Traveling Won’t Change You – Bursting The Social Media Bubble

UPDATED MAR 2020. We’ve all seen it. The influencers on social media or those friends that claim to be wiser and more cultured than everyone else because they travel. You know the ones. With each subject that you talk about they find a way to slip in something about their trip abroad, even if it has nothing to do with the topic. They spend a lot of time Googling ‘motivational quotes’ for their uber woke social media posts and the best connection they make while traveling is usually to a Wi-Fi hotspot. You’ll probably hear them using phrases like ‘you’re not a real traveler if you do…’ and when you talk to them they’ll be quick to share a self-righteous tirade about how they ‘catch flights, not feelings.’ To them, travel adventures are the best (and only) way to live and learn. But is traveling really as life-changing as they make it seem? Here are my thoughts on why traveling won’t change you.

Traveling Won’t Change You – Bursting The Social Media Bubble

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Traveling can change you

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for traveling.

It’s something I am passionate about and have built a business around.

I firmly believe that traveling can change you. There’s no doubt that it is possible because, after all, traveling is a great form of education.

When you are exposed to different cultures and ways of doing things it can certainly encourage a sense of open-mindedness.

It’s hard to think that your way of living is the best and only way when you can experience the merits of a completely different way. It’s like one of my favorite quotes, “the opposite of what you know is also true.”

Exposure to new ideas can foster tolerance and understanding that is not necessarily encouraged on the mainstream news where you tend to only hear negative stories from different cultures.

It can encourage you to reflect on your own life, culture and behavior patterns.

The experiences you have when you travel serve as pieces of the puzzle of thoughts within you. Each of them offers a new and different perspective but they all blend together to provide a bigger picture view.

You don’t need to travel to learn about cultures

If you glance on social media, it won’t take you long to see ‘travel’ people writing about how traveling is the only way to get cultured, open-minded and tolerant.

The catch is though, I know many well-traveled globetrotters who are more intolerant, elitist and oblivious to their privilege than people I know who have rarely, or even never, traveled.

I’ve even sat across from a well-traveled, 60+ country Instagrammer while they had a child-like tantrum to a server in a restaurant over the food not being quite what they ordered, with no regard or understanding of the language barrier between the two of them.

It was a case of someone being cultured and wise on social media but the real-life mindset was anything but.

This has not been the only experience I’ve had seeing this type of behavior. I’ve been on many tours where people won’t listen to the guide, and complain about the experience, but when it comes time for a photo op they’ll bust out a cute pose and post it on the ‘gram with a caption about what a great day they’ve had.

Traveling can change you, but that doesn’t mean it will.

There are many other ways to become cultured or open-minded.

Many of them you can do without leaving your home neighborhood – like simply reading or volunteering for example.

Traveling is not a magic pill for a transformational experience. 

If you’re traveling in a race to reach a country count, for FOMO, Instagram photos or bragging rights, I would hazard a guess that traveling won’t change you at all.

I’d even go further to say that it’s really not worth it. It’s the same way I think having an expensive car as a status symbol is not worth it.

If it’s just a status symbol to you and that’s all you want it to be, there’s no problem with that. Though I do have some empathy and feel sorry for you to be living a somewhat artificial life. But, perhaps get real and stop with the woke AF, motivational captions.

I get sad when I see the blog posts about where to find the most Instagrammable spots in a city because it seems to encourage the narcissistic travel trend.

Has travel changed me?

Has traveling changed me? Sure.

But so has all this:

• My friends from a variety of backgrounds
• Volunteering
• Listening to people I disagree with
• Helping others
• Attending cultural festivals and events
• Reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching documentaries
• Challenging myself with personal goals
• Living in constant pursuit of learning and growing

There isn’t only one way to learn about yourself and get cultured.

How to be open to travel changing you

If you want to get the transformational experience from traveling, to unlock things you didn’t know about yourself, and become a more cultured, tolerant or understanding person, it is certainly possible if you are open to it.

I think the key is to travel because you want to instead of to ‘keep up with the Joneses.

Put the camera down and look with your eyes.

Talk to people who live there – ask questions and listen closely to their stories.

Take cultural classes or visit museums not just the top Instagrammable spots in a city.

Write in a travel journal to reflect honestly on your own thoughts.

Try new things especially the unusual ones and do things that scare you, the things you didn’t think were even possible.

Maybe then, travel will change you.

Other travel reflections you might enjoy

• 5 Tacky Travel Trends We Can Leave Behind In 2019

• Travel Diary Ideas – 21 Thoughtful Prompts For Your Travel Journal

• Bad Travel Advice That You Should Probably Just Ignore

• How To Get The Courage To Travel Alone When Everyone Says You’ll Die

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