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THERE’S A GENERALLY ACCEPTED NOTION — amongst travelers, at least — that if you travel you will become wise, more knowledgeable, more compassionate, that your mind will open like a lotus flower. From this flows the idea that to travel is to reach for an ideal, a heightened sense of humanness, of becoming more “one” with the world.
Over the years, since I’ve been involved in the travelsphere, I’ve seen tweets, Facebook statuses, article submissions, and blogs that make it evident to me that this is the prevailing thought — that to become wise and compassionate, you need to travel. Travel becomes religion, and the congregation loves to spread the gospel.
While travel can be a means to an end, it is not the end. Travel, by its nature, is like a hammer. Same with social media. None of these things is “good” or “bad” on its own. They’re tools. A hammer can build a house, but it can also end a life. Social media can help raise money to treat someone’s cancer or support a charitable organization, but it can also be used to bully people, driving them to suicide.
While there is no substitute for travel to see, firsthand, different cultures and places, the question remains, does one really need to see, firsthand, different cultures and places? Here is a famous quote that commonly makes the rounds, which seems to support that, yes, everyone needs to travel:
- “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” ~ Mark Twain
It would be a stretch to conclude from this that anyone who doesn’t travel is a bigot, prejudiced, and narrow-minded. That’s obviously not what he meant. Yet the way it’s used within the travel community sometimes leads me to believe that that is one of the insinuations of the person sharing the quote.
Isn’t it possible that even travelers can be narrow-minded? Just because a trip round the world was “enlightenment” for one doesn’t guarantee it will be “enlightenment” for another. But within the travelsphere, there seems to be a presumption that travel is necessary to open your mind.
Just as there are many travelers who return home without any profound shift in their worldviews, there are many who do experience that shift without stepping foot outside their hometowns.
I’d like to use my partner as a case study. While she has lived in various cities across Canada and has driven some great distances, she has never traveled outside of North America. She has never been immersed in foreign languages, customs, and different ways of living. Yet she is one of the most conscious, aware, compassionate, sensitive, open-minded people I’ve ever met. She is much more open-minded than the majority of travelers I’ve met. And I’m sure she’s not the only one.
What if we look at travel from another perspective? Rather than travel being arriving at some foreign destination, what if it were just a departure from our own culture? Following that, do we need to physically go somewhere to remove ourselves from our culture? I think Daniel Suelo would argue that we don’t.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are guided along our path by a culture that is incessantly chattering in our ears, telling us how to behave, what to wear, what to like, how to think, how we should feel about ourselves. And since the way we treat others is a reflection on the way we treat ourselves, it should follow that if I free myself from thinking how I should be, then I free myself from thinking how others should be. To me, this is a step in opening our minds, in beating down prejudice.
In this context, perhaps to travel would mean to turn off the television, boycott “lifestyle” magazines, stop reading newspapers.
What I’m getting at is this: Travelers don’t own the patent on how to be a better person. We all have our own paths in life and we should be encouraging and supporting each other in whatever it is we want to do.
By all means, travel. Or don’t. Go to college. Or don’t. Just think for yourselves, and keep an open mind. 
Carlo Alcos
Carlo is a Managing Editor at Matador and co-founder of Confronting Love. He blogs about travel, life, and creativity at Vagabonderz.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. He lives in Nelson, British Columbia.
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Well I have read the accounts of many travellers and I have always been awestruck with their sense about most of the things. Even the many accounts here on Matador site. I always had this though that travelling helps open our mind but thanks for this great article. Thanks for writing such an awesome article.
I totally agree with this article. I’ve been to Canada, like 20 times, and those guys are assholes.
To sum up (as my friend’s grandfather supposedly said): travels teach, but it depends on who’s travelling. Excellent article!
Thanks!
I’m caught up on the idea of “open-mindedness” here. It seems, in the context of this article and these comments, that we’re equating “having an open mind” with some sort of “relativism”. Sure, being a traveler doesn’t automatically mean that you’re open minded… but likewise, being open-minded doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a good traveler. My point is looking at this topic from a different angle.. that in the same way in which travel opens minds, it can also teach us some harsh realities too… which in my humble opinion are just as important. I currently live in a place where it’s OK to smack children in school… am I supposed to have an open mind about that? That may be a poor example, but I’m sure we all have thousands more. Of course I mean no disrespect to your partner Carlo, or anyone else. I’m just saying lets be careful not mistake someones naive open-mindedness about the world (as innocent or well-intentioned as it may be) for the relative wisdom of an experienced travelers worldview. A good friend of mine once said it best when he told me that if you’re mind’s too open, your brain might fall out.
“I’m just saying lets be careful not mistake someones naive open-mindedness about the world (as innocent or well-intentioned as it may be) for the relative wisdom of an experienced travelers worldview.” This is a good point, and true, although not really on topic to what I was discussing (I wasn’t arguing the benefits of traveling or not traveling). You’re saying, for someone who’s never traveled but is “open-minded” they may, for example, try to help out in another part of the world (because they’re so open-minded) but because they don’t have the experience of ever being there, they don’t really understand the reality of the situation, so they may in fact be doing more harm than good. Somewhat related to these articles we’ve posted in the past: http://matadornetwork.com/change/only-the-weird-volunteer-abroad-and-thats-a-problem/ and http://matadornetwork.com/change/why-you-shouldnt-participate-in-voluntourism/
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I really liked this article. I know a lot of non-prejudice, kind people who simply can’t afford expensive plane tickets and aren’t the hostel, backpack type. Or for whom travel is an insane luxury, something you get to do upon retirement. Sometimes it’s not that they don’t want to travel, it’s that they don’t have the opportunity. Or they don’t realize it’s a lot easier that it seems. I have met travellers who condescend to others without even realizing it. Or they speak from members of a country when they aren’t from the country. “I’ve been there, so I know.” Just because you’ve “been there” doesn’t mean you know what it’s like to live there or be from there. I think my little bit of travel has made me realize how much I don’t know and how big the world is.
Excellent article and I believe completely accurate. Gracias!
Good post because we’ve all seen Tourists Behaving Badly.I remember my own experience in Ecuador, sitting for lunch with friends. They couldn’t stop howling with laughter over the chicken feet in their soup. I sat there embarrassed since there were other patrons in the restaurant and my own mom cooks chicken feet stew
and for some reason this surprised me. I thought as travelers, teachers, expats abroad, shouldn’t they act better?
Great article! Although I do agree that travelers generally gain an open mind or broaden their perspective, you are 100% right that not all do. As travelers we need to check our ego’s every now and again.
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