Have Passport, Will Travel

I just got back from a trip to Portugal and I can't believe what a difference just five little days in Lisbon have made. I had not taken a proper vacation since 2011 and I was starting to feel it. Not because I was exhausted and needed a break (though that was part of it), but because my mind and senses had not been evoked in a very long time, at least not in the way that travel evokes them. Lily Tsay's quote, "to travel is to awaken." is very fitting to me right now because I have awoken once again. My travel bug was dormant. It seems that it is back and with full force. That's right, have passport, will travel.

I cannot even begin to explain the importance of travel, particularly international travel. I think it is so important for us, especially as Americans, to learn about the world. We tend to be very ethnocentric and while I think that our country is great, I also think that our way is not the only way. We have so much to learn from the world.

Now I know that traveling is not easy, I know that. Finding the time and money for it can be very challenging because it's not exactly a life necessity. Why do you think I hadn't been able to travel in so long? I also know that I have been incredibly blessed in my life to have had the opportunities to travel from a young age that not everybody has had. All I'm saying is that if you have the opportunity to travel, take it, take it immediately and if not you can still make it happen. In my eyes "travel is worth any cost or sacrifice," like Elizabeth Gilbert says and if that means scrubbing toilets after your day job to have extra money for travel then I will scrub toilets after my day job to have extra money for travel.

I love this TED talk that Rick Steves made a few years back. I am posting it because, a.) Who doesn't love Rick Steve's??? and b.) He eloquently describes what we gain from "thoughtful travel" as he calls it. I promise it is worth your time.

“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.” – Mark Twain

Until next time!

-Liz