Why Smart, Budget Travel isn’t Selfish-And What it Has to Do with Empathy (Part 1)

Oh 2020-what a year. Don’t you just wish you could go on vacation somewhere exotic where coronavirus doesn’t exist and everyone is kind and things are just peaceful?

My husband and I had plans to visit Spain this year. But of course, the global pandemic had other plans for us. We’re sad we didn’t get to go, and we tried to find other ways to celebrate our would-be vacation. While we still have hopes of going eventually, we have no idea when that “eventual” day will come.

So maybe a typical vacation isn’t a possibility this year. But my guess is, if you’re like most people, you spend a lot more time daydreaming about travel than actually planning and taking those trips-even during normal, non-pandemic seasons of life.

In fact, Americans in general tend to have a problem with this compared to other countries. We’re half as likely as Europeans to travel to more than one country, and about a third of adults in the U.S. have never left the country. The primary reason we give for this? Concerns about money. Which is valid-however, not as valid as you might think. There are definitely ways for many people to get around the issue of expense when it comes to travel (more on this in part 2).

But first, let’s talk about why travel is more than just a fun getaway. Yes, it is fun. Really fun. But there are actually important benefits to taking trips that go far beyond the superficial.

7 good reasons you should take that dream vacation

These factors shape who you are, help you experience a richer, fuller life, and help you learn to connect with people better. Let’s dive into some specifics:

Creativity

Artists and writers often enjoy seeing the world for inspiration-and for good reason, too. Travel increases cognitive flexibility, but the catch is that one must engage with and immerse themselves in the new culture and be challenged to adapt. This boost in neuroplasticity is more likely to occur if you are living among the people doing what they do, rather than the typical “vacation” consisting only of tourist sites, nice hotels, and relaxing. While it is difficult to get a real picture of a culture when you only have a week or two to spend there, however you’ll get more or less of the idea depending on how and where you choose to spend your experience.

Intelligence

Travel can be a great workout for your brain. Being challenged to navigate streets that wind so differently from the U.S., and figuring out unexpected conundrums-like getting lost in a strange country with no WiFi-force you find solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. It’s also educational, in a way that’s more impactful than a regular history class. You learn all the legends and stories behind the sites you see, and you learn the culture that leads the people to behave the way they do.

Additionally, learning a new language-or even a partial language-can do a lot to improve your brain function. For instance, did you know that multi-tasking comes more easily for bilinguals than monolinguals? So does memory, reasoning, planning, and analyzing.

Physical health

Turns out, travel can have some pretty significant physical benefits, as well. Besides the more obvious gains of exercise from walking around, more and quality sleep, and plenty of sunshine, taking a vacation has also proven to lower risks of heart attack and improve brain health.

Mental and emotional health

Unsurprisingly, taking a getaway has proven to reduce stress, depression, and anxiety. In fact, these effects extend beyond the trip itself to linger even when you go back to work-boosting motivation and productivity for several weeks afterward.

Even the simple anticipation of planning a trip alone gives a happiness jolt. We “experience” glimpses of the trip in our minds as we imagine it and prepare for it. We need to have things to look forward to, and planning a trip is a great way to do that. So, even if you’re not ready to book actual flight or hotel dates, it wouldn’t hurt to start planning for your next destinations and activities. It may be just the thing to lift your spirits and help you through the drudgery that has been 2020.

Makes you adventurous

Travel forces you to try new things and take on challenges, expanding your horizons and your adventurous spirit. As a bonus, these adventures make you an exciting person to talk to. You’ll always have interesting or funny stories to tell.

When Kade (my husband) and I were in Italy, we had planned to stop in this tiny town outside of Turin called Prarostino. He had some ancestors who lived and were buried there, so we wanted to check out the cemeteries and see if we could find them. We also realized what a lovely little town Prarostino was. It’s definitely not a tourist city. It was quaint, and the few little shops seemed to have been there for ages.

Kade had found on Google a highly rated restaurant nearby, so we decided to go there for lunch. Our maps navigated us through a seemingly endless, narrow, windy road up a mountain. We kept questioning if we were truly on the right track, or if we were, in fact, lost.

Finally, we reached our destination-and there really was a cute little restaurant up there on the mountain! It felt as though everyone stared as we walked in. I’m not sure what it was about our faces (maybe we looked lost?), but they could tell we weren’t from around town. It seemed the diners were shocked to see tourists in their tiny, undisturbed community.

Unlike other places we had visited throughout the country, no one spoke a word of English here (thank goodness Kade had been learning Italian). And the food was divine! Probably our favorite meal of our entire trip through Italy and France. Kade told the owner that the pasta and gelato were the best he’d ever tasted, and she brightened up and smiled so big. It seemed he had just made her day. And she had made ours, too.

It’s these little, fun stories that help you learn the real culture of a place and experience some exciting adventures.

In addition to the adventures, travel helps you appreciate what you have at home. It gives you a fresh perspective on your “boring” life, so when you come home, though you’re sad the fun of the trip is over, you can still breathe that sigh of relief that you’re comfortable at home once again. And over the next weeks, you’ll notice and appreciate the things that make your home a good place to live.

Communication skills

Travel allows you to connect with new people you never would have otherwise. You have to communicate with them, despite language and cultural barriers, and so your brain finds unique strategies to do so. Meeting good, kind people all over the world also increases “generalized trust,” which essentially means your faith in humanity. It helps you see that people can be wonderful and enjoyable to interact with, no matter what walks of life they’ve come from.

Empathy

And finally, empathy. This is a big one. Did you know people who stereotype others actually lack creativity? Travel is one way to question and obliterate personal bias, and consequently, also improves your creativity. It’s also been shown to improve empathy, attention, energy, and focus.

If you’ve seen this Facebook post that’s been floating around recently, you might have additional insight into how travel might help one develop more empathy. It talks about how there’s some evidence that the population density you live in or grew up in actually has quite an effect on political views (read the post to understand how).

The majority of Americans never go far from home when they grow up, thus keeping many of the same viewpoints their entire lives-and rendered almost entirely unable to see the other point of view as anything other than ridiculous. We don’t like to question our beliefs or think outside the box we’re used to. So getting out of our comfort zones and living in and learning about places vastly different from the places you’re used to is critical to helping you understand other ways of thinking.

Mark Twain once wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

To really start to get ourselves in a place where we can start empathizing with other points of view, even opposing ones, we have to travel. But not the way we’re used to traveling-staying inside the bubble we’re accustomed to, visiting only comfy hotels and tourist sites. Instead, we need to deliberately get out of our comfort zones. Learn how the locals really live, not just the tourists coming to spend the holiday.

And, as it turns out, this way of traveling tends to lend itself to a more inexpensive experience, as well (which, again, is the number one excuse for not traveling). So you get a fuller experience for less money-sounds like a win-win to me!

Stay tuned for part 2 to learn our tips for traveling on a budget-and for how to still enjoy “vacationing” during a pandemic.

Originally published at https://tiffanyparkwriting.com on September 26, 2020.