By Eva Katrivesi (A class)

When being kids or even teenagers, we all have the urge to explore the world, find new friends, try new foods and go to that one café in Rome that one of the celebrities you like posted on Instagram the other day. Moreover, I bet that all of us want those “tumblr” pictures we see all over the Internet, taking place in Paris, Venice, Sydney, New York City or Africa. But, what do all these experiences provide us with and what are the main reasons for travelling?

First and foremost, travelling is a way of learning new things. For example, you learn about the culture of a place, the beliefs of the people living there and their traditions. For instance, if you visit China you will probably learn about meditation and buddism. However, it is not only about learning things. When travelling, a lot of people try to tighten their bond with their travel-buddy or to reunite with a family member. For example, I’m half Australian so I’d like to visit my cousins in Australia soon.

In addition, there are people who only do travelling for professional reasons or just for shopping. Unfortunately, travelling is not about showing your friend that you are wealthy enough to go somewhere just to do a “shopping therapy” or that you are busy enough to only go to job-related-journeys.

Travelling is about finding who you really are. Finding new things that you enjoy, expanding your taste, not only in food but also in music, clothes and people. Travelling is about using that foreign language you learned at high school, even if a lot of years have passed and you may look silly to try it. It helps to learn things, not only for the place you visited but also for the people around you, your travel-buddy and most importantly about yourself. The benefit from this experience is that you try to enhance all these things in order to become a better human being.

To conclude, I strongly believe that travelling is a one-kind-of-experience, a very unique one, because every journey has its own story and that leads me to the conclusion that, if travelling was free, nobody would remain at home.