I used to live to travel in my 20’s and 30’s planning each trip throughout the year as soon as I knew my teaching schedule. Spending 4 months backpacking through central America or a week at Angkor Wat in Cambodia waking up at dawn each morning to greet the sun over the great temples. But alas, with a child and career comes less time for the days of foot loose and fancy free and more scheduling trips to see my aging parents or a weekend to see friends just up the coast. Such is life and as much as I longingly and fondly look back on those memories, it’s just the season of life I’m in now.
After recently watching The Odyssey, I’ve been reading lots of Greek mythology and have fallen down the rabbit hole of the Stoics and what they thought. The stoics say that travel is good for us. It stretches our perspective.
Marcus Aurelius talked about being a citizen of the world and the importance of meeting new people and being exposed to new cultures. It’s easy to be comfortable where you are. We might tell ourselves that travel is exotic and frivolous but it’s actually essential for our brain to stretch and grow.
Stepping outside our own culture, geography, food, history, music, and stories isn't optional—it's how we grow. It broadens our perspective, sparks new ideas and inspiration, and shapes who we become. But above all, it opens up fresh, meaningful paths to wisdom.
And as far as how our brain processes travel:
New experiences stimulate visual scanning and spatial navigation skills, engaging the parietal lobes.
Planning the details—like packing, getting to and from the airport or city, making reservations, and budgeting—utilizes executive functions in the frontal lobes.
We create new memories and stories to share with friends and family, stimulating the temporal lobes responsible for memory and language.
And as our days come to an end on this earth, one of the top things people say as they look back on their life is I wish I had travelled more. Why not do it now. And it doesn’t have to be a trip across the world, it can simply mean traveling a few towns over or to the next state.
Where will you travel to next? If you need help packing or organizing for your trip, I’m here for you.