“I do not like travelling”, she said as we walked down the street.
I was having a conversation with a lady I met some years ago on my way back from lecture. Her long hairs drew my attention; she had really long hairs. I walked up to her with my widest smile on my handsome face and exchanged pleasantries with her. She was easy going and that made the conversation more interesting. It turns out she had been living in the state since birth and has never gone out. This baffled me and I felt she was in a cage and I had to free her, so I requested for her to join me on my morning jog. It took me hours to convince her that jogging would not kill her before she agreed to join me. The next day she came out and we jogged together that was when she told me that she had never travelled out of the state.
I concluded that she didn't like travelling because she had never felt the experience of a good journey. After our little chat, I walked her to her apartment. I felt happy. Few weeks later, I got a text from her that she travelled out and had a wonderful experience and she contemplated including travelling to her list of hobbies.
But seriously, how do you get to have fun if you don't go out? I really need to know that secret.
You have been living in the same house for 5 years; going to work and coming back home daily. You really need to go on a vacation. Travel out of the state, go and live your life and have fun. If you remain in a particular location for so long, your life will just be a page but if you go out, go on a journey, or take a road trip, then your life will be an entire book. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.
A friend of mine travelled to India and after a few days, he had a change of mind-set. He started thinking different from how he used to think. He was exposed to real life situations which were entirely different from what he saw in the movies.
Don't you want to have interesting stories to tell your grandchildren? Don't you want to have memories? Then make travelling a hobby. If you are married with kids, you can decide to take the whole family on a road trip, you can use that opportunity to spend some time with them.
If not, you can go on a journey with your close friends. My most awesome memories occurred the times I travelled with my friends and family. Once, in a particular period of time, I travelled to 6 different states in 5 days. It was magnificent. I met new friends, ate new food and now I have stories to tell. Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have.
To travel is to take a journey into yourself. You get to know some things about yourself.
When you travel, you explore and exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. Someone told me that an unplanned journey is usually the best. Lao Tzu said, “A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving”.
If I have my backpack, laptop, phone, my passport and cash, then I have no worries. That's how I enjoy my holidays. I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life wherever you are.
A.P.J Abdul Kalam has this to say, “My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to the young people.”
Here is a friendly advice from me to you as a friend. We are friends right? Good.