Pack Your Bags and Travel: It's Good for You

Source: Sarah M. Queen, used with permission

One of the things I greatly missed during the COVID pandemic was traveling. There have been so many types of travel that went on hold (and to this point, some are still on hold): visiting family and friends, relaxing on vacations, exploring new places, even attending professional conferences for work. It all came to a halt with the pandemic. There were so many things to be concerned about during the peak of the pandemic that travel seemed very small, almost like an “extra” in life.

Travel leads to new experiences.

Only recently have I realized one of the important aspects of travel that was brought to a halt with the pandemic. When we stopped traveling, we lost experiences such as spending time in person with people we love and cherish. This was an obvious cost. We also lost having opportunities to enjoy the feeling of getting away from it all. And we likely had less moments spent exploring new places.

The changes in ability to travel were losses many of us experienced and recognized. But what was less obvious in not traveling was the loss of building our understanding and trust of people and groups who are different from us.

Travel builds trust in humanity.

Research finds that there is a strong relationship between broad foreign travel experiences and greater trust of others, that is, the belief in the benevolence of humanity.¹ The greater trust we can build through travel has lasting benefits. When we have greater generalized trust, we are more open to learning from each other. And when we gain appreciation for others who are different, we become more tolerant of others. The researchers further found that even travel of shorter durations, if it includes contact with others, both those who live in the places we visit and other travelers, can have a positive impact on our level of trust in humanity.

Greater trust helps us take in the perspectives of others.

Being open to learning from others, especially strangers who have different lived experiences from our own, is one of the key components of social empathy. Building our empathic abilities is best done through experiences that help us to see the world through the eyes of others. We benefit when we can take the perspective of others who are different from us, whether that be in ethnicity, race, class, culture, or other ways that people claim their identities. There are different ways to engage in perspective-taking.^₂ Travel is one, and it has the benefit of not just building our perspective-taking muscles, but it can be enjoyable and exhilarating.

Mark Twain, the great American writer, traveled extensively and wrote about it. His insight captures the empathic essence of travel. In his book Innocents Abroad, he wrote that “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” because Twain found through his travels that we can be in the world of people who are different from us, and that teaches us about other ways of living, learning, thinking, and simply being.

Travel to gain social empathy.

Travel is not the only way to gain insight into other groups, but it is a great way to do that. Losing that opportunity during the pandemic meant losing an important way to build social empathy. Now that the world is opening back up and we are traveling again, I am excited about reviving a tried-and-true tool to grow our social empathy. Bon voyage!