In one sense, I can say that I have expanded my awareness of the world. I've been to many 1st world countries with various governments, and I've been to a few developing countries. And by comparing these countries to how I currently live, I can now imagine a scenario where my living conditions could be better and more enjoyable in certain aspects, and at the same time, be grateful for the things I now have and enjoy.
Specifically, I think by traveling, you learn how people live. What do they eat every day? What do they do? How do they spend their free time? How do they interact with others? Maybe there is a term for this kind of knowledge, but since I don't know it, I'll just call it "knowledge you gain from traveling."
The term Renaissance Man came from the Renaissance Era where these men were knowledgeable in many different subjects: art, music, science, mathematics, philosophy, history, literature. I personally believe that if a person is well versed in these areas, they can become a more "effective" person -- someone who can contribute to the advancement of society, like Ataturk himself. And it's also my personal belief that the list of these subjects can be expanded even further in our times: movies, cooking, current events, financial planning, celebrity gossip, joke telling, dancing, computer programming, persuasive speech writing... the list can go on and on. And I feel like the knowledge you gain from traveling can definitely be one of those subjects.
Maybe there's no direct, practical application of this knowledge you gain from traveling, and the same could be said of many of these other subjects I've listed. But it certainly makes a person more well-rounded, and I feel like such person could handle certain jobs or dilemmas better than a person who isn't as well-rounded, all others being equal.
It'll take me some time to digest everything that I saw, felt, and learned. One thing for certain is that I need to travel more often. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't travel so much before, but it could be because I was too frugal with money, and the thought of spending a lot (on travel, lodging, food) simply discouraged further thinking and planning for traveling. I spent a lot of money on this trip (full report coming soon), and maybe this will make it easier for me to further spend on traveling, which I see as a good thing.
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1 comment:
Since we just had July 4th its always a time of reflection and celebration for our country for me. I have a huge appreciation for this land, at the same time i think to fully appreciate where you live you must learn of the history of other places and also travel to them. I don't think Millennials understand how great this country is since they've never learned/experienced other places.
I'm not a big traveler, but Olivia longs for traveling at a moments notice. I do think money does hold people back. Our 2nd Honeymoon to Italy for 10 days cost $8,200 (we basically went near 1st class all the way). You just can't skimp on a trip and miss out on trying something new, so its going to cost you. If I had more money we probably would take more trips, but a lot of our trips are to visit family which is even more important to me then seeing new places.
Hopefully someday you can take your family on a trip and welcome in the next T-Cha so that they can blog about meeting this cool Go Player.
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