Travel - another way to be happy

Travel has been a source of learning since centuries. It has brought great people together and great discoveries in human history. Being stationary and staying within a certain frame for long time becomes an handicap to seek new solutions. Travel and especially that involves visit to new cultures helps one to gain a new perspective necessary for improvement.

I am quite fond of travel more than all things except one. It not only makes me happy, able me to see new places and cultures but somehow also forces new ideas and new solutions to my queries.Travels brought remarkable turns in history most important of them in our recent history is that of Columbus. Ibn Khaldun mentioned in my previous blogs, was a great traveller and this entitled him honour as being the greatest analyzer of civilizations. 

I have been in a Mediterranean coastal city of Bodrum for last 8 months. In winter I really liked it but in summer its just full of tourists (not travelers). Today after work around 16:30 I thought of a sudden travel and went to bus terminal. Took a bus which was taking off for a 20 hours journey to a beautiful city of Gaziantep. Although I plan to get off after 12 hours at Konya, a city in Central Anatolia. 

Buses here are wonderful and provide life time experiences.  moving through Aegean with wonderful green fields, olives and figs- outside is dark with almost full moon. Bus is equipped with personal entertainment system, wireless internet and cold and hot drinks servings..

I was planning a blog on another topic related to mental happiness which I now conceal for next session. However I am hundred percent sure that travel has a direct link with happiness unless it is a forced travel due to some disaster. Even in those cases travels brought relief to people in history along with hardship.

While you travel there are two issues which make you happy but with one condition. These two issues are, ability to see new cultures and availability of time for your very own self. One can note numerous differences among people of different regions while traveling. During my travels I have noticed the rough and tough people of Erzurum where in winter minus 30 is a norm and easy going people of Aydin (a city I am falling in love with for some time by now) in Aegean region with warm and humid temperature. Ibn Khaldun in his book Muqadimmah wrote that climate has definite effect on the way people behave as well colour of their skin. I am sure that there is never a case in which one does not learn any thing from a new culture at a different place.  Small details may also bring new insights which helps to develop a new solutions perspective for the old problems. Travel brings this opportunity of learning. I will discuss the relationship between learning and happiness in detail in next blogs which would be a must read for those who are interested. 

Availability of time for your own thoughts is another vital benefit of travel. Travel lets you think in a move which is more productive than stationary thinking mode. Physical move or change of scene around you would trigger new hormonal activity in the brain useful for better working of the brain. That is evident from the simple example when people feel happy while on long drive and also are able to solve many problematic thoughts while in motion even during jogging or walking.

The only condition mentioned above to reap the fruits of travel is, you don’t behave in restrictive manner. It implies leave yourself free, become part of the place you are visiting but without letting it to be an extreme. If you continue to behave as an alien at a new place or during travel, you would neither be happy nor able to learn any thing new.

My suggestion.. leave all your problems at your office desk jump in to travel mode even if its a brief one, let it be unplanned and enjoy the unpredicted unexpected of the travel.
Some scholarships are also becoming available for travel! (sorry about quality of google translator, the original article is available at Seyahat)