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10 reasons why you should travel this Christmas

Perhaps the biggest reward of them all is that travelling might just bring you the happiness you’ve been craving all this time.

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Lots of people get the urge to go travelling at some point. But lots of us also find reasons not to go travelling:

It’s too expensive.

I can’t take the time off work.

It sounds scary.

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I could go travelling but I’ve got so much stuff to do back here at home.

I might get lost.

All these excuses are largely offset by the numerous benefits. As anyone will tell you, if you must do one thing in your life more often, it’s travel. This is because of the numerous fabulous benefits and rewards that come with it. Let’s take a look at some of these!

Okay, so travelling isn’t meant to make you yearn to be back at home with Netflix, a cup of coffee and your laptop. But when you go travelling to remote, unfamiliar and deprived areas of the world, you really are reminded just how good you have it at home.

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Places like the Amazon rainforest or villages in Fiji have no electricity, and they certainly have no Netflix. The locals live without the basic luxuries that you take for granted. By visiting remote regions of the world, you’ll discover a new way of living, and you’ll return home knowing just how good you’ve got it. Lying in your own bed that you thought needed replacing, before you got on the plane, will never feel so good.

If you haven’t travelled for a long time (or if you’ve never travelled at all), you might think that all the world has to offer is the depressing familiarity of your home town. After all, how different can other parts of the world really be? Everywhere is vacated by buildings, throngs of people, and the same problems.

Saint Augustine put it best when he said that “the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” You might have seen a few pictures of different cities and you might have vicariously visited through movies and television. But there is nothing quite like getting out there and experiencing them for yourself. Travelling will make you realise how little you actually really know about the world around you.

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Right now, more than ever, the world needs solidarity.

When you travel to new countries, you realise that people are all the same, regardless of creed, colour and culture. We all have the same basic needs and desires. We all want the same things. We are all very similar.

If stress is pervading your life at the moment, travelling offers the ideal antidote. It takes you away from the confines of your office and out into the open, where you will find places that don’t require you to do anything but enjoy yourself and experience new things.

Travelling can actually burden you with more stress if you take too much luggage and make too many plans. Instead, you should go with the flow, take things easy and relax as much as possible. Don’t handicap yourself by trying to cram too much into your journey.

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Anyone who works in a 9-5 job five days a week knows all about the humdrum of monotony. There really is no escaping it until the weekend, and even then you only have two days off in which to do something fun.

Travelling gives you a break from mind numbing monotony. It gives you a chance to escape your habitual routine. Your mind and body is given the chance to experience new things, which invigorates you.

Yes, you probably love your diet. But when you really think about your diet, you might realise that you’re actually a little bit bored of it. After all, when was the last time you spent a week eating truly different foods that were cooked by someone else? Usually, you’re raiding the same old cupboards, snacking on the same old foods, and heating up the same pre-packaged meals.

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Travelling abroad gives you a chance to excite your tastebuds with something new and different. From seafood breakfasts to exotic curries or spicy moussaka’s to rainbow couscous salads, there is a whole new world of food waiting for you.

Although you can try new things at home, such as picking up an instrument or joining a gym, there are many things you can only try while out travelling. Life-enhancing experiences, such as scuba diving, swimming with sharks, eating scorpions, rock climbing or dancing at a full-moon party, can define you. The test your endurance, help to build character, help you to adapt to new situations, and can make you a braver, more adventurous person.

Plus, they’re often fun!

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We all need to recharge our batteries now and then, and sometimes simply stepping out of the office for 30 minutes is not enough.

If you feel as though you’ve been flagging for a few weeks now, the only remedy might be travelling. Getting away from things really can give you such a new lease of life that when return you’ll be ready to take on the world once more. Spreadsheets I’ve been putting off for months, come at me!

You’re probably not going to meet many new people if you’re stuck in the same humdrum routine. Travelling gives you the chance to meet a whole wealth of new people who may well turn out to be your soul mate friends. Wherever you go, there will be someone to connect to.

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Perhaps the biggest reward of them all is that travelling might just bring you the happiness you’ve been craving all this time. From the people you meet, to the sights you see, there is nothing quite like traveling to lift all the doom and gloom from a human’s soul.

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