Four more reasons to travel the world in 2019
On New Year’s Eve I sat at a table with four other people, two who know how much I travel the world and two who do not. There, a question came up. “If there was a day this year you could have swapped lives with anybody at the table who would that be and why?”
Now that you have considered this question for yourself, let me say that this exercise yet again reminded me why the traveling life is the right choice for me. All four of them said they would like to swap lives with me, all for different reasons:
Living in amazing places
One person said they would like to swap because I live in Barcelona, which is by any measure a wonderful city to live in. There is a beach, plenty of entertainment, great food, employment. It’s international, progressive and embraces technology, the weather is splendid and the people are nice.
Traveling to amazing places
One person said she would have swapped the day I spent in Riga. (If you are interested, you can read about my short trip to Riga, Latvia in my blog post.) She thought it seemed like an interesting place she would like to visit. That is, without me having told her anything about it at all.
The travel the world lifestyle
One person wanted to swap because of the lifestyle I live, the traveling freely around the world, even though my job is no better than his. He has days when family life with all the ties on his time and mind is so stressful he would like to escape for a day. I am just content with my life and very happy with the choices I made. Through his eyes I saw clearly how lucky I am to have kept liabilities low, outbound cashflow low, ties to one place limited and my options open.
The resilience traveling brings
One person wanted to swap her hardest day of the year with me, because she thought I could have handled it with more resilience. We all know that expat life and traveling the world have tough moments as well. I fell certain that having overcome loneliness, insecurities and illness abroad contributed to what she perceives as resilience on my part. When you have no security net, you have no choice other than to bounce back from setbacks on your own.
All of these people have stable jobs, healthy children, a comfortable home and a partner who loves them. I could not believe they all wanted to swap with me.
If anybody out there is reading this because of a resolution to travel more this year: do it. Just pack and go – plan, but don’t overthink. Prepare, but do not worry. Be careful, but don’t be afraid. May this be my wish for your new year.
Who would you swap lives with and my? Comment below!
These are amazing reasons to travel the world. For me its more to get to know more languages.
That’s a beautiful reason. Languages help understand each other better. Understanding leads to respect and appreciation of the differences. The traveler’s contribution to world peace.