Before you read this article I must disclose that I have only traveled abroad under few circumstances — traveling to America from my home country, traveling back to Guyana to visit, and a rare spur-of-the-moment round trip to Canada — however, I intend on traveling abroad within the next few months ahead.
While the answer may seem obvious to some as to why everyone should travel abroad, you would be surprised in knowing that many people actually fear of traveling to a new country with new surrounds and unknown people.
I, on the other hand, find such an experience extremely fascinating and more of a pleasure than a risk. I have always been a daydreamer, therefore, I have held more tourist destinations in my head from movie clips and National Geographic’s Instagram — my imagination could beat Kim K’s nudity book. However, it was my sudden trip home to Guyana this past May that opened my eyes and my heart to the love of comparing traditions and cultures in a way that photos simply do no justice to. It is the reason I say traveling is for everybody.
Prior to visiting Guyana, I had been back only one time since I left at the age of 4. I was 9, visiting for my aunt’s wedding when I last returned and the vast memories I had held onto since are those from photo albums and picture frames. Now, nine years later and 19-years-old, filled with a deeper consciousness, pride and withheld expectation, I traveled back to the country I was born in to create memories I had so long been immune to. However, what I came back to America with— aside from ice apples and fish head — was a humbleness I would not have wished to get from anywhere else.
Seeing my family and the close bonds that they had with each other immediately made me think of my family in America and how it is so different here. Watching the cows roam the street with cars like open territory was a feeling of solace no lens could capture. One of the hardest things I had to do was survive without WiFi connection or indoor plumbing, but the chance to be embraced by a culture that was fully accepting of me nine years after I had deserted it was the best experience I could have taken away.
Watching how women carried themselves for their husbands and the unwritten rule for men to work all day and, in other occasions, carpentry in their houses was in a way the most beautiful unsettling view I had encountered. Having lived in America so long, I questioned the normalcy of gender roles, yet my questions were not of much movement to anyone there. There was a sacred peace laying in the wet bushes of Guyana during rain season that made me more of an observer than critical thinker.
On my way back home I couldn’t help but dive deeper into the logic of understanding how so many different cultures and values merge only to be separated by (many times) imaginary barriers that help structure the world we live in. That is what traveling does for you. It breaks away from known backgrounds and questions things as you know it. More importantly, traveling allows you to appreciate the uniqueness of people, places and perspectives. Whether it's on your immediate list or not, a well-planed (although not necessarily detailed) spontaneous trip abroad here and there can be the very meaning in your life that every now and again we are all in search of.
