Gaining but Not Losing?

What do people get from travelling? Is it all just achieving or possessing something? Well, let me answer that by stating the meaning of travel from a dictionary. The dictionary simply states travel as journey. For me, travel is a word that does not need any explanation. Everybody knows it, people do it all the time, unless you don't get out of your house of course. 

Many people say that you gain many things when you travel but is it all about gaining and not losing anything? Travelling is an experience one can remember for a long time and share to others. I haven't met one person who is not proud of being in another place. Everytime I get to hear other people tell stories about their travel, I get amazed by how excited and satisfied they are in sharing their experiences even if its not all a heavenly experience.    

Whenever I ask people what do they get from travelling, their answers are all the same, it is the Experience. Experience is a collection of acquaintances, actions and knowledge all packed in one word. In travelling there are many things you gain from experience, common examples are friends, new understanding about the place you are visiting and weight. Seriously, every one adds extra pounds after their travel or maybe it's just me or depending where you go to for vacation. 

New acquaintances are common to a person travelling alone. The person needs to interact with others for instances like making new friends, asking where the bathroom is or simply put as asking for directions. When people are in a new place, they tend to want the facts and the history of the place. To state the obvious and redundancy, there are numerous number of people on tourist's spots.

Millennium Wheel and Thames River London

As I said earlier, every time I travel I gain weight. Portion control and Dieting are words I don't recognize whenever I travel. The biggest part of my journey is to try and taste different foods. I believe that food gives identity to one country. Each has a dish that is unique to that place. 

Deep Fried Crickets in Donghuamen Night Market Beijing

Photo of a food stall in Donghuamen Night Market Beijing

Travelling is not all about achieving or possessing something. Certainly, you lose something from travelling. There are a lot of things that you lose from it but can you guess what it is the most obvious one?  People use, want, need and work hard for it every second of their lives. The answer is as clear as a crystal, MONEY. A wonderful creation that has been used to measure one person's status, sarcastically speaking. People work and work just to save money for a trip. It is like a reward for the whole time they have been working. Spending money wisely will make the trip more enjoyable. You don't want to run out of it quickly, trust me, I have experienced that and I was not really happy with myself.     

The whole experience of travelling is composed of gaining and losing something. It is part of the balance in the world. You have to lose before you gain or vice versa, that's the rule. Preparing for a trip is really important so that you can enjoy the experience. A healthy and prepared body, mind and pocket is analogous to a memorable and happy trip.