5 Ways Extended Travel Changes You

5 Ways Extended Travel Changes You

1. You Spend Less on Material Things

Before I started traveling, I was in this "adulting" mode. I finally had a steady income that allowed me to pay off my bills and still have extra money left over to spend. The saying "the more you make, the more you spend" is totally true. I was in Tj Maxx, Home Goods, etc. every week looking through their home department for items I could buy that would make my apartment look like it wasn't owned by a poor college student anymore. 

Once I decided to make a life change and was no longer certain of where my next paycheck was coming from, I knew I had to reevaluate what I was spending my money on. While I was backpacking, I stuck to one simple rule: If I couldn't eat it, use it, or wear it, I wouldn't buy it. It was a pretty easy rule for me to follow since I already had a backpack full of stuff and no room to put anything else.

Now that I am home I still follow this rule. I ask myself, other than the fact that you like it, what purpose will it serve me? Call me Marie Kondo I guess!

2. You Get Bored Easily

Now maybe this one has always been prevalent in my life but now more than ever it rings true. I constantly feel like I am "wasting my day" if I don't do anything but work, watch Netflix, and workout. I'm used to early morning alarms at the hostel because the monument you want to see gets super crowded early or you're trying to beat the heat. Only to be on your feet walking around a new city for 12 hours exploring all that it has to offer so that you don't miss anything.

Small town life was never for me and once you get a taste of what the world has to offer, you constantly find yourself planning your next trip, looking up the best time of the year to visit Shanghai or which order to put the islands in Thailand you are visiting in so that you can save the most money. 

3. You Feel Yourself Relating Less to Hometown Friends

I knew from the time I entered High School that I wanted to leave the small town where I grew up. I went to school 4 hours away from home in order to separate myself and then graduated college and moved to Florida. All the friends I have made along the way have been incredibly supportive of my travels and I couldn't be more grateful for them. Yet I am constantly bugging them with my travel ideas and asking if they'll join me. What do you mean you have a job and you can't just leave? You don't have vacation days? You can't afford it? Well somehow I managed to afford it..  Everyone has different goals in life and I support everyone to live their dream to the fullest but mine is to travel. I have people tell me all the time "you are so lucky" or "I wish I could do what you do" but a good travel friend of mine summed it up perfectly when she said "No, you don't or you would be doing it." Prioritize what is important to you and make it happen.

Not to mention all the stories and experiences I've had. How do I casually drop a story that starts "This one time in Switzerland..." with out sounding like I am only trying to brag about my life. My travel friends and I talk frequently and I am so glad they help give me peace of mind that I am not alone in my thoughts and frustrations. 

4. You're Constantly Craving Foreign Foods

Freshly picked Italian tomatoes from an organic farm and authentic mozzarella. A Greek gyro from a street cart in Greece that cost a dollar. Japanese sushi from the convenient store down the street. Sure you can get all those foods in the United States but it's just not the same. The ingredients are fresher and just taste better all around. I am not even close to being a food junkie but yet I constantly am trying to replicate them.

5. You Are More Humble

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry,  and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

With everything happening in the media today it's hard not to open your phone with out reading something hateful or awful happening in the news related to race, religion, etc. Hate crimes are still very real in 2019 and I just do not understand it. When you are abroad YOU are now the foreigner. You can't possibly learn every language and culture of every country you visit but you can certainly try to absorb as much as possible. You realize how kind people can be and how they will go out of their way to help the lost American on the subway with no phone. You learn about different lifestyles, some you like and some you don't but that teaches tolerance. Accepting that just because something is different doesn't make it wrong. 

To keep up with my travels, follow me on Instagram at KaseyMeetsWorld!