Travel is Powerful

Today, like many days, my phone reminded me where I have been on this date in each of the last several years. It was on this day two years ago I was standing in Antarctica. It was my 7th continent. While several of you may have had that same experience, for me it was a lifetime goal that I felt impossible to reach for most of my life. Coming from West Virginia, that was just not something my friends did. It was only something you could see on television. However, the more I traveled around the world, the more that dream came to be attainable. With each trip I took for work or for pleasure, I felt different. For every item I was fortunate to mark off my travel bucket list it seemed another five or ten things were added. I became a travel junkie. Two years ago, standing on Antarctica watching a tuxedo of penguins, I experienced a moment that became a memory that has changed my life. I have had many of these types of moments throughout my travels. This one was special to me because it was a dream that came true. I was reminded that travel is powerful.

Throughout my adult life, amongst other jobs, I have worked in education, humanitarian travel, student travel, group travel and now in the independent travel industry. One thing I have learned true is that travel can be life-changing. Through the years, a large segment of the human race has always been curious and wanderers. This has been true for centuries and will continue to be true tomorrow. There is something magnetic about the travel experience. It is addictive. The more one sees, the more they want to see. The more they share that experience with others, the more they too want to travel as well. It is this very reason that I am both an ambassador of and an implementer for the industry. Travel is powerful!

My favorite travel quote was written by Mark Twain when he penned:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s life.” 

This could not be more true today than when first written. I once worked for a company whose soul was founded on the belief first realized by Gen. Eisenhower. He felt that if people from one culture were given the ability to spend time with those from a different culture, they could learn from each other and inevitably find "peace through understanding" where both were coming from. Not only would individual lives be impacted, but perhaps even nations. There are many ways to incite discord, but seemingly few to find peace. I have found the old adage of seek first to understand before trying to be understood applicable here. Travel provides this very opportunity. When given the chance to interact and immerse oneself into the depths of an unfamiliar place and unknown culture, it can be life changing if approached with an open mind for both the traveler as well as the host. Travel is powerful!

For those reading this who work in the travel/tourism/hospitality industries, may I remind you that your work is not futile but rather a necessity. What you do on a daily basis cannot simply be boiled down to selling a trip, booking a reservation, or cleaning a room. You are creating a memory for someone that will last a lifetime. Your "to do" list is not just some random tasks. It is a roadmap for someone's life to be forever changed by the experience you are helping create. Never let the climate of the day (or year) dictate your enthusiasm. Take a moment to realize the duty you have to your guest and to society in creating the very experiences that will alter their life through their travels. Travel is powerful!

We are certainly experiencing a trying time to say the least. We cannot overcome it on our own, but when we come together, we can continue to literally change the world. To some that may seem silly, for some it may be aspirational, and to others maybe even inspirational. To me, I wear it as a badge of honor because the world is depending on us and our entire industry. Many citizens around the world are right now dreaming of the day when they can travel again. It is encoded deep in our souls that we must wander, explore and learn. They cannot fulfill those dreams without the work that we do. May you muster the strength to keep fighting through this and the will to challenge yourself and your colleagues to do the same. There are memories waiting to be made, but those can only become a reality because of the work you do.  

Travel is powerful!