Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

WHY TRAVEL?

Every traveller is different. Some travel to do something, many travel to avoid something, and others travel to become something. Some love it and some hate it. Some even make a living doing it. Regardless of your purpose for travelling, either visiting or living in another country undoubtedly changes you, and despite your level of enjoyment throughout the process (for better or for worse!), it will leave a mark on you more impressionable than the one you leave on the world abroad. For this very reason, millions of people keep engaging in the experience over and over again, consciously and unconsciously in search of the change that results from discovering and learning. Since the gifts of change come in large and small packages, the following are our list of reasons–some life-changing and others worth a good laugh–why we feel travel is an unforgettable and irreplaceable experience.

Travel…

1. Helps you gain independence

2. Teaches you to learn a new language

3. Allows you can add professional tv & movie subtitle reader to your resume

4. Exposes you to a new way of life, a new people, and a new culture

5. Teaches you how easy it is to lose track of the day’s date

6. Forces you to use the internet for communicating and staying in touch with others (skype and social media outlets become your lifeline)

7. Presents opportunities for you to fall in love (if not with another individual, than with a country or one of its greatest assets)

8. Teaches you why sunscreen, car sickness medication, and insect repellent are travel essentials

9. Gives you a deeper appreciation of where you come from

10. Teaches you why waterproof maps are a great invention

11. Teaches you to pack spare clothes, a toothbrush, and deodorant in your carry-on luggage in case an airline looses your bag(s)

12. Gives you patience

13. Encourages you to become a photographer, regardless of the extent of your photo-taking skills

14. Helps you understand how small the world truly is, how similar people are, and how most of us are in search of the same things

15. Strengthens your immune system (by developing a grater tolerance to foreign climates and foods, getting more exercise, and reducing stress)

16. Teaches you which insects, reptiles, and/or amphibians are poisonous and which are not

17. Teaches you how to sing (or at least hum along to) the national anthem of a country other than your own

18. Allows you to experience what it feels like to miss home

19. Teaches you the value of a dollar (especially those who travel with a limited budget)

20. Helps you understand how unrealistic stereotypes are so you can practice refusing them

21. Teaches you to assume nothing and try everything

22. Teaches you to identify the locations of gas stations before setting out on the road (when renting a vehicle)

23. Encourages you to practice challenging yourself daily

24. Teaches you that being alone is very different than being lonely

25. Encourages you to see in yourself how you can better the lives of others and experience for yourself how others better your own

For additional reasons why travel may be beneficial for your health, consider the following resource: http://www.well-beingsecrets.com/health-benefits-of-traveling

QUESTION TO COMMENT ON: What have your travels taught you?

Pura vida!

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