No Single Definition of Travel
Experiencing a new culture, participating in a service project, laying by the beach, and exploring a new city... All of these are greatly differing experiences that can fall under the category of “travel”. To people around the world, the word “travel” can take on a wide variety of meanings.
A question to consider: Is there a common theme among your travel experiences, or can you identify something unique about each trip you take?
Travel in My Mind
My personal definition of travel: Being immersed in the experiences and the unique culture specific to the place being visited. It is an opportunity to explore the unfamiliar and to learn about the world, as well as ourselves. Each place takes a little bit of our heart, and adds to our own story.
How I Got Inspired to Travel More
All my life I would say that I had some degree of aspiration to travel the world. Although there was a defining point when I knew that I wanted to incorporate travel into my life every chance I got. My junior year of high school, I participated in a service project through Courts for Kids, a non-profit organization that works with communities around the globe to build personalized sports courts. On my trip, I realized that building a court held a significance greater than just a place to play with basketballs. It served as a place that united the community and connected everyone who was a part of the process. My trip to Nicaragua gave me an opportunity to experience a different purpose for travel. Despite language barriers, our team formed a really strong connection with and knowledge about the community through shared work on the court. The contrasting aspects of their unique lifestyle to my own caused me to expand my perspective of the world and develop a curiosity for what future travel experiences could offer.
As another source of inspiration, world travelers that I subscribe to continue to ignite my curiosity and my craving to explore. Vagabrothers in particular is a YouTube channel of two seasoned travelers that sparked my interest. They share a range of videos from how and why they travel, to incredibly vivid video documentations.
Upcoming Travel
In my young life I have accomplished personally valuable but simultaneously minimal travel beyond the states. Though my aspirations currently exceed experience, these next few years (and hopefully many years beyond) will be filled with tons of travel, whether this be studying abroad in college or my own personal travel projects.
I recently planned and executed my own travel project of visiting the Canadian Rockies.
Coming up in Winter 2019 I am lucky to have a very exciting opportunity of travelling with my best friend and her family... stayed tuned for two weeks and three countries of Europe adventures.
Thoughts for you
Travel and the idea of future travel has become an integral part of my life. I encourage you to plan one trip, big or small, that is unlike any trip you have taken before. Discover how you define travel.
