I is for International Travel

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”
– Mark Twain

I love to travel.  While I love exploring my own country, I prefer to travel internationally.  For some, international travel can be a daunting experience, but for me, I enjoy travelling to places I have never been and learning about new cultures, trying new foods, and learning new languages.  So far, I’ve traveled to Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Guyana, Haiti, London, and Mexico.

I’ve learned a lot by travelling abroad.  First and foremost I’ve learned to be more adventurous.  When I visited Aruba, my friends and I rented a Jeep and explored the island on our own.  We were staying at a fancy resort, but wanted to really see what life in Aruba was really like.  We wound up on a local beach frequented by only locals.  There were no tourists to be found there.  On this beach, there was intoxicating music pumping from a large speaker.  There were food trucks selling delicious local food delicacies and  we met some great people. We stayed and partied hard for hours that night and were reluctant to go back to our boring resort.

Another thing I’ve learned is geography.  Sure I’ve heard of the places I’ve travelled to before I visited them, but If you asked me to point them out on a map, I probably couldn’t back then. Now, not only can I point them out on a map, I can also point out different cities and points of interest.

Finally, international travel has helped me to look at the world differently.  Seeing the world from the perspective of someone living in a third world country can really change your perspective on the world.  Also, seeing a place first hand as opposed to relying on what you see in the media can be very eye opening.  For example, the only images you ever see of Haiti are ones of poor people living in crowded cities. You never see the beauty beyond the cities, the resorts, the waterfalls, the beaches. Yes, they do exist, but you would never know that unless you got to see it firsthand.

How about you?  Have you traveled internationally?  What countries have you visited?