Discover The Magic Of Travelling!

When I was a child I dreamt of many magical places, places I would see through the mirror of newspapers and magazine that I would get from an elderly woman in the neighbourhood. My mother on the other hand called me little wondering feet. I never stayed at home like many children of my age did. I was always out and about trying to discover my little city even when I knew going back home would earn me some stick on my feeble body...but the scavenging was worth more.

I’ve never wanted a conventional life, a life that I feel a need to escape, filled with discontent and comfort. I’ve never wanted to be stuck in an office building all day, never able to wander away when it’s time to leave. I’ve always wanted more than that and I spend my days dreaming of how my travels would be like, and hey, it’s possible.

I vividly remember my first travel alone, The voice from the cockpit awaken my fears...then we start to barrel down the runway for takeoff, my mind quickly wanders to past relationships and loves lost and how I traded everything for love that didn’t work out. After that, I quickly traded my career for this insane life of travel. As I reminisce on loves lost, I begin to beat myself up. “What the hell am I doing? Why didn’t I just settle for my last relationship?” I am almost climaxing to my 20s and my personal life is far from where society says it should be at my age a depressing thought.

I could feel a drop of tears on my pale cheeks and am forced to close my eyes to stop more tears flowing and awaken my neighbour sitting tight on the chair holding it all hard and focused. My mind is taken back to all the good times I have had with my friends, how they could put up with my imperfections in the midst of this crazy world. I force myself to smile in my thoughts, "I can't believe I am about to do this", I whisper to my subconscious self forcing my confidence out of me. I can hear some people whispering how lucky I am and as I dive to my luckiness am awaken by a beautiful voice from flight attendant asking me what I would like to drink?

I’m lucky because I was somehow fortunate to be born with enough grit and determination to follow my heart and my childhood wandering feet. I am lucky to be brave enough to do what makes me happy, no matter the cost. The costs are high, and no one understands. The weight I bear is my own. But when I close my eyes and think of the scenes that awaits me, I am truly happy. I am satisfied traveling the world, seeing places most people only read about in books, and connecting with strangers from all over the globe. That, to me, is worth any cost, no matter how high.

And here are some of the reasons why you should embark on this travel club and explore the world:

1. To Learn to be Alone: There are few things more important than learning how to be happy by yourself. If you’re horribly uncomfortable alone and unsure what to do without guidance, life can quickly become a chore. Silly as it may sound, you spend more time with yourself than anyone else, so learning to have a good time by yourself is a seriously useful skill to pick up. Travel can be fun with others, but going it alone can be a chance to test yourself, to see what you’re made of, and to, hopefully, find a sense of contentment with yourself.

2. To Reassess Your Life: Traveling can affirm or bump you from the path you’re on. Maybe you’ll want to stay on the path you’ve paved for yourself, but to never really think about it, to never distance yourself from what you think you should be doing, is to miss an opportunity reserved for the young. We’ll always be in control of our fates. Even a man in his seventies has the ability to “throw off the bowlines” and travel as Twain would say, but it’s better to reflect, to assess, and to wonder how exactly we want to live when we’re still free to explore and change our futures with relative ease. In the madness of our daily life, the ideas of our family, our friends, and our culture are slowly ingrained into our psyche, possibly distorting the person we think we want to be. The only way to get a clear view is to spend time somewhere far from these things. Sometimes it’s only once we’re separated from both home and the expectations of others that we’re able to be honest with ourselves.

3. Food: I have my own saying about this, "the way to a travellers heart is through stomach" for real eating is one way of discovering yourself too. Be it street food in the midst of Kuala Lumpur or Street Snacks in Srilanka or Snail spicy sauce in Accra (Ghana). It’s in food that we find purpose, a chance to reflect, confidence, and comfort with ourselves. Mostly a chance to appreciate where we come from. The different tastes of different food in different countries is true definition of "Grass is always greener on the other side" and how best to discover this if not through travelling?

4. Books: During travels you are caught up with a lot of free times and what a better way to dive into books you have been yearning to read. Question each line. This is another way you can rediscover yourself.

5. Time Never Ticks: When we live and travel abroad, every little nuance — the cracks in the sidewalk, the smell of fresh dawn, the wide horizon in the distance — all seem new. The little things seem to engross us and demand our attention, elongating our sense of time. It’s impossible not to feel that life has slowed when we’re somewhere foreign because we savor each minute, using each of our senses to their fullest to appreciate and negotiate the differences we find. Constant newness can be tiring, sure, but time is infinitely valuable, and to have the ability to seemingly extend it, well, that’s something everyone should take advantage of.

6. New Relationships: In the process of travelling you will end up building relationships with people you never would have met otherwise and treating them like family. Trusting people you barely know and putting your faith in the world that things will all work out. You will have a burning urge to see as much as possible and really live in the moment. Being able to help out when you see someone you don’t know struggling and sharing pieces of your heart with them.

Most people I know wait for the stars to align and the “perfect” time to travel. Trust me. You’ll never find that time. The right time to go is when you spontentously make up your mind to go. There will always be a lot of responsibilities whether its a wedding to or bills or you name it, or something to make you think you need to delay your trip. There will always be a reason to wait. And pretty soon they years will have passed and you’ll find another reason not to go. Don’t fall into the “responsibility” trap. The biggest joy of travel is learning to appreciate that moment there and then the beautiful memories you will bring with you on your next journey.

For me Travelling has given me the power to live fully, to accept others, to learn in every area I can and to allow the world to shape me in to the best person I can be not just for myself but for others that I will come into contact with. Do you travel? What have you learned? comment below. Are You scared of taking that flight off to the unknown? write me@rahabmbisee.com and together we can discover you on my one on one coaching session.