People say you learn as you go and I could not disagree more. I started traveling as a hobby for the past three years and at first I see no advantage to it, but as time flies by I see the benefits to my wanderlust. I started traveling in the states initially where I visited San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Yosemite, Big Sur, Grand Canyon, New York City, Denver, Las Vegas, and then ventured out to Europe, visiting London, Paris, Venice, Munich, Swiss Alps, Amsterdam, ect. I started traveling mainly because I wanted to see places that I read about only in books and saw people I know flew across the world and posted pictures on social media. I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, London Eye, The House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, eat the macaron and the baguettes that the French are known for, see the house of Anne Frank and many other historical sites in the world.
One of the benefits about traveling is that it helps me to connect information faster. On the late night of November 13th, there were multiple terrorists' attack in different districts in Paris, from the 11 arrondissement to the 10th arrondissement to the soccer game that the Prime Minister of France was attending; one attack occurred in the Bacalan theater in the 11th district where 128 people died and the location was only an eleven minute drive from the place I stayed at in Paris two months ago for my vacation. I did not walk in that neighborhood but I have passed by it on my way to the Latin Quarter and in fact I almost stayed at a hotel in the attacked area in the theater. As I read the news about the attack, I can picture myself standing in that neighborhood and seeing the Swat team hovering over the theater where it occurred. I was in Paris for nine days total so the whereabouts of the neighborhood and the districts are very much familiar to me. I was able to make connection of my experience in Paris to the news quickly. In fact I have a friend living in the 19th arrondissement so I sent him an email and was glad he was safe. Best of all, the sympathy I felt for the injured and killed in the attacks felt genuine as if I was one of them. Heck, I was one of the Parisians living there two months ago.
A lot of time we learn as we go and we understand as things happen and it applies to traveling as well. I enjoyed my time traveling but the benefits to it was not fully understood until I actually get back to the states. I see how the world is connected and when I read the news, the situations make sense and I was able to understand them better and at a faster rate. It's true, traveling does make people smarter. It helps us see the world out there and if we are open to it, it can teach us anything and we become not just a smarter person, but a more sympathetic person as well.
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