Is travel MAGIC? Or is it just a hoax spread around by wannabe bloggers?
I am no-one to comment on how others feel. But from my own travel experience in the last 2 years, I can say one thing for sure: Travel will force you to venture out of your comfort zone and question everything that you take for granted.
Travel gave me time to think and talk to myself. Often we have questions popping up in our head with no easy answers such as: Do I want to continue doing what I am doing today? Should I take that other job which does not pay me as well my current one? Should I ask that girl out... what if she says no? And dozens others from different aspects of life.
Our daily routine is so busy with work, family, friends and social media, that we never think about these questions. These topics require deep thought which takes time. But our attention span has become so short-lived that anything that takes more than a couple of minutes is replaced by something more urgent and tangible.
But when you are traveling solo in unfamiliar surroundings, you are away from all the regular distractions such as work, family and friend commitments, etc. The people you meet will no longer be "your type". They will not have a moral and social responsibility to 'comfort' you. They are different from you and might have beliefs that are contrary to what you have been doing since so many years. You could find a person doing exactly what you have always wanted to do but you just kept waiting for the right time. By just talking to him, you will feel that there are so many ways to achieve the same goal. We are so habituated to thinking the exact way we think, that all other paths seem impossible or not good enough.
I was traveling in Cambodia once. I got to spend a lot of time alone in that country. Traveling alone forces you to be at peace with yourself. There are no distractions, no-one to tell you that everything is going to be okay. You have to do that for your own self. And to do that, you need to actually reach a state of peace and contentment. And though that process may take a month or two, once you go through it, you will feel the sense of freedom that people often relate to travel.
To me freedom is just the courage to try different things in life. It could either be in your personal life or your professional life. The ability to question what we are doing and why? And if the answer is not convincing enough, travel might help you find the courage to change your course of action.
And trust me, once you feel this feeling, you will never be able to undo it :) ...
