Why I Love Travel

Shockingly, a lot of people probably don’t know that I am reuniting with London in a month! #NatzazTakesLondonAgain (If you are bored and want to see what happiness looks like, go search #NatzazTakesLondon on Instagram to see my study abroad photos) My friends and I just booked our Airbnb yesterday and as I spent hours searching flats in various London boroughs I was incredibly overwhelmed with nostalgia, anticipation and gratitude. Why? Because I love travel.

I am very, very lucky for all the travel I have experienced over the past three years. I’m also very lucky that growing up my parents took us to Florida annually and that I’ve seen many cities thanks to years of Detroit Tigers road trips. However, unsurprisingly, the international travel is what has shaped me the most.

I am quickly approaching the three-year anniversary of my flight from Toronto to London for the beginning of the three most life changing months I have ever experienced. Living and studying in London is still the most amazing thing that’s happened in my life. Pitt’s business school was adamant that students study abroad but for years I was too anxious and afraid of going somewhere where I knew no one. I couldn’t do it. That changed senior year when I met an English friend and strangely felt safe going abroad. I’d been in love with British things for years (hello Royal Wedding and Cadbury Flake chocolate) and with endless encouragement from family and friends it became a reality. And that reality changed my life.

So, as I keep planning for my Europe trip, I thought I’d share some of the ways that international travel has made me who I am.

Exposure to Different Cultures and Languages

When in London I lived in an apartment with four other girls; two from Minnesota, one from New York and one from India. Right off the bat I was going to learn things while abroad even if I met no one else. You can’t live with someone from a different country without learning about the world. Now, Ayushi was going to school in Pittsburgh but her family was all back in India so I learned about her culture and I got to hear her speak in a different language (which is one of the most exciting things to me). I remember going to a little Indian restaurant a few minutes walk from out flat and watching her interact with the employees and having her explain what they discussed. It was fascinating and I still love when she and I spend time together and she takes a phone call from her dad.

Besides Ayushi though, I heard so many different languages in London. There are over 300 languages spoken in London schools and I believe it. I thought I was going to be endlessly surrounded by Brits but I was mistaken! I was actually surrounded by people from all over the world. And even the fact that I lived in Camden Town and not Kensington or another borough was amazing. Camden is a thriving center for artists and musicians so simply living in that place for three months opened my eyes to the world. 

Without a doubt, if I hadn’t gone abroad I would still be “narrow-minded.” I’m not saying I am the most open-minded person in the world nor that I was ever incredibly narrow-minded but going abroad has only broadened my horizons. I was raised to be respectful of everyone and I was involved with special needs and mental health organizations before study abroad. I always respected people and their battles. However, the exposure to humankind while in different countries is astounding. Talking to people that are not from America is one of my favorite things to do.

Courage to Do Things Alone

As I already said, just studying abroad helped me overcome fear and anxiety. But while in London I overcame so much more. I had always been fine eating meals alone at restaurants but London just took it to a whole new level. I didn’t want to spend countless hours in my flat so I discovered coffee and tea shops where I went to study or read books.

When my flatmates and I were planning a trip to Scotland I was slow at booking my bus trip and either had to travel alone for 12 hours or not take the trip. I didn’t hesitate and happily booked a bus ticket that would last a whole night and take me from London to Edinburgh. It’s been explained at least a dozen times before but on that solo bus trip I met amazing Australian friends who happened to be on the same Scottish tour. If I had been traveling on that bus with friends I know I wouldn’t have reached out to other people as much as I did. If I hadn’t been alone and hadn’t piped up when I heard these random girls talking about Scotland I never would have gone to Australia! And if I hadn’t gone to Australia I would not be in the great life mindset that I am in now.

Encouragement to Follow my Heart

Now this has so many different facets. While in London, I went to two Ed Sheeran concerts and one was the best night of my life. Almost three years later, that concert at Wembley is still the happiest I’ve ever been. If I had been afraid to go to the concert alone or if I had been afraid of spending money on a last minute ticket, I would have missed out on something amazing.

Concert posters lining the London Underground in 2015.

If I hadn’t gone to see Ed in Dublin a few weeks later, I would not have spent time in Ireland and I never would have ended up sailing on Ulysses, which was once the world’s largest car ferry! I wouldn’t have been to the Guinness Storehouse and wouldn’t have taken a class to learn how to pour the perfect pint.

Well now, this isn’t actually international travel but if I hadn’t followed my heart and applied for the Disney College Program after graduation, I never would have spent six months interning at Walt Disney World and I would have missed out on so many great friendships. I would not have met my little New Zealander (who I got to reunite with in Melbourne). I wouldn’t have had a friend help me decide to move back to Pittsburgh and to show me how a real man acts.

As for Australia, if I didn’t decide to travel 10,000 miles I would not have found myself again. I was surrounded by three amazingly strong and independent female friends. We ate donuts and drank beer and went to markets and took pictures. We wrote blogs and got tattoos (okay the tattoo thing was only me but my friends were with me). We talked about life and our goals and who we wanted to be. I scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef and met a cute koala. And I made other friends while I was there. My friends introduced me to their friends and family who joined me on adventures and showed me around Sydney.  

And now as I write this in Pittsburgh I am still following my heart because of what I learned while traveling. My whole trip back to Europe was started when I bought Ed Sheeran concert tickets over a year ago. I had said that I would go back to London when Ed played a concert there and I stuck to it. My friends joined along and now we are going to Dubrovnik (Croatia), Budapest and London and I am so dang excited! I’ve followed my heart to find a new job and say goodbye to relationships that were no longer serving me how I needed them to. And in that process I have said hello to many other wonderful things.