What are your reasons to travel? Great destinations, chance to unplug, family travel or great travel destinations? There are so many more reasons to travel.
People ask us all the time why we travel to our chosen destination. My response is almost always – why not? Every destination has a reason to travel there, which made me question why travel in general. I couldn’t believe how many reasons to travel I came up with. Even more unbelievable to me, was how many of those reasons for travel were tied back to lessons Papa Joe and I have learned through this amazing 10-year journey.
Let’s explore the reasons to travel
Victoria Falls, London, Paris—yep, all those travel destinations have called to me most of my life. But there are many more areas in the world that also call me, and likely call you too. Now, I’m not going to lie. Travel, while exciting, can also be tiring, challenging, and let’s face it, expensive. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to set a goal, figure out the logical steps to meet the goal, and stay focused.
COVID scared some away from the idea of traveling, but believe me, it is time to travel again. And you can do it safely!
My early dreams of travel are likely not the same as yours
You probably have different incentives for travel and different travel destinations in mind. But the motivation for the why and the travel lessons we learn along the way are often much the same. So, let’s dive in and see how many reasons for travel we can come up with.
Reason number 1: Unplug
The opportunity to go and do something—anything—you wouldn’t do at home. Often, travel includes the goal to unplug from our everyday lives.
Travel doesn’t have to be exotic to unplug from the daily grind. Papa Joe and I frequently camp in our RV during the spring, summer, and fall months. Often, our destinations are less than thirty minutes from home. But every destination is an opportunity to unplug—no yard work, a different view of the neighbors, and a chance to feel nature. All of which to me equals a successful unplugging.
Relaxing and allowing myself to unplug was one of the more difficult travel lessons I have learned. Regardless, unplugging is a great reason to travel.
Number 2: Inspire and motivate your children
My first travel experiences were the twelve-hour road trips to my grandparents for the holidays, soon followed by RV travel with those same grandparents across the country. I have vivid memories of those trips and learned many travel lessons along the way. Unfortunately, I was not in a position, or knowledgeable enough, to make those things happen for my children.
I can do that now for my grandchildren and hope to teach my kids along the way. Learn from my hard-won family travel lessons. I was lucky enough to have lived in an area where simple escapes were possible, but I failed to have the vision to see them.
Figure out your travel vision
Talk to your kids. Find out what interests them. Learn what inspires and motivates them. My kids are both animal lovers. We had a small zoo in our hometown, and I could have taken the three of us there for under thirty dollars at the time. But I didn’t and I will regret that until the day I die – I missed that opportunity for family travel.
My failure to include them and failure to act on what I knew were their interests has resulted in two adults who have an insular view of the world. Papa Joe calls it “the hood view”. Whatever.
They are becoming more adventurous with travel destination decisions, but it has taken several decades to get them to this point.
Papa Joe had the vision to travel with his children
Papa Joe started his family vacation escapades in a small RV before his last child was born. His kids grew up not fearing the world and are eager to meet its challenges. They are more understanding of how the small pieces of this magnificent world work together.
The grandchildren in these families look forward to that twenty-four-hour cross-country road trip to their travel destination because Mom doesn’t like to fly. They know the reward at the end of the trial. And let’s face it, their pop is a pretty good pop, so the trip is comfy for the kids. Grandchildren from my kids—well they’re starting to stretch their travel choices and have graduated to three-hour road trips. Progress is progress.
The moral of this point—start your kids out early. Feed their imaginations. Show them this beautiful world that exists outside their city block or fenced yard. Challenge them to grow. My parents and grandparents did; Papa Joe did. Believe me—you won’t regret making your kids’ mental wheels turn.
There are lots of life lessons in this one besides travel, but I will let you take it from there.
Number 3 of my reasons to travel: the world is big. Really big
Don’t freak out, but our third item is going to stretch you a little farther. We have family who may never travel more than one hundred miles from home and never truly see anything different in the world. And never gain that sense that we are all cogs in this huge world of humanity.
I could be wrong, but I’m going to insist international travel helps folks gain that perspective. Grow a pair, and see something new. There is nothing wrong with realizing what happens in our small community is pretty insignificant when compared with global warming, genocide in various nations, or human trafficking. Sure, none of these things are pretty, but there is also nothing wrong with realizing the world is bigger than the 20 people we know on our city block.
