I've always loved Canada, and it's even easier to appreciate it once you've been elsewhere. It's so easy to take for granted the many freedoms and opportunities we have if it's all we've ever seen. Seeing how other people's worlds work is eye opening. There are many wonderful, amazing places in the world, and despite our culture of political modesty, Canada is one of them. Seeing other places doesn't make Canada seem less- it makes you see it the way a foreigner would. It has its own beauties, frustrations, hidden places, and interesting stories.
Being elsewhere gets you out of your element, which is a positive thing. Leaving familiarity and comfort behind, you get outside of yourself as well. It's easier to see yourself more clearly and take more chances and make more changes. When you leave behind the other voices, you start listening to your own. The confidence gained from expanding what you see yourself as capable of is enormous. Not only is the world a bit more interesting, but you get a sense of how small you are, too.
Feeling smaller, like being out of one's element, is also not a bad thing. Humility may be somewhat out of fashion as a virtue, but still very valuable. Knowing just how little you matter can almost be a refreshing perspective in a stressful life. Life will still go on no matter what happens to you, or anybody. Life can spin the wheel pretty quickly. It's much easier to take things in stride if you can acknowledge that very, very little is a true emergency. Through many small lessons, such as lost luggage, illness, missed flights, and credit card scares, I learned that if you or someone you love isn't hurt or dead, it's probably not as big a deal as you think it is, and can be fixed all the easier for a level head and a bit of patience.
Was traveling for seventeen weeks solid stressful? Enormously. I lost my luggage, was seriously ill for a fortnight, missed two flights, and basically had a low level hum of angst for about a month solid. In hindsight, still worth it. I learned more about myself than I knew was there, met people, did things many people never will. Right now, if you're from North America, you can. You can do and see things. You can go places and meet people and do things and have a dance off and try local beers and buy tacky and beautiful keepsakes and make memories. That is where the glamour and romance DO come in. That there are gifts you gain and lessons you learn that, from what I see from those I've met and in myself, aren't easily lost. It doesn't have to be a massive multi-continent four month haul, but nor can it be Disneyland. Nothing against Disneyland itself; vacations are wonderful, but having an adventure is something quite different, and brings with it a different set of rewards and a different sense of accomplishment.
Africa floored me. For the last few weeks that I shamefully ignored my blog, correspondents, and occasionally email, I filled my time with work, food, wine, day trips, and trying to rack up any experience I could. I've been on a shark cage dive, seeing Great Whites from less than two feet away. I may have spent most of the onboard time heaving up over the side, but really, that adds to the charm of my experience, I think. I've twice visited the famous Mzoli's Meat Shop (Google it), the second time engaging in a Cider-and-Fedora-fuelled dance off, complete with circle of hooting students and D.J. I've weaved my way around the Stellenbosch and Constantia wine regions, for work "research". I did a long weekend tour down the marvelous Garden Route Cape Drive, visiting cheetahs, elephants, and a Big Five Game Reserve along the way. I've met Germans, Americans, British, Swiss, and even a handful of fellow Canadians, as well as numerous South Africans, who I have crossed paths with during my time here, journeying or partying or working together. International travel isn't just about the country you visit- it's about the roads you take and the paths you cross with others. Any adventure can make your life bigger, and that will expand who you are and what you think yourself capable of. Why would you NOT want that?
