How has travelling affected you? By: Kate Guérard

Travelling enriches you in several ways, not only does it nurture a great sense of curiosity and promotes awareness, but travelling also offers you a different perspective on the world. When exploring something or someone new, our body and mind is open to different things. Our curiosity is then awakened. As we learn new things, our mind is open to a fresh new way of looking at this distinct and different place, object or even person. When travelling, even though it is for the fun of it, our body is constantly learning new things, without even realizing it!

To begin with, travelling can feed a great sense of curiosity and it can also develop one. As a child, I was given the opportunity to explore travelling on a sailboat in the Bahamas for one full year. Starting from Quebec City, visiting over 75 towns and cities, my mind was opened to a whole new and different way of living; I was as well exposed to meeting different people. As curiosity overtook my body and mind, all I could think about was to explore and learn more. And that I did. Plenty of it. The best part of the trip was meeting new people and learning about their own personal story. Exchanging stories and our different lifestyles were so much fun that we didn't even realize we were learning new things.

Secondly, travelling promotes awareness. You are introduced to several different lifestyles and people, which includes diverse laws and governments, foods, languages and cultures. Through it all, we ask questions and swap stories and become aware of the differences and similarities among us all. We make connections and figure out the why, where and what about so many things. It is as though our minds have eyes and see things with a different outlook than our vision does.  It is your choice whether you go travelling with an open mind or not, but inevitably, at one moment or another in your voyage, you will be amazed.

Another way in which travelling enriches you is how it offers a different perspective and perception of the world. Travelling provides new ideas; It makes you realize what have or what you need, as well as all the unnecessary and superfluous things you have in life. Voyaging can consequently make you open-minded. No matter what is waiting for you at home, travelling takes you away from your comfort zone and luxury items (superficial life) and make you experience something totally different. 
Travelling made me learn more about the world, my family and myself. In addition, it helped me gained confidence. The best part was that learned so much without even realizing it; I was simply being a child, having fun, and being carefree, and that was the beauty of it. 

In conclusion, travelling isn't only a physical escape but also is a mental escape and exercise. The beauty of it is that even though you think that you are enjoying your trip to the maximum, you keep on gaining knowledge and insight about your trip, weeks months and even years after your return. There is no way we can travel without opening doors in our brains.