Traveling opens your mind to perspectives you never even know existed. As a result, I know that I see things much differently than I did before I traveled. That dirty bathroom at a gas station? That’s nothing compared to some of the ones we’ve seen. The tap water that tastes funny? At least you have fresh drinking water available to you every hour of every day, unlike some places we’ve stayed.
Those are just a couple of examples how everything is relative. How you see something is different from how someone else sees the same thing. Not a very profound statement, I know. What I’m saying is that we travel so that the places we visit can change us. Rather than trying to change the places we go to fit us and our standards, we mold and change to fit theirs.
It is funny and amazing the difference between a tourist and a traveler.
A tourist goes somewhere to have an experience.
A traveler goes somewhere to experience a place and let it change them.
It’s especially interesting how most tourists believe that they are travelers, most passers through think that they are adventurers, and most people who are living for comfort believe that they are living in freedom.
Thank-you for being a person who is constantly working to answer the question and build a life around what it means for you to be and feel free – and to be willing to go to a place so that it can change you.
Thank you! Thanks as well for stating (probably better than I did) exactly what I was trying to say!