I have been outside the country 3 times. I visited San Jose, Costa Rica with a group because we wanted to help and show love to the local community and children. We finished a church, gave meals to hungry children, and just loved on the people (by getting our butts kicked in soccer). I spent 3 weeks as an exchange student in Braunschweig, Germany. I was motivated to do this because I was friends with some exchange students in high school and I could see the benefits from watching them, so when an exchange student opportunity came, I took it! It wasn't really about the place. But Germany is awesome. I also have been to the Bahamas, this was supposed to be purely a relax on beautiful beaches trip, but I found myself actually spending more time in the market areas and around the local people than lying on the beach.
When Hubberman's friends questioned why she travels she said that she does it because she will see new ways of seeing and doing things, and that it will be good for her. Her experiences in India really stuck out to me. It sounds like it was probably one of the harder times in her life, however she doesn't seem to be looking back at it with resentment. She ultimately describes the reason she travels because she can look with new eyes on familiar things, and because its only from the outside that you can look back in.
I am completely at awe with the Earth, it is magnificent. Which is why my favorite reason to travel is easily "It teaches you about the World." Geography classes are great, but they don't even compare to getting out and seeing and feeling the different terrains, cultures, etc. There is so much out there to learn and enjoy. That is what I love. The second-best reason to travel is "it lets you gain useful knowledge." Gaining knowledge is what helps us walk in wisdom. When you travel you are forced out of your comfort zone, and that's when growth can really start. Personal growth is important to me. My third favorite reason is "It makes you more tolerant." I believe that ALL people were created equal, so learning to not only tolerate but to love others is very important to me. Traveling is a great way to learn how to love people or find peace in situations that are different, new or frustrating. Going somewhere that's main way of commute is walking is going to make you much more tolerant of the 10 minute walk to class when you cant find a parking spot right next to your building.
Peterson argues we should travel because you get out of your comfort zone, build confidence, develop cultural sensitivity, adapt to globalization, immerse in other languages, and will have a million networking opportunities. Her article emphasizes why it's important to start these things early in life. I liked what Peterson said about the importance of traveling young. I have been using the "too busy and too broke" excuse with myself the past couple of years, but I do need to realize that this is the time I have the least responsibilities and when I start my career and family is going to make traveling a lot more difficult.
Americans don't travel because their too comfortable and doing anything outside the normal is scary. We also already have got so much to see in America that when we do want to travel, we don't need to go to another country to get outside our terrain or immediate culture. Also, Americans value money more than leisure time, so we spend so much time working and give ourselves to so many commitments that we don't have the time or the energy to desire to travel. The work, work, work mentality instilled in us makes it harder for us to travel because you must set that aside for a while, and many people fear they cant without getting behind
Each of us lives in varying degrees of isolation from the rest of the world. This isolation is both happenstance and self-imposed. If we are born in an isolated part of the world with few opportunities to travel, we will likely lead an isolated existence. Self-imposed isolation occurs when have many opportunities to see other parts of the world but choose to spend our time and resources in one tiny area. We isolate ourselves because we are afraid or uncomfortable in other parts of the world.
Americans don't travel because their too comfortable and doing anything outside the normal is scary. We also already have got so much to see in America that when we do want to travel, we don't need to go to another country to get outside our terrain or immediate culture. Also, Americans value money more than leisure time, so we spend so much time working and give ourselves to so many commitments that we don't have the time or the energy to desire to travel. The work, work, work mentality instilled in us makes it harder for us to travel because you must set that aside for a while, and many people fear they cant without getting behind.
Den, my boyfriend's father is a good example of self-imposed isolation. There are many times that Den's wife will come to Omaha to visit, but Den decides to stay at home and sit on the couch. He then calls his wife 5 times a day because he wants to know whats up, whats going on and how everybody is. She often tells him "if you wanted to know you could have came" but to Den his comfort zone is more important.
Wallaston's review was a little harsh, I don’t think that he has ever ridden close to 20,000k through 12 countries, so to try to belittle the journey isn't fair. However, he is right about the fact that the journey was a company and the journeys true purpose was to make money. I also believe that having a superstar, unlimited funds, and 20 cameras changed a lot of the trip. A trip like that would look completely different for any normal citizen. What Watson said about it being his "role" to be wowed by the people and places stuck out to me, because I kind of got the same feeling while watching it. Certain times it seemed like they weren't immersing themselves in and trying to understand and enjoying where they were but just trying to parade it around and then get through it.
It was very obvious their Geography skills weren't the best when they realized they ran out of payved road in Mongolia and weren't planned for it. A bit more research and they could have found a better route or better bikes, or at least just practiced riding in the different terrains to be better prepared. Their planning in long way down wasn't the best, either. They did a little better planning for the different road types in this series, but they didn't realize how much slower they were going to be going on it. Also, they didn't have rest days planned in so it seemed they were running behind and were constantly so exhausted it was hard to enjoy. There were also times in Africa they were in really dangerous areas and not knowing it. They could have done some more human geography research to better understand the risks in certain areas.
Submitted by Taylor Kocina on 2/1/2019.