I do get that the Wild travel thing isn’t for everyone. By that I mean sticking a rucksack on your back, booking a flight and seeing what happens. But luckily there are numerous ways you can travel our beautiful planet now that can be crafted to each individual traveller.

It’s not compulsory to be gone for years or to share dorms or to eat street food that could make you crap your pants. Luckily we now have social media groups for travellers to interact and make wise suggestions, we have Air B&B’s, Online flat share advertisement’s, remote working, mobile phones, hand sanitiser, sabbaticals and everything else in-between.

The world is now aware of the internal exponential growth a human can encounter by experiencing cultural change.

Yep, for sure, if you are on a gap year or like I was, just unsure of your next move, you could well spend your time pissed up dancing on beaches, sleeping lots and chasing the sun around the globe. But, even if it is not a conscious thing, you are still experiencing mind opening circumstances and inhaling visuals you have never encountered before.

The travel experience, however you choose to do it, is life changing.

From the people you meet along the way with their stories to the cultural change in each place you visit, each moment is adding to your own rich tapestry.

I travelled in the mid 90’s so there were no mobile phones, emails, Google etc – contact from anyone was from a call box, fax or a posted letter. Because of this, we learnt the art of patience. Patience about everything. Being patient and more tolerant of other strangers we had to live with along with their quirks was massive. Imagine – The snoring, toilet habit’s, kitchen hygiene, partying, body hygiene. The patience of having to print your CV off in person and then hand deliver it to all the jobs you need to apply to.

The art of acceptance and understanding was something I wasn’t expecting to encounter on my trip but non the less, I was gifted that too. Whether you agree or like another persons culture was irrelevant, as we were guests in their territory, but developing the art of accepting another’s life ‘regardless’ was something very necessary. If the gift was taken with open eyes, I would then find that accepting not only gave me a huge amount of peace but also zero judgement. Bliss!

The gift of silence was one I wasn’t aware of until years later. Hear me out. When you are sometimes in groups of people travelling, it is not sustainable to be continuously chatting, entertaining etc – therefore, you begin to find peace in silence. No awkwardness, no trying to fill a gap in conversation, no demands from another – just simple, accepted silence. Not only did this make life easier for when I really was on my own with no one to talk to but it gave grace to the moments in my journey that needed to be mentally, emotionally and visually absorbed. I talk about silence all the time. If you are able to shut off the external world for long enough to hear what your internal voice is telling you – then you’ve hit the jackpot!

Probably one of the most rewarding gifts I developed was the gift of intuition. By the way, we are all intuitive beings, it’s whether or not you choose to tune into this that is the key.

So, when you meet new people, get invited places, share spaces, develop relationships etc, you have nothing on these people but exactly what they are telling you. You know nothing about the exertions apart from the reviews written, you have no clue if you will like a new place or not, you’re simply going with what someone else told you. So, this is when our lives are still enough to hear our inner voice telling us a big fat NO or a massive HELL YEAH.

This became really loud and clear when I was travelling with my friends. You just know when to move on, when to quit, when to say no, when not to trust. This gift wasn’t developed without error by the way. In fact there were some monumental lessons to be had along the way, but that was all part of it.

I was really sociable in this chapter of my life and would chat to anyone. Therefore, what was bloody brilliant for me with travel is that you didn’t owe anyone anything, not even your time. You were not obliged to be friends with someone totally unsuited to you because you worked with them or they were your neighbour or a friends son, you were free of that BS. It’s like the universe had a huge magnet and would draw aligned souls towards each other and push away ones not suited. Does that make sense?

You know when you feel that instant draw towards another’s energy field? Bloody brilliant!

I guess that’s what becomes really foggy when life returns to being hectic. The noise interferes and we become totally distracted with what is meant for us.

In a nutshell, what i’d love to inspire you to do, is this.

If you feel any desire, urge, calling to dip your toe into travel, however you wish to do it, GO DO IT!!

You are here once and it’s a bloody big world to explore.

Find destinations that light you up, see places that your eyes won’t believe, experience things that will make you cry with joy and meet people who stay in your life forever.