WHere?! Nomad Local Blog

It is possible that some people think it was only such a good holiday trip, and that’s it. Although, certainly, traveling gives you more than just a great moment in the Mona Lisa or the Louvre, but it really changes your life, even if you don’t notice it.

From taking off the shoes at home, like in Japan, to helping neighbors build up their home surroundings, as in Slovakia, learning these ways of living is a life-changing experience. Yet for some, this would not mean anything except a simple anecdote.

The idea came up in an article on The New Yorker, The Case Against Travel, where the author, quoting writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chesterton, and Fernando Pessoa, stands by the idea that people travel looking for chages that they never find, or don’t use in their lives.

And she indicated that people have a problem with trip conversations because it’s not important for them knowing they visit a famous city or site, so what is this for? They find them useless, and they only hear them merely as a social protocol. On the other hand, a traveler or nomadic need to tell their stories to validate their unique experience. A toxic exchange, as she explains so.

In the article, it seems there would be a superficial side to how people travel (like if they’d only take their nomad backpack and move), because somehow it’s true that not everyone changes their entire life in one week of holidays; however, what these writers forget is how travelers (or simply tourists) feel after the trip, and it may mean more than you expect. If it made you happy, that’s enough, because big changes start mostly step by step (I’ll talk more about this issue in another article).

Souvenirs of Lives on Nomad Travel Adventures

We don’t change immediately, as I’ve said; nevertheless, everywhere, every time we exchange a moment with a local, even the smallest, it’s meaningful for them. And each person you meet has a porpois in your life as well.

Two days ago, I met a man on the bus, Jano from Macedonia, and when I told him I was from Mexico, he smiled at me and got excited. Some minutes later, he showed me a photo of him with a Mexican couple he took some years ago at a random Mexican party in front of his job. In a couple of minutes, he gave me an improvised tour around the downtown of Scopja!

The interesting thing here is that it was still a short moment, that Mexican couple did something even though they didn’t realize; they created a special moment for Jano. So whatever travelers do has a meaning to the lives of each other. Just ask yourself: have you thought about how you feel when someone gets excited when you talk about your country? Doesn’t it make you happy?

Also on WHere?!: How to Travel Without Money: Debunking the Expense Myth

Likewise, while traveling, you have the opportunity to meet other people who tell you about their lives. I’ve listened to stories from a chemistry teacher hiking for months after quitting his job, to others who felt alone and started to help other travelers and get some company at the same time. The only thing you have to do is be open to getting to know them. Talking or just being with people will teach you something.

Perhaps, it’s difficult in the beginning if it’s the first time in the country, and wouldn’t look useful in your life; however, talking to people you start collecting lives like souvenirs from the places you go, but instead of putting them on the fridge, you save them in your heart, always with the opportunity of learning from them.

The best example: my best friend from Slovakia, Tomáš, who learned Spanish in 9 months of traveling in Mexico. So maybe I might do the same and learn Slovak in his country, and I nailed it! His story changed my mind about learning languages abroad. And so your story can change people’s lives too. You never know when a person needs to know about your experience for the best.

Tourist, nomad, traveler? Who cares!

The text is based on practical uses. It suggests that you have to see the changes to really say it was meaningful travel; otherwise, you are another tourist more.

The good thing is that it’s not important if you are a tourist who can travel for only five days or a world’s nomad who can go around the world for months. Both have changing experiences, they just come in different ways and colors.

“If it made you happy, that’s enough; because big changes start mostly step by step”

For some people, it could come from a smile, a trip-love, a friend, a story, a beautiful sunset in another city, a cozy village, or a wonderful dish. Everything can be a life-changing moment; we just have to be alert and perceptive about them and realize that we have the choice of being the same person we were before the flight ticket or someone different.

There’s not a how being a good nomadic meaning, but it’s always better to travel and learn from everyone, so you can change something in your life (although nobody see it.) But, as I said, it’s up to you.

You can go to another country or to the next city; still, every trip has its lessons. I traveled to Slovakia for six weeks without knowing I was going to fall in love with the country. I started learning Slovak, and it changed my life forever.

Look inner you… Did a trip change your lifestyle, your perspective or the way how you see the world? What would you change?