3 Ways Travelling Can Change Your Life
Most people enjoy taking a break from their everyday lives to do a bit of travelling, but not many realize just how life-changing travel can be. Yes, travel offers up the opportunity to see exotic places where you can see famous landmarks and taste new flavours, but it can also be so much more.
The key to experiencing life-altering travel is the willingness to go outside of your comfort zone and challenging your beliefs and opinions. You’ll soon realise that there is no single way to live and that you can often choose the life you want.
So, dare to live the life you’ve always wanted and realise the life you currently have doesn’t necessarily need to be permanent. Whether you’re thinking of relocating to another country, meeting new people from different cultures, or starting a new career abroad, there are a number of ways travelling can change your life.
Making Long-Lasting Friendships
Whether you’re travelling solo or as a family, you can easily meet new fascinating people if you’re willing to put yourself out there. Too often, travellers stick to the privacy of their own hotel rooms and plan activities that don’t force them to engage with others.
While holidays may be enjoyable without needing to forge relationships with locals or other travellers, it is often new found relationships we develop while travelling which gives us a reason to go back to a certain destination.
When we travel, we rid ourselves of daily stresses and distractions. This allows us to offer more attention to conversations and really connect with other people. This ultimately means you can develop strong and meaningful bonds with complete strangers in a surprisingly short amount of time. You will also notice that you can strengthen bonds with family or friends that are travelling with you and even discover more about who you really are.
Engaging with locals and developing new friendships will allow you to open up your mind to new ideas and ways of life that will challenge your possible misconceived perceptions of certain cultures or groups of people. Travel makes you realise that most people around the world are inherently friendly and genuine people, with locals also being able to let you in on great tips while travelling and may have connections that can enhance the enjoyment of your trip.
You may also run into other fellow expats such as yourself for whom you may be able to develop bonds with which could lead to future travel possibilities if you end up making plans to meet up around the world.
Finding Your Ideal Forever Home
Many people also end up discovering places they absolutely fall in love with while travelling. While it may be easier to relocate domestically to another state or region of your home country, many nations are making it easy to move and set up a new life abroad.
It’s easy to fall in love with a new country and want to relocate there thanks to new adventures and surroundings that make you feel alive and engage all your senses. There are of course certain countries that are especially luring such as European nations like Portugal which in addition to its stunning beauty offers an easy path for a foreigner to become a resident or future citizen.
After deciding you want to make a move, a simple online search of Property Lisbon will reveal a wide range of beautiful properties that could become your new forever home. Portugal for instance, also offers a Golden Visa Program that allows you to purchase a property or start a business and become a resident and possible citizen if you choose to. Furthermore, Portugal is a safe country that provides good healthcare and education as well as being one of the more economical countries within Europe to live.
As an added bonus, Portugal belongs to the EU which means as a resident or citizen you’d be able to live, work, and travel between the 26 European Schengen nations. The special Golden Visa residence permit can be obtained in exchange for a 5-year investment in Portugal where you purchase a property for as little as €350,000.
Wherever you decide to settle, be sure to do your research and really get a feel for how your new life in a foreign country would affect both you and your family if you have one. While things may be different living in another country, many expats welcome the many adventurous and exciting changes.
Start a New Career or Lifestyle
Many countries now offer work visa programs that will allow you to live in a foreign country for an extended period of time while earning an income to fund your new life abroad. We have also seen the rise of businesses allowing their employees to work remotely thanks to the pandemic, which means you may be able to move somewhere exotic while still keeping your current job back home by working online remotely.
Many of us have once heard a little voice inside us telling us that we don’t belong in the job we’re currently in and that there must be more. Thankfully, there often is something more out there that can completely change your life for the better.
The world only keeps getting more interconnected, meaning finding a career in a foreign country is getting easier and easier. Many foreign companies actively seek skilled workers from overseas and may even help you obtain all the necessary visas and paperwork, pay for your move to the country, and set you up with funds to secure housing or accommodation.
Travelling abroad and finding places where you may potentially want to relocate can reveal industries that you never knew existed and yet were made for you and your personality. Even if you choose to travel or relocate to another country for a short period, you may find yourself with a new outlook and fresh perspective to life and where you want yours to go.
As a traveller, you quickly realise that life can be whatever you wish to make it and there are endless ways you can live. You aren’t strictly sentenced to a 9 to 5, 40 hours a week job. You may even find that other countries are much more generous when it comes to a work-life balance, offering far more paid vacation time every year.
There are of course things to be aware of when working in another country, such as getting the appropriate visas that will allow you to work legally and learning the different tax laws and banking practices of various countries.
These are just a few ways travel can end up changing your life in a very big way. With enough drive and a bit of courage, anyone can turn their travel into more rewarding experiences.
