We Are All Travellers

THE CROFT/ Anyone who is navigating life with an impulse to learn more about the world through people, moments, and places is, in fact, a traveller.

By Clara Zimban, Politics and International Relations

When we think about travel, what often comes to mind is the image of a
backpacker in a remote country or a tourist lying on a beach somewhere in the
Caribbean.We have narrowed an idea as big as the world to the size of a marketing advert. Travelling has become about taking a flight or a train, booking a hotel, visiting sites,eating food and then coming back home.But I think it’s essential to understand that travelling is not something that one only gets to do once or twice a year. Travel is the way we are all moving through life.

As a French undergrad in Bristol who just moved to the U.S. for my year abroad, I have had the privilege of travelling my way into adulthood. My time in the UK has taught me that there is nothing that makes me feel more myself than being on my own in a new place where I can meet different people, get inspired and grow. However, I believe that you don’t need to move countries or speak another
language to experience the transformative power of Travel. Anyone who is
navigating life with an impulse to learn more about the world through people,
moments, and places is, in fact, a traveller.

There is an image which I really like to use to describe life. It’s the image of a river. At each crossroad, you go down a different path on your river. There is no way to know what could have been if you took an alternate turn. The point is that you are who you are right now because every one of these turns has transformed you.You can never bathe twice in the same river, right? Because the river is always flowing, in constant metamorphosis, and so are you.

Think about how different your life could have been if you had made different
decisions or if someone else had. If you hadn’t gone to that social and hadn’t met
that one person who is so special to you now.Your life is always in movement, even if you don’t travel in the traditional way; you transform every day along the twists and turns of your river.

This is Travel.

Every time you feel changed, impacted by a discussion that you’ve had, or
surprised by a moment you didn’t expect, you are experiencing the essence of what travel is about: letting life change you. Moments and people uniquely embedded in time and space impact you every day in a way that you will never experience again, regardless of where you are in the world.

We have entertained the idea that life-changing experiences only happen in certain places and settings - there is nothing further away from the truth. Travel happens everywhere, from the moment you venture away from the sound of your own thoughts or the sight of your face in the mirror. The moment you start appreciating something new, extraordinary things can happen in ordinary places.

Featured Image: Clara Zimban

What moments in your life have felt figuratively similar to travel?