2011-12-03 23:10:46-05
Okay, some trips may be classified as a trip of several lifetimes, but, at the bare minimum, every single trip we take should be considered a trip of at least one lifetime. All it takes is a constant reminder that, even if our idea of travel is a yearly visit to Uncle Jim’s house on the other side of the country, we should appreciate every moment of every trip. We are so very fortunate to be in a position to travel and we should never forget this fact.
After all, any time that we leave our home town, we instantly give ourselves an opportunity to learn and to enjoy life in ways that we have never before experienced. There are always unfamiliar and fascinating places to explore, new things to see and interesting people to meet. And if we believe that behind every new experience lies an endless stream of eye-opening and life-changing possibilities, the benefits of travel multiply to the point where every trip does indeed become a trip of a lifetime. We don’t need ancient temples or 7,000 meter peaks or hippopotamuses for this to happen (although, the hippos certainly do help). All we need is the right mindset to magically transform our travels, any travels, whether it is indeed to Uncle Jim’s for the holidays or a 6-month trip to India or a week in Italy or a long weekend at a resort an hour away from home, into a trip that we will not only never forget, but into a trip that teaches us something valuable about the world and about ourselves. And of course, when we welcome the opportunities that accompany any form of travel, instead of thinking even for one second that any of our travels are somehow less significant than other adventures, we are bound to have one spectacular, ridiculously amazing time, no matter what part of the world we may be visiting. So, the point I’m trying to make is that ‘trips of a lifetime’ absolutely do exist. But they are not exactly a once in a lifetime kind of event. Every single time we travel, we each hold the key to whether or not our experiences equal just another vacation, or involve a much more significant and rewarding journey. And when we force ourselves to remember just how fortunate we truly are to be able to travel, it really does become quite easy for every adventure we take to become an adventure that simply feels too unbelievable to be real.
*This post was inspired by a comment that a reader, Forest, left on my previous post about my trip to South Africa. In that comment, he mentioned that my trip was a ‘trip of a lifetime’. This got me thinking about how fortunate I am to be traveling, and these thoughts eventually led to this post. So, thank you Forest! |
