Reflections on Solo Travel & Humanity

Traveling across the world to foreign places all by yourself is extremely exciting and challenging.  It requires constant adjustment and letting go of your expectations.  It requires you to be able to really be with yourself, to hold your own hand and provide your own needs.  It requires you to ask for help and speak to people who don’t speak your language

            I have always been drawn to travel, especially after my Gramma planted the seeds when I was younger.  She took me to Europe, my first big trip, and ever since then, I have been enthralled by seeing new cultures, meeting new people and learning about new ways of life. 

            I think we all get settled into our ways of life because that is what we know.  Our brains are pattern organs after all, always seeking to predict and prepare.  Our brains like it when they know what is going to happen because it gives a sense of control over this wild, ever changing life.  So, it is easy to fall into your own patterns and accept your way of life as the only one. 

            However, travel disrupts this pattern.  It throws you into new time zones and new languages, and your brain can’t really predict anymore.  You are suddenly simply in it for the ride, figuring it out along the way.  The newness opens up neural pathways in the brain that haven’t been used before.  The brain becomes a fertile ground for new thoughts, experiences and even parts of you that have never been brought to the surface.

            Just because it’s new doesn’t mean that it’s easy, or even fun sometimes.  It is quite uncomfortable at times, awkward and full of uncertainty.  This discomfort is the force that breaks through the barriers in your mind – barriers like “my way of life is superior to others,” “I know everything I need to know,” as well as barriers like racism and classism.  Through all the difference, you can see that the core of humanity is the same, with the same desires for belonging and love.  These core feelings are what connect us all together, and what allow you to communicate with people who don’t speak your language or eat your food.  Emotion is deeper and more permeable than any language because it is the same across the world. 

            This understanding of emotion links us all and is the reason that humans are the greatest resource on Earth. I recently lost my phone in a crowded temple with thousands of people.  I was terrified and felt very powerless (because ultimately, I rely on my phone for so much of life).  I felt like a chicken with my head cut off.  I immediately started asking for help, talking to almost anyone who would listen, and even the ones who didn’t speak English understood that I was in trouble and offered what help they could. 

            After two days of speaking to some caring people, I got my phone back from a stranger who had picked it up.  It was a wild ride, but in the end, I was so grateful because those humans could have sold my phone or never contacted me again, yet they chose not to for some reason.  My faith in humanity was restored and I felt a deep connection with the core emotions that fuel us all. 

            Humans are our greatest resource, and diversity is what enriches all of life.  My ability to speak to all humans is one of my greatest strengths, something that I am realizing on this trip.  When I see people, I choose to see opportunities for learning and growth in their difference and the underlying sameness as a place to connect. We are all just sitting around the fires of our hearts.