Be creative with your travel destinations, get the family out traveling. You will be amazed at how their (and your) perspective of the world changes with learning these easy travel lessons. I mean, who knows what you will find during your travels. Papa Joe and I have had some pretty great travel surprises during our travel escapades.
Number 4 of my reasons to travel
Can I say this reason is my favorite?
Food. We eat differently when on vacation. You know the saying—when in Rome, do as the Romans do? In Italy, try Italian food; France requires French cuisine. Both require wine and cheese. And there has to be a plug here for Hungarian honey and chocolate. And for Belize, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic, coffee samples are a must. German and Austrian beer is not the same as we get in the United States. And when in the Ozarks, we had to try the local barbecue.
Experiencing food is such a big thing to the Travel Junkie family I wrote a full Travel for Foodies story. Here is a specific example of how food affects our travels.
We cook differently when traveling by RV
Our favorite RV travel meal is smoked ribs with grilled potato and vegetable mix with a frosty beverage. We could have exactly the same meal at home, but it tastes so much better after being outdoors all day. Let your taste buds explore the world.
You can even try the same food as you would eat at home, and it tastes so different—almost unbelievably different.
Most of us know there are hundreds of flavors of cheese, but who knew honey tasted different? It makes sense when you think about it. Honey comes from bees, (of course, you know that) and their construction tools for honey vary based on the flowers available to them. Honey collected in the Midwest is based on grains and temperate-climate flowers.
My favorite honey collected in Hungary has the flavor palate of acacia flowers, which are not a Midwest honey tool. Light on the palate with a slightly sweet and lightly floral finish—it’s amazing!
Introducing international food in a fun way
One year for Christmas we gave our adult children gift baskets of foods Papa Joe and I enjoy from around the world. The baskets contained wine, beer, lager or whiskey (depending on the person’s palate), coffee, chocolate, barbecue sauce, honey, and stories about the experiences tied to each item.
I thought our kids would think it was cheesy (like the pun?). In reality, they liked knowing how the things that appear on their dining table every day are tied to the world they wanted to explore.
I like to think it helped them to think more about where they would want to go. Someday… This feels like a family travel lesson in progress – but I’m ok with that.
Ah, Number 5: Living History
Who says you have to travel to a far-away destination to experience history? Less than a three-hour drive from our home, we have a national monument consisting of Indian burial mounds—lots of history packed there. Literally.
The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are close to our home base—so much American history centers on both these rivers. Just look around—it’s likely there is something of historical significance accessible to you on a weekend getaway. Be a little creative with your travel destination, you might be surprised at what you find. Both these examples ended up being great RV travel escapes for us – what will your imagination bring you?
Let’s take that idea a step further,
We have been blessed to visit places where human cruelty and bravery stand side by side. History does repeat itself. The only way to break that cycle is to learn where humankind has royally messed up and then not do it again. Dachau, Regensburg, Budapest, and the Dominican Republic. Oklahoma.
You don’t have to go far to witness the lessons.
Do you ever think about how what you do today will go down in the history books? You just may be surprised at what generations from now will think of us. Of all the reasons to travel, I firmly believe this is the most important one to share with your children or loved ones, or just share history’s lessons in general.
Here is another spin on history for reasons to travel Number 6
How often have you heard it said that one person can’t make a difference? Shoot, I know I’ve said it – I think many of us have. How does this tie to history? If you have visited Washington DC, Rome, Munich – hundreds of places across the world, you have seen examples of a single person making a monumental impact.
I am going to be politically correct and use Washington DC as my travel destination example. With so many national monuments, finding an example where one person made a difference is pretty easy. Abraham Lincoln Memorial – depending on which side of the controversy you are on, the Civil War and ending slavery are both pretty significant.
How about the Martin Luther King monument? He inspired an entire generation and continues to inspire the generations that followed. He had a dream – and so do I. Let’s learn from these incredible individuals and use their life lessons to help guide our own lives.
Washington DC is absolutely dotted with examples of individuals who made changes that affected millions of people – both at the time and a ripple effect for generations after them.
It is much easier to pump a child up and spark their imagination when they see real-life examples that show them that they can make a difference. How is that for a reason to add family travel into your future?
