Why Take the Risk of Traveling?

I walked out of the terminal with my backpack tightly clinched across my chest hoping to ward off the pick pockets. But I read the travel guides, and saw Man on Fire, so kidnapping was the real threat on my mind. In fact, that’s specifically why I decided to skip Mexico City and instead was on my way to Cuernavaca. But to get there, I had no choice but to take a bus through the capital, that at the time, had earned the second highest kidnapping statistic in Latin American.

To my surprise, Mexico City wasn’t the problem. A few hours after boarding the bus, I was in Cuernavaca. Just before the bus pulled up to a stop, I re-read the warning from my Spanish school:

“Do NOT take the green and white taxis. The yellow cabs are safe.”

That seemed simple enough, until I got off the bus and a line of green and white taxis was all that was waiting for me.

It was 2005 and I had just received my very first passport, so I was already intimidated about leaving the United States. Most of the kidnappings were occurring in taxis, so being stranded at the bus station in the middle of the night with nothing but kidnapper taxis was about to put me over the edge.

I weighed my options—stand there all night, or jump in a cab and see what happens.

We drove in circles for twenty minutes while the cab driver obviously waited for the men with guns to arrive. He finally stopped on a dark street next to a fourteen foot cement wall covered in graffiti.

“Estamos aquí.”

“Here? Are you kidding me?!” Even without any streetlights, I could see the concertina wire at the top of the wall. It looked more like a run down prison than the family’s home I expected I would be living at during my Spanish study.

The driver helped me with my bags, but I began to wonder if he was going to drop me off, or kill me. I was a bit relieved when he rang a doorbell to the steel bared gate, but I began to worry after about ten minutes when there was still no answer.

A man walked up from down the street and spoke to the cab driver in Spanish, which I could hardly understand. I realized this is how the kidnappings work and started sizing the two of them up. I wondered if I could take them, but figured it would be useless when they pulled out a gun.

“Shuck?”

“Yes!” I said surprised that he knew my name, even though he couldn’t pronounce exactly right.

“I’m Emanuel,” he said as he reached out his hand. “You are staying with my family.”

He had just walked to the market, and his family was already in bed, which explained why there was no answer at the door.

That was the beginning of my first trip outside of the U.S. and it forever changed my life. Emanuel and his family took me in and treated me like part of their family.

Since then I’ve returned to Mexico more times than I can count. I’ve stayed for as little as a few days or long as a month. I even spent time in the capitol, Mexico City, where I was previously too afraid to stay, and surprisingly, felt safer there than I do in some parts of North America. I’ve traveled to China, Honduras, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Belize and I think Peru is next on my list.

Why Travel?

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain

Traveling forces you to stretch beyond your comfort zone. That’s what makes it intimidating, but so rewarding at the same time. There are many benefits to foreign travel, and they will be different for everyone, but I suspect for most people it will be humbling, very humbling.

Most of your perceptions of the rest of the world are likely wrong. I was so ignorant to the rest of the world and was shocked to discover there are cities much larger and more modern than those in the U.S. I knew this, but in some strange way I didn’t believe it.

There are people beyond the borders of North American who don’t carry buckets of water on their heads from the river every morning. That certainly exists, and would be equally interesting, but there are also people all over the world who have cell phones, iPods and the internet just like I do.

I possessed the same blinders the majority of North Americans have that make us feel a bit superior to the rest of the world. During my first trip to Mexico, I was embarrassed when I knew less about American history and politics than the Mexican people I was living with did.

The U.S. certainly has a larger impact on the world than other countries do on the U.S., but that does not sufficiently explain why reporting throughout the globe includes world events, whereas U.S. news rarely leaves the borders.

I was surprised how many people speak more than one language. This made me feel rather inferior, especially when I previously carried a somewhat elitist American attitude. Soon I began to realize that as people, we were at best, equal to others in the world. This is eye opening.

The bad news is, you’re insignificant

While you’re away, the world keeps functioning. It’s a shocking discovery. Whether you’re gone for two weeks or two months, the world keeps moving along without you.

Our little worlds consume us so we think we are of greater significance than we really are. When you leave your circle and enter the bigger world, you realize how true it is that you’re only one tiny spec of sand in the larger sea.

At first it’s a bit depressing, but then it’s enlightening.

The good news is, you’re insignificant

After you return from a foreign land, you’ll have experienced a lot of new things about the world and yourself. Although the world continued on without you, you’ll also discover that nothing changed. It will feel as if you’d never left. Very few will notice you were gone, but you will have had a life changing experience.

Because we tend to over value our significance in our jobs and social circles, we are also reluctant to leave. This can be the only explanation for the 1.6 million years of unused vacation time Americans give back to their employers every year. But in reality, aside from your immediate family, few will notice your absence, which gives you a whole new freedom you never had before.

It’s impossible to explain what traveling will do for you without you experiencing it yourself—especially in a brief article. In fact, when you get back, you will want to share your experiences with everyone who will listen, but they won’t get it either. That’s Okay, because it will be your own experience, and your own personal journey.

So if you’ve ever had the slightest inkling of desire to jump on a plane to some foreign land–go for it. What’s holding you back? Travel is about becoming comfortable being uncomfortable. So go get uncomfortable.

Where do you want to go? How has travel changed you?

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