Why Travel Makes You Smarter
When we say travel makes you โsmarter,โ we donโt mean youโre all of a sudden going to become a genius. (If that happens, let us know in the comments). But traveling will certainly make you more worldly, force you to think in different ways and help you to embrace unique cultural practices. All of which will ultimately create more neurological connections in your brain, making you quicker to react, think through logic and work through problem solving more efficiently.
โOne should not pursue goals that are easily achieved.โ โ Albert Einstein
What Einstein said is at the root of what this brief discussion is about. Youโre only as smart as your experience, and if you donโt challenge yourself past your comfort zone โ youโre setting limits on your potential that need not be there. ย Both new experiences and doingย things you already know โ the hard way โ will keep your cognitive skills sharp.
How Travel Makes You Smarter
You Meet New People
As you go through life, youโre going to meet great people, inspiring people, kind people and strange people. Youโre also going to meet shitty people. A lot of them. But thatโs not necessarily a bad thing. Every person you meet has a story and a reason why they are who they are. Always remember that before you pass judgement.
But crucially, your interactions with all of these individuals throughout your life will impart experiential knowledge upon you.
This knowledge will come in all forms โ from learning new skills and improving your storytelling, to learning how to take the high road in difficult situations. Slowly youโll discover that by default, you have a new found confidence in yourself, but not a cockiness.
Yourย social skills will also improve, which will lead to better future conversationsย andย allow you to learn more about the people you come into contact with. Youโll enhance yourย understanding of all kinds of people, become more open minded in general and heighten yourย appreciation for diversity.
โTravel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.โ โ Mark Twain
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You Expand Your Palate
Traveling will allow you to sample a wide-array of new foods and beverages. No matter where youโre from, someย ingredients will be familiar and others will be foreign. The best advice I can give you, (unless you know youโre allergic) is try them. Try the most obscure item on the menu. Maybe it will lead to a great story down the road. In any case, youโre exposing your brain to new sensations and flavors. Even if itโs a food you know โ perhapsย country X uses tomato sauceย and country Y uses a melted cheese blendย โย change it up.
Taking this a step further, inquire about how a dish you like is cooked. When you get home, show your friends and teach your children. Spread good culture.
โDonโt tell me how educated you are, tell me how much youโve travelled.โ โ Mohamed
Learn New Languages
Most of the time when we travel to a country where weโre not familiar with the language, we struggle to get by. Utilizing grunts, hand signals and putting a foreign sounding accent on our English (I know Iโm guilty) will only get you so far. What we can do, however, is make an attempt to try.
Learning a new language is not easy and itโs not something youโre going to pick up on a short trip abroad. ย However, locals generally really appreciate it when a tourist makes an honest attempt to speak their language. Even if youโre timid, learn the basics before your trip to a foreign country. When you get there,ย expand on them. If you find a local who also speaks your language, engage them in conversation and ask them for words to add to your arsenal. ย Learning to ask for directions, say please and definitely thank you will give a native a better perception of you.
We already know that understandingย two languages makes you smarter.ย The more foreign words in your word bank, the better for your mind in both the moment and the long run.
โOneโs destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.โ โ Henry Miller
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Open Your Mind to New Experiences
Whatever form they come in. Always keep safety in mind, but if thereโs something on your bucket list (for me it was diving between two tectonic plates), you need to go for it. Some of these experiences you may never get to try again. Others youโll find so riveting, so breathtaking that you wonโt be able to stop doing them. In either case,ย whatโs importantย is that you sample that experience. Youโll never know until you try, and you never know what positive outcome it may yield. Whether immediate or later in life. ย What if that experience leads you to a business idea that changes the world for the better? ย Go for it.
โBizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.โ โ Kurt Vonnegutย
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Become More Self-Sufficient
Traveling, especially solo traveling, will challenge you extensively. Often we donโt even realize how much weโre wearing ourselves down or challenging our problem solving skills. But at the end of the day, if youโre still standing, youโve bettered yourself. Youโve learned new skills, whether they be navigating a foreign city by subway, or learning the basics of a language, you can use this knowledge in future situations.
You learn through traveling that you donโtย needย anyone else to get by. You just need your own head on your shoulders, a positive mindset and a will to live in the moment.
โTravel and change of place impart new vigour into the mind.โ โ Seneca
Become a Better Traveler
While this is related to self-sufficiency, itโs a little different in that youโll learn specific skills related to deepeningย your travel experience and making the process more efficient. For example, I tend to over pack. After every trip I go on, Iโm slowly learning what I really need to bring and whatโs overkill. The next time I travel, Iโm packing less, folding better, and checking fewer bags. ย Youโll also learn how to hail cabs in different languages, become knowledgable about travel hacking and become more budget conscious throughout your trips.
โOnce you have travelled, the voyage never ends, but is played over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.โ โ Pat Conroy
Learn New Skills
Staying in hostels, being a dinner guest in a foreign home, going on rugged hikes, playing a game of pickup football with Argentines โย all of these examples can help you learn new skills and tricks. From cooking a new dish to doing a bicycle kick. I recently learned how to scuba dive in a dry suit abroad โย something Iโd never done before in the states.
Taking part in these unique experiences will help you learn new skills. While short trips wonโt always give you time to hone them fully, even briefly practicing a new skill can go a long way.
See Unique Thingsย
Every country has something unique to offer. From stunning landscapes to amazing animals or mind-blowing architecture. Seeย something different. It might inspire you to create something great orย embark on a unique quest
. Always keep an open mind.
โThe world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page.โ โ St. Augustine
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Be Inspired
The most important thing you can remember when you travel is to live in the moment. If you see something that makes your draw drop, take it in for a few minutes before you pull out your camera. Be here right now. Ultimately, this will allow you to be inspired. Whether itโs by the people you meet when you travel, or by something you see. That inspiration can only make you a happier, progressively smarter person.
Collect your Winetraveler passport โ tap the regions & grapes youโve tasted. Your stamps follow you across the whole site.
- Curious1 stamps
- Explorer3 stamps
- Connoisseur6 stamps
- Sommelier12 stamps
- Vigneron20 stamps
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