5 Things travel will do to you

Travel marks you. It changes you as you go along. Some changes will be small, learning preferences or trivia facts, some will be large. Learning the extent of your capabilities and how far you will go … the further you travel, the more these things will begin to happen to you.

#1. Movies and TV shows will either be vastly improved or completely ruined.

Having seen sets from Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and various other historical locations which have been used for filming, you will either love that you know what’s there, or you won’t be able to suspend your disbelief. Personally I love the historical settings and knowing where the characters are in a certain scene, or being able to look into the background scenery of Jack Taylor and within the first few seconds say “Hey! That’s Galway!” There is however one movie wherein the filmmakers use an office which I have been in. It’s a ground level minicipal building which they tried to pass off as the 40th floor of a building in New York. My knowledge of the location ruined the scene. Sometimes it’s best not to know!

#2. It will change your perception of time.

Having lived in Canada most of my life the oldest thing I grew up seeing was a building constructed just after the second world war. In England I lived near an eleventh century castle and several shops that dated back to the Medieval era. During my travels I bought three news papers and a map which likely outdate every building in my current town. Your perception of how old or new things are will absolutely change when you travel.

#3. It will improve your self understanding.

You will come to know things about yourself that you might not otherwise. It could be very small things, like figuring out that you prefer the front of the bus to the back because your motion sickness isn’t as bad when you can look out the window; to the big things like realising that you don’t like the baroque style of architecture, what you like is actually called Rococo, and you will be decorating your house in that manner from now on. You will also develop a very clear timeline as to how long you can go without using the bathroom and just how much water you can consume without significantly throwing that timeline off.

#4. It will give you a better understanding of the significance of those around you.

If you’ve only ever lived in one small town where the opinions of one individual governs everything from the PTA meetings to what passes for ‘good Sunday clothes’ at church, you’d be forgiven for thinking that their opinions are very important. Travel might not rid them of that notion, but it will certainly show you just how short reached those opinions are.

#5. It will change your perception of how far something is.

I had to explain to some English children that I hadn’t seen the ocean until I was five years old, and that Forest hadn’t seen it until she was in her twenties, because to get to the ocean we would have had to drive for several days. They were confused, until I showed them a map. They asked if Ontario was Canada. Canada was literally too big for them to comprehend. I think it still is, and it will be, until they leave England, travel the world, and start changing their perceptions of the world.