Local stories are #7 of my reasons to travel
I love to read – that won’t surprise many of you. But, what if you can hear the story first hand instead of reading it in the newspaper or history book? Priceless.
It may seem a bit abstract but stick with me here. Visiting an area using local guides should follow naturally after history—of course! Who better to teach you about local history? What could beat the farmer’s daughter hosting the Austrian beer-tasting event, the Hungarian girl talking about her childhood under Communist rule, or the Austrian guide taking you to Hell? What! Yep, that’s the name of an alley in Passau that is so low it is often flooded by the Danube.
Those are just a few examples of travel destinations that have given us the opportunity to hear about first-hand experiences. What would that be worth to you?
Look at local guides from other perspectives
Papa Joe and I have wandered through many national parks, national monuments, state parks, etc. We’ve learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. But the experience we get with a local guide enhances those experiences multifold. We have several examples in our Ukraine, Saint Lucia, and Costa Rica stories.
Most guides are proud to share their region’s history and the little-known nooks and crannies. They are genuinely happy to share with you and appreciate having an interested audience. This means, for the minimal fee that may be involved, the benefits you gain usually far outweigh the costs.
How does all of this improve your life?
Many of these reasons intertwine with one another. Learning about a travel destination, an event, or a group of people helps us to be more open-minded, more appreciative of the sacrifices of those who lived before us, and hopefully more understanding and patient with things we are unfamiliar with. More on that later.
Reason to travel Number 7: Creating memories
I love this one! Ever go on a trip and something just sticks in your memory, like a song that plays over and over in your head? I can still hear our cruise director talking about “our fellow Gullveig-ers” in her charming Welsh accent. It brings back a pleasant memory each time. And our classmate chanting “Ben-a-Dic-toe” at the Vatican? Or hearing my 7-year old nephew insist he found dinosaurs on our Smoky Mountain rental property? Memories, memories, memories!!!
How about the smile on your children’s faces when they see farm animals at the county fair? Or watching their eyes light up when they get to tell someone about their trip? Family travel can be challenging at best, but oh so rewarding!
I tell you, friends, the memories last forever. Especially if you share them with loved ones. Family is crazy important to me, and seeing their reactions, being able to share with them, and instilling that curiosity are priceless!
And on that note, we get to the ninth way travel improves lives.
Number 8: Meeting new friends.
Travel can be comfortable or it can allow you to stretch your comfort zones and create opportunities to meet new people. On a Viking River Cruise, we had the opportunity to dine with a physicist, a world-renowned musician, a NASA engineer, and many other exciting individuals with rich life adventures to share. I’m sure we were the boring folks on the boat.
At Mesa Verde National Park, our park ranger’s in-laws lived in my hometown—you know, that small town more than two thousand miles away with fewer than three thousand inhabitants. Talk about random encounters at random travel destinations. Believe me – it happens!
You may meet an old neighbor or a new friend.
The underlying question is—who will you meet on your travels? What will you learn from them? Other memorable folks were our “valet” in the Dominican Republic, who was happy to talk about his family life and how work at the resort impacted his ability to see his children.
Or Gino in Costa Rica who shared his family and a magnificent meal with us. Or the family of three who accompanied us on the two-hour journey from Búzios to Rio de Janeiro. They didn’t speak a word of English, and we didn’t speak much more Portuguese than that, but we all tried and had a phenomenal day sharing Christ Redeemer and Sugarloaf.
All were incredible experiences!
What is the biggest thing we learned from our new friends?
People want love and acceptance. They care about their families—young and old are treasured. We all desire human contact. At the core, we really are all the same. That reminder is a great reason to travel.
Next reason to travel: Fulfilling a dream
Did you have any dreams as a child—something you wanted to hear, see, experience, or learn about?
Of course, you did; I did too. I talked about it a bit at the beginning of this story. In my early fifties, I’ve checked most of my dreams off my bucket list. Vienna was my ultimate travel destination bucket list item and now I’ve been twice.
Now I just need to set a new item on the bucket list—which to me is like Christmas every day. Your dreams could include buildings—like Westminster Abbey, or occasions—like hearing a Mozart concert performed in Vienna or touching history—like standing in the Forum in Rome.
Who gets to say they’ve fulfilled their childhood dreams? And feel the success in being able to achieve that dream?
