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Benefits of traveling: what do I get from it?

May 23, 2020 / 19 Comments

Please do not travel until it's 100% safe!

All travel articles and restaurant reviews in this blog are here to inspire you on your future plans, but please DO NOT LEAVE HOME UNTIL IT'S TOTALLY SAFE! We all are excited to go out and have fun, but let's keep "safety" our number one priority. Stay healthy!

If I could give advice to my younger self, I’d say “go travel more”. And I would be saying the same to every kid who dreams and to anyone who asks. When I say go travel more, I don’t mean go spend your money any way you want to. I mean take trips and get something more substantial from it. What do I get from traveling? Well, aside from an empty wallet, traveling shows me more opportunities that I could ever imagine and I’m sure I will be updating this article as I go further my travel journey. Here’s a list of benefits of traveling I realized through years of experience.

Documented memories

I always believed that greatest and sweetest memories are not always captured by cameras. Though I love taking pictures, to be honest, I don’t have complete photos of the beautiful things I encounter in every trip I’ve been to, or during some of the exciting moments in my life. Sometimes, I just like “living in the moment” and spend those few precious minutes appreciating them myself. 

Still, I try my best to document my life not just in pictures but in writing as well. And these memories are one of the treasures I get from traveling. Sharing to you below my ways of documenting my trips and adventures or view my gallery on VSCO: Dailies 2020.

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Real-life education

I love reading books, watching documentaries, reading studies. Compared to other travelers, my experience is just little. But through out those years I realized there’s more beyond those and what really teaches me is my travel experience.

While traveling, I meet new people, I hear new music, I learn new languages, I taste new food, and I appreciate my own life more. Remember when you cried watching a documentary about less-fortunate people? Expect more tears when you meet them in person, and take the chance to help them in your little ways.

I am a graduate of a four-year course in a well-known university and in the Philippines, it is already a big deal. Yes, you can continue earning college and post-graduate degrees to make your resume more attractive. But I have nothing except for one college diploma and loooots of experiences in traveling around PH, which molded me into the hard-working, fast-learning, people and family-oriented person that I am now.

 

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Understanding myself more

To be honest, traveling takes me out of my comfort zone. I’m just adventurous enough to get out of my house and explore new places, but my ideal “relaxing” day would be watching Netflix with Mnemo while enjoying sinful foods and coffee (or maybe soda) on my bed in an air-conditioned room. But going out excites me more and makes me feel like every trip, near Manila or far, gets me these benefits of traveling.

Some people think I can adapt to lifestyle change so quickly, but no. I like experiencing different lifestyles, but I’m already contented (pretty much, because I still have dreams, you know) with the one I am living right now. As they say, “flexibility is key” and they’re totally right. And guess what – another benefit of traveling is making you more flexible than you could imagine!

Change is constant, and traveling forces me to deal with that challenge. Well, not “force” technically, because I chose to travel. Traveling TEACHES (better term!) me to adapt to changed whenever I want to. What have I learned from my travels that I can actually apply in my current life so far? I learned to be more organized, thanks to my planned itineraries and packing bags! I learned how to set up a stove and cook. I learned first-aid stuff. I learned to communicate with people better. 

Walking, hiking, running also tested and improved my strength. I remember how I struggled to breathe when I climbed my first mountains. Funny because one of my first hikes was a trio and I almost gave up. But I survived and completed it! Now I’m not afraid mountain and rock climbing anymore. In fact, I climbed up a rock with my Banana Peel on and I am soooo proud!

More inspirations

Learning more from other places and other people makes me appreciate my life more. I was not born rich, but my family eats three times (sometimes more) a day and we can afford small luxuries as pay for our hard work.

When I was a kid, I didn’t know what I would want to be when I grow up, but I liked playing “classrooms” with my dolls, playing “butcher” and sell meat (in my case, decks of cards from my dad’s collections), I also liked playing”jeepney driver” and “kundoktor” passing play-pennies and money around the living room. I also liked coloring printed cartoon characters, playing smart with Sudoku, and other puzzle games.

I’ve met a lot of people while traveling, and I’m friends with a few of them until now. But what touched me the most is when I first experienced an outreach to native people in the mountains. For the first time, I traveled not to explore beautiful places but for another deeper reason – HELPING OTHER PEOPLE. I didn’t know one benefit of traveling could be helping the people in need. We gave them used clothes, we cooked for them for one afternoon meryenda, and gave gifts to the kids at school. When I saw them smile at me, I thought this is what I want to do whenever I get a chance: MAKE PEOPLE SMILE.

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