By Alexa 
Why people travel is different for everyone. I wouldn’t argue that traveling is important so much as it’s important to step outside of your world and see life from different avenues. Traveling is a tool that helps one to do that.
Sometimes, I’ll be able to tell that someone hasn’t travelled often, or stepped out into the world they grew up in because they believe that the whole world should operate the way that their corner of the world does and when they’re faced with the truth that it doesn’t work like that, they don’t know how to function or their egos take over. Or they will reject the person, custom, or thing that acts differently from what they believe.
Recently, while abroad, I got into an exchange with a young woman in the dorm I was staying in. She began expressing that I was rude and began to tell me how I needed to talk and express myself. She was basically telling me to behave like her, because her way of speaking and expressing herself must be superior, right? (sarcasm). Short of calling her a colonizer, I basically let her know that I was going to express myself how I felt like. Her ego was bruised; she couldn’t understand that people express themselves in different ways and that it just is what it is.
Traveling encourages a person to embrace what is different, often because when traveling you won’t really have a choice. If you travel to another country, you’re going to encounter a foreign language and you’re going to have to learn how to work around either knowing that language or not knowing that language. I remember being terrified when I went to study abroad in France. I was scared of speaking the language because I didn’t want to sound stupid. However, I realized that if I wanted groceries, or if I wanted to get my school supplies, or if I wanted to visit neighboring countries, all I could do was practice my French. That forced me to step outside and start practicing my French and by the end of the first semester abroad, I didn’t think twice about practicing French. Being in France and not really having a choice made me step up to the challenge and it stretched me and made me grow and my French speaking skills advanced as well.
It requires one to embrace different landscapes (literally) and terrains. I’ve had to traverse countrysides, medinas, large cities, and deserts. This makes one think differently and stretched my mind, having to operate in spaces foreign to me. Having to understand what that means when the call to prayer happens or understanding why most of the businesses in France are shut down in the middle of the day. Small challenges, but challenges none-the-less.
It can expose you to a better way of doing things. A different way of approaching life and appreciating the finer things that it has to offer.
Traveling helps lead to the understanding that the world operates in many ways. It also helps you to understand that people all over the world are the exact same. They just value different things and go about things in a different way to help them go about their lives.