Travel to Learn, Learn to Travel

Travel is one of the ultimate joys of this human life. To see the Earth, to meet people and to experience different cultures, landscapes and foods is truly a privilege. We are blessed that we have a rich kaleidoscope that we can explore and indulge in. However, travel is much more than experiencing heaven on earth. It is much more than experiencing different cultures and traditions. It is much more than savouring foods and landscapes. It is one of the ultimate ways to learn.

To learn? Yes, to learn.

Travel is an amazing source of learning. I would almost put it in the same category as reading books. Here are some lessons that I have learnt through travel.

Novelty is one of the best triggers for the brain to learn.

When we have new experiences and are confronted with novel situations, the brain is firing on all synapses. New connections are made thanks to new observations. Have you ever noticed that when we are caught up in our day to day routine, in our usual hangouts, we rarely pause to smell the roses, observe the landscape or even really see the people around us? Some even go as far as to say, that we are often walking around like zombies, pre-occupied in our own internal thoughts and to-do lists. However, this “pre-programmed” system goes for a toss when you are traveling. You are inherently more present, more aware and more open to observing reality as it is. You are listening and tuned into all of your senses. This helps spark creativity.

I remember one time when I was in Singapore about 12 years ago, I actually experienced an Uber-like taxi experience. This is well before Uber was born and smart phones were around, GPS is around, I ordered a cab ab. And lo and behold, a cab showed up to what my location was. It did strike me as amazing. Of course, I didn't take the initiative to start a company or invest in one then! 

The future is already here, but it's not evenly distributed.

William Gibson

Just by observing all of these different things in various experiences, it actually gives you a brand new perspective. Travel to a different reality and bring it to the rest of the world.

Travel teaches you how to deal with uncertainty. 

By definition, when you travel, you are out of your comfort zone and off your own “Truman’s show” set. Often, things are not going to go exactly to plan.  I remember this one time 20+ years ago, when 7 of us had gone for a week long camping trip to Yellowstone National Park. We had a flight to catch on the July 4th weekend back from Salt Lake City to San Jose. This is pre the Smartphones and Google Maps era. We miscalculated our driving time and missed our flight after a long, non-stop 7 hour car ride.

Even internet access wasn’t ubiquitous. Around midnight, we had to find a Kinko’s (not even sure if they are around now) to get access to the internet late at night, find alternate travel tickets and hop over through Las Vegas to Reno and then take another car to ride back. It is a ride that group will never forget. We learnt more about each other and how people reacted to change of events and making the alternate plans in those 7 hours than in 7 glorious days of camping. We made more long lasting memories than just the gorgeous geysers of Yellowstone. I still remember it vividly like it was yesterday.

In addition to the odd plane ride being missed, there will sometimes be a lost bag, lost travel documents or even a medical emergency. No amount of preparation can help with that. This is a rite of passage - you have to be in the moment, use all your creativity, use your empathy to talk to, and seek help from other human beings; and most importantly, keep calm and carry on. No amount of fussing about what if we had done this or not done that will help. You just need to find your way out of that situation quickly and peacefully.

The more humans appear different, the more they are the same.

When you are traveling you have to adapt to a different culture, use different currency, eat different food, communicate with people with different accents and just collaborate with different people. Beyond food, shelter and clothing, we all care for love, belonging and a human connection. You see kids playing soccer on a beach in Sri Lanka or kids playing gully cricket in the streets of Mumbai or teenagers playing a game of pickup basketball in San Jose. They are all joyous and happy when playing a game or a sport, hanging out with their friends and more. We often get caught up in the day to day rigamarole but deep down inside, we all care about meaning, purpose, happiness and eventually a human connection. At the end of it, all human beings are all the same. It is my belief that if we all traveled more we would be more accepting of other human beings, other races and people from other countries. The world would be better for it.

So like I said, travel a lot. See the world. It's one of the most fun things you'll do that also teaches you a lot. You can also tell your friends and colleagues that you are not going on vacation but you are traveling to learn! 

(Amit is a Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, an early stage Venture Capital firm based out of Bangalore, India. Prime VP invests in category creating, early stage companies founded by rock star teams. Prior, Amit has held leadership positions at Makemytrip, Google and IBM. He is also deeply engaged with the early stage startup ecosystem in India and actively volunteers with iSpirt, TiE and NASSCOM. He has been named as LinkedIn's Top Voices in 2018 and 2019 and blogs here. He also tweets at @amitsomani)