I’m not going to lie.
Saying you have a dream and being able to achieve it is usually not an easy thing to do. Sure, if you set small goals, getting there may be easier. But I am talking about a dream. One of those things that you think you will never be able to do. And maybe you won’t—but what is the next best thing? That’s the dream I’m talking about.
Ever set a goal and meet it? It could be an easy or a massive goal. It could be saving an extra twenty dollars a month to either go see a movie each month or take a week-long vacation to the Bahamas. The point is, when you meet that goal, the feeling is incredible. Success! And that feeling, folks, is something nobody can ever take away from you.
You own that success.
Another life lesson all wrapped up in a pretty little travel bow, but no less true either way.
Reason to travel Number 10: Overcoming challenges.
How is that for travel lessons being relative to life lessons? This one is my challenge to each of you.
Try something you never thought you could do. UNESCO World Heritage sites have been an excellent example for us. On the romantic Danube River cruise, we visited several UNESCO sites—we were able to touch a piece of the Roman wall in Regensburg. How many times in a lifetime can you say that? This year in December our hotel in Panama City was in a UNESCO World Heritage region, and the entire area was incredible. What a way to select your travel destination!
Can you imagine the feeling that comes with knowing you experienced something that is culturally important? If not, go back up to reason # 9.
Are you an animal lover?
For me, it’s Lipizzaner horses. Many of you will say, huh? But for those who know this usually all-white breed of acrobatic, athletic horses bred by the Hapsburg family of Vienna, you’ll recognize how special the opportunity to see them perform was. Getting to watch them in a practice session was even more incredible.
Others of you will say it’s a male lion surveying his territory on the African savanna. Or maybe it’s spotting an alligator from an airboat. There is just something about seeing critters that we can’t see at home that just calls to us.
Would your life be complete without these experiences?
First, let me share another example. I am terrified of heights. The thought of getting on a zipline on a small cable was terrifying. So was the thought of getting in a small airplane. In both examples, I imagined myself dropping to the ground and being buried in a closed casket. Neither happened and now both are the first things I look for at my destination.
Without doing that thing you never thought you would do? Sure, you would probably get along just fine. But, the success in planning the experience, making it happen, savoring it, and sharing it with a loved one—those successes bring value to our lives. Those successes help fill those things in us that make us feel complete. Having these successes under your belt helps us deal with things when life’s challenges get rough – because you NOW have that sense that you can succeed…
What great examples to share with your kids or a friend who is trying to figure it out. Learning life’s lessons through travel. I love it!
My moment of sharing
I used to be painfully shy. I was challenged by my father to look outside myself. When I got that feeling of anxiety, he told me to look for something that challenged me. Learning about places and people became that “something” for me. Sure, I’m still shy. I never know what to say – that is Papa Joe’s job. But ask me about a UNESCO site or a Lipizzaner, and I can ramble for hours.
Imagine what overcoming your challenge could mean to you? How is that for a reason to travel? For me, finding something I am passionate about has helped me overcome that anxiety. What life lesson will travel teach you?
Number 11: Ready – set – go.
Hang on, because this one’s a little heavy. Major travel lessons here. The third benefit, you know, is the one that encouraged global thinking… I started to set the stage for this one earlier, but I want to dive way deeper. Here we go.
Papa Joe and I really enjoy watching the local news at our travel destination. It is amazing how differently a particular story is covered in a foreign country than it is at home.
Here is one example. During our last river cruise, we had the opportunity to listen to world news from our comfortable vantage point in Ukraine. During the trip, a highway bridge in Genoa, Italy, collapsed, leaving more than thirty people dead. Available television stations on the boat covered the story extensively, though it was far away from Ukraine. When we returned home to the United States, news stories of the bridge collapse were few and far between. This was quite a demonstration of our reasons to travel – in real life, in real-time.
This isn’t a dissertation on how the United States covers the news.
It’s a demonstration of how the same event is covered and portrayed differently across the world. Viewing an event from varied perspectives reminds me every time there is usually more than one side to any story. There’s more than one way to view the world. It has helped me to be less judgmental. To think about what else could be involved that I don’t know about. It’s helped me to remember that we almost never know the entire story.
