Transformative Travel - Looking Forward and Back

Some highlights from 2012 trip to Holland - very hard to choose out of over 2000 photos taken. I was born in Holland and am always so proud to be Dutch - particularly when visiting this exquisite country.

I LOVE to travel and fortunately my husband does as well. One of our current life strategies (given our age and income - neither going down or up respectively) is to travel as much as we can - while we can. I was inspired to write this blog when traveling to Chicago over the recent holidays to visit with my sister and her husband. On our AirTran flight, the in-flight magazine GO featured several articles about the transformative nature of travel. These articles captured so well how I feel about traveling - that it actually changes who you are and your life perspective.  I am including some highlights of our 2012 trips amongst the ideas described in the magazine.

Some notable quotes:

Travel triggers a concept called psychological distance. Something about the experience of leaving your place jars things loose, shocks you into a new perspective that floods the brain with ideas.  Jad Abumrad, Co-Host of RadioLab.

 Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you.  Anthony Bourdain, from his memoir, The Nasty Bits. 

This region in the south of Portugal is picture-perfect and shows the strong influence of the Moors in Portuguese history. We were amazed by everything we saw - it was all new to us.

More notable quotes:

Travel makes me feel less like an American and more like a world citizen, like a part of an ancient flow of human nature.  Helen Fisher, Anthropologist

When you're on vacation, you're more in the prefrontal cortex. That's because many of the cues around you have changed. This results in more neurological plasticity, more opportunities for learning and thinking differently.  Charles Duhigg, NYTimes Writer and Author

Even this trip close to home was a real eye opener.  I didn't have much of an idea of the culture of the Florida Keys and the beautiful, massive island coastlines.  

We were so impressed (and surprised) by the beauty and vibrancy of the Lisbon area of Portugal and its surroundings that we have tried to talk everyone we know into taking a trip there - a gem of an area.

More notable quotes:

The way I generated my intellectual life was not through school, or books, or work, or parents. It was through travel. My recommendation for life-changing travel is to spend some time traveling alone.  ... it guarantees you will meet people you would not otherwise meet.  Parag Khanna, Author of Hybrid Reality

Travel changes us. From a social science perspective, I think of travel as having three components. The first is where we are anticipating an upcoming trip. ... Then there's the obvious part: the vacation itself. ... third component, when we come back ... The actual experience might be four days or a week, the anticipation could be months and the memory could last for years or forever. Dan Ariely, Behavioral Economist

Even though we had been to this area at least 10 times before, we visited three totally different areas and learned a lot about some of the original settlers of the area - a new experience.

I found this article spoke to me and said so much about my love of travel that I just had to share it. Our favorite, most life-changing, trip was to Normandy, France and I posted several blogs on the subject - check one here.

We are anxiously looking forward (ah that anticipation factor) to trips in 2013 to Crete and Athens, Greece, China (river cruise), Hilton Head (with family), Southern California and Palm Springs (to see son) and who knows what we will still add.  I do love to travel!