How To Experience Life-Changing Travel and Where to Go

If you’re a traveler of a certain age, you remember the “Eat, Pray, Love” phenomenon, where Elizabeth Gilbert’s book and Julia Roberts’ movie started travelers trekking toward the ends of the earth searching for life-changing experiences, spiritual enlightenment, and self-discovery.

That trend in travel remains, though not at the forefront like it was then, and it begs the question: How can you have a life-changing experience on vacation?

This is something you have to answer yourself. And these steps may help you along the way.

Keep an open mind.

If you go into an experience expecting it to change your life, without a plan it may not.. Sometimes, the weight of your own expectations is too much of a boulder to move.

A better way to approach things is to go into a vacation open for it to change your life.

Accept that it may not happen. Accept that it might. Be content with the knowledge that even if it doesn’t, you’re going to have a marvelous time.

Life-changing experiences don’t always happen with a bang. Sometimes, it takes time to realize that you were changed by something. So don’t expect drones to spell out “That changed your life!” across the outback sky. Be open and give it some time.

Put yourself out there.

Putting yourself out there is extremely important for life-changing travel. Not much is going to happen if you stay between the white lines. The musician Neil Young wrote that the most interesting things happen in the ditches, and sometimes that’s true.

Maybe you’re at the time and place where a three-day Caribbean cruise is all the adventures you’re willing to embrace. That’s okay. Let it be a stepping stone. If you’re traveling solo for the first time in a long while, a fall-foliage road trip might be all you can handle. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all need to start somewhere.

Also read: Best Travel Apps for Finding Things to Do on Vacation

Embrace your fears.

Mild fear is our psyche’s way of keeping us in our lane, and travel is often about stepping out of your usual comfort zone.

It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to not do some things because you’re scared. But it’s also wonderful to break through that wall of fear and see what’s on the other side.

Immerse yourself.

Do not – repeat, do not – spend your time in one destination thinking about the next destination.

You are here, and even if it’s deathly humid and you hate humidity, and it’s jam-packed and you hate crowds, let yourself be in the moment. Immerse yourself in your environment, hear the sounds, see what’s around you, smell, touch, taste.

Go for a walk. Read the signs. Remember what the shop windows look like and how the stones feel beneath your feet.

Travel can change your life in small ways, like adding to your memory bank and giving you perspective. Even if you did in a small way, travel has changed your life.

Also read: The Slow Travel Trend

Unplug.

Go for a walk without the earbuds. Leave the phone in your pocket. This is not about the latest podcast installment or the song you’ve heard a thousand times. Those can wait. This is about where you are right now.

Try visiting a local festival, event, or tradition to experience something you wouldn’t be able to anywhere else in the world.

Pretend you’re a travel writer on assignment. If you were writing about this place, what would you say? How would you describe it?

All your senses need to be open and on alert when you travel, and that’s not going to happen if you’re plugged in. So go au naturel and see what happens.

Also read: How to Weave Wellness Travel into Any Trip

Talk to people.

For some folks, this may be the hardest thing of all. On a deeper level, you’re never going to change your own life until you understand the lives of those around you. It gives you a compass point.

Now, there are lots of situations where it makes sense to keep to yourself. But buying bread from a bakery? Doing a farm stay? Hiking with a small group?

You see great things when you travel, but what sticks with you are the people you meet. Do your best to understand their lives, so their lives can help you change your own.

Also read: 6 Tips to Learn a Language Quickly and Talk Like a Local on Vacation

Reassess.

When you come home, take a deep breath. Enjoy the things you love about home. Do not immediately sit down and ask yourself, “Well, did that change my life?” Let the change reveal itself to you over time. It may be a lot more mundane than what we see in the media, but it’s a lot more real – because it’s actually happening to you.

Where to go

We’ve made it clear that life-changing travel can happen just about anywhere, but there are some special classes of travel that are especially likely to change your life.

Going where you don’t speak the language.

Visit a place where no one speaks your language, and you don’t speak theirs. Find ways to communicate and understand each other.

Language is such a huge part of our lives that having it taken away forces us out of our patterns and comforts. Although, it isn’t such a bad idea to carry along a translation app or a pocket translation book in most situations.

Going on a trek.

“Trek” is a great travel word because it suggests some amount of travail. Travail tolerance differs, so treks are going to be different from one person to another. One person’s stroll around Venice is another person’s Everest.

If you characterize part of your trip as a trek, immediately there’s a push out of your comfort zone. This is an expedition; it’s like Lewis and Clark fording the rivers.

Again, everyone will define this differently. But it’s often a big component of life-changing travel.

Explore: The 6 Best Hiking Trips in the U.S.

Going where it’s spiritual.

We all connect differently to the eternal and spiritual, and those encounters can happen anywhere – on the road to Machu Picchu or as you sip coffee from Italy. However, there are places that are more connected to spiritual realms that are worth seeking out.

You don’t have to be Christian to appreciate the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. You don’t have to be Buddhist to feel the peace emanating from Angkor Wat. The calls to prayer from the minarets of Algiers will resonate with you, regardless of your beliefs.

Sometimes, the spiritual isn't as overt as those examples. You may find it in a Botticelli painting or a roadside shrine.

How to Weave Wellness Travel into Any Trip

Going where it ties to your passion.

If you love Celtic music and you’re at a ceilidh in northern Scotland, you may as well be in heaven.

Not every trip to fulfill your dreams pans out. But when it does, it can absolutely change your life.

How do you make sure a passion-following trip gives you all the fulfillment you’ve been seeking? Choose your travel wisely and try to keep a lid on your expectations. As we said earlier, you need to be open to the possibility that will change your life and not expect it to change your life.

If you do that, then it’s entirely possible that you can live your dreams.

Also read: Travel Tips for All Types of Love Languages

It’s pretty clear that life-changing travel can happen at any time, so travel with peace of mind with travel insurance and assistance services from Generali Global Assistance.

We all have plans to go on a potentially life-changing trip, and getting covered is as easy as getting a quote.