Many places in the world are very different from how news outlets and social media portray them. Here is an easy example—Paris is stereotyped as being snobbish and rude. But this isn’t my experience in Paris at all. The full story is in the Fun Things I’ve Learned Traveling story. Seriously, the story is worth checking out…
In other words, my travel lessons have helped me develop a more global view. That global view ultimately has helped me to be more open-minded about my everyday world. I think that’s a pretty good thing.
Not all reasons to travel are complicated.
How are these for a couple of simple ones?
- Give the kids a break from school – they will agree this is one of the best reasons to travel. Family travel can be cool!
- Let the kids travel with their cousins – develop family ties that last a lifetime
- Travel to reconnect with loved ones you haven’t seen for a while. You know, there is the old adage about seeing loved ones at weddings and funerals. It doesn’t have to be that way. Take advantage of the opportunity and spend a holiday with your pops. It might be the time of your life!
- Spend time with your kids to learn who they are – pretty great travel lessons to be gained here
- Use that time with your kids to strengthen your relationship. You will be glad you spent the time when they become teenagers. Want more information on planning family vacations? This may help.
- Take time for yourself away from the stressors of life – definite health benefits in this one
- New studies show people who live near the beach have a lower rate of depression than those who live in the plains states. Coincidence? I don’t think so. If you can’t move to the beach, regular travel to a beachy destination may help avoid depression. I keep telling myself that…
Number 19 of my reasons to travel
Hang on to your seat for this one, it’s another soapbox for me. Ever meet someone that looks different than you? Speaks a different language than you? Maybe they have different beliefs than you. Our instinctual reaction is to exclude what is different. But, by doing that, science has shown us that sometimes, those differences are what keep a species healthy and improving.
It is the same with people. Travel exposes us to people who think, dress, speak, eat, and live differently than we do. And that is a very good thing. Visit that exotic travel destination. Remember why you chose it. And embrace how its’ inhabitants think/dress/speak/eat differently than you. Through this, we eventually learn that different isn’t bad. It doesn’t have to be scary. And it absolutely isn’t wrong. It is just… different.
Travel teaches us to be more accepting of what is different than ourselves, and that is an amazing lesson to learn. Next time you ask your boss for a vacation, just tell him/her you are studying humanity, not taking a vacation 🙂
Number 20: Unplugging is the jam.
Finally, we’ve made it to our final reason to travel. As I was writing this, I realized there could be a million or more reasons. For every person, there is a reason or benefit of travel—of unplugging. If you allow yourself to unplug. And by unplug, I don’t just mean change your scenery. I mean put down the phone. Turn off the television. Shrug off the stress. I know that is easier said than done. In other words, unplug from day-to-day life.
This one has been saved for last for selfish reasons. It feeds into my incentive to do at least one big trip a year—to reconnect with Papa Joe. It’s almost like a recommitment to each other. It can be downright intoxicating to share an adventure and just tune in to each other as we are doing it. No pets at home, no doorbell or the phone ringing. No work just “checking in” and interrupting an important conversation.
There’s just the 2 of us and the wonders we are re-discovering together. Re-discovering each other. Soapbox here—just go. I love how we feel after a vacation that allows us to unplug. Seriously, unplugging can work miracles for the relationship if you truly unplug from the stuff and plug into each other. That could be taken as a double entendre, but if you think that thought through, I think you can appreciate the significance of unplugging from everything else and focusing all your attention on your relationship with your partner.
I think this is one of the best reasons to travel.
So what are the reasons to travel?
Share experience with someone. Unplug from the daily grind. Plug into your significant other. Take tons of pictures, and then do something with the pictures. These are just a few of the reasons to travel.
Lastly, as a reward for you getting through all 20 reasons, here are some links that will help with vacation planning and discounts. Enjoy! Low Price Guarantee on Tours and Activities Worldwide with 24 hour cancellation policy available.
Go somewhere—anywhere—unplug – and enjoy the time with somebody you enjoy being with!
Linda says
Great trip we did it last June! Lv your blog!?
admin says
Thanks Linda – I always appreciate your feedback!
JoJo’s Cup of Mocha says
Great post! I absolutely love traveling and it is something i’ll never stop doing. It’s an amazing way of learning, experiencing new things, getting out of your comfort zone, and creating wonderful memories.