One of the longest lasting effects of travel is that it helps you expand. And I don’t mean your waist line. You bring experiences back with you and layer them into your life. So much more than simply pleasant memories, you can apply and integrate new ways of thinking, of being, and witness yourself grow. Here are five ways you can expand through travel:
1. Stay In The Moment
There’s nothing wrong with being a passive witness sometimes. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons for quiet corners in cafés and park benches with a view. What a gift a stretch of free time is, right? So put aside for a spell any self-imposed pressure to text, photograph your food, or plan your next move. Then start by opening your eyes and watch and absorb what’s going on around you.
Soon you’ll feel yourself sink into the ambient medley of sounds, distinguish smells; it washes over you, imprints on you deep and long lasting.
Don’t worry about writing down your impressions before you forget. According to researchers at the University of Edinburgh, sitting 10 minutes in a quiet area letting the mind wander without distractions seems to prompt the consolidation of memories.
How can you do this if you’re travelling in a group? Instead of taking breakfast in the hotel, choose a place you’ve perhaps noticed within short walking distance, and make it your quiet spot. If you do wander off from the group, make sure one person can contact or find you.
2. Don’t Be Afraid To Allow Your Sense of Self and Your Beliefs to Expand.
If you’ve never traveled or lived outside of your country and are hoping to, you can look forward to learning some surprising truths about yourself. Sometimes amazing, sometimes ouch… That’s a natural outcome of being forced into unfamiliar situations that push your buttons.
Of course, you’ll meet many people along the way who aren’t brought up culturally to act and react they way you expect them to. Frustrating, you bet; enlightening, absolutely. Just remember this: most times it’s not a question of ‘what am I doing wrong’, it’s more about learning what approach do they respond best to.
When you’ve figured it out, imagine how great you’ll feel at your expanding flexibility!
Another outcome: with the possibility of coming in contact with so many cultural groups, and if you’re in a place at just the right time of your own evolution (though you may not realize it), you might find yourself intrigued by the spiritual beliefs around you. Go one step further and you might be surprised to find yourself ready to expand to a more fitting model. I speak from experience.
3. Expand Your Creativity
Nothing stirs creativity faster than standing this close to the most breathtaking scene you’ve ever seen or hearing a sound so exquisite you get goose bumps. Once you get ahold of yourself, you can’t help but burst with the need to express it. So, raise your camera, prep your canvas, write a poem, crack the spine on your own travelers journal.
Here’s an example… that this world is still feeling today.
Take Langston Hughes, his first year in Paris. There he was in 1924, night after night, earning his rent by washing dishes in grubby kitchen of a Pigalle nightclub while star entertainer Bricktop sang out front. Little by little in his head he began stringing together words of the foreigners he could also hear, he set that to Bricktop’s jazz beat, and the outcome was the birth of jazz poetry.
4. Rethink Your Preconceived Ideas
We’re all conditioned to believe and think with a particular worldview. When we travel, yours is likely to sound drastically different from the place you’re in. Let’s face it though, every country is chest-pounding proud of its culture, history and is patriotic to the hilt.
And nothing people brag about more than their local cuisine. 
Have you heard about Voulez-Vous Diner? It’s an organization of foodies who set up a dinner in their home and invite locals and travelers to ‘break the bread’ with them. On my last trip, while searching for an immersive experience for my students, I met one such hostess -Soraya, an Arabic French woman living in the Goutte d’Or African district. In her cozy apartment she dishes up North African and Subsaharian cuisine – couscous beside yassa chicken, rice alongside tagine.
Voulez Vous Diner operates in 26 countries. It’s fantastic for expanding your network. Caveat – in some countries, France included, be prepared to voice your opinion on politics. It’s common dinner table chatter. Especially if something is going on in your home country that’s got the world abuzz.
5. Rewire Your Sense of Trust
Good travel improves your ability to trust yourself and others. You’re constantly asked to make instant decisions you’re not faced with at home. The trick is to listen to your heart and don’t be afraid to veer off the planned agenda. That said, there’s no upside to being reckless; be cautious, aware but not afraid.
The more you travel internationally, the more you start to see the circles that connect and unite people rather than separate them. By extension, the more you genuinely open to people, the more you’ll grow into a refined, sophisticated person. Says Adam Galinsky, author of several studies on the connection between creativity and travel, “we found that when people had experiences traveling to other countries, it increased what’s called generalized trust, or their general faith in humanity.”
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