It’s that time of the year when you start thinking about all the things you’ve done, places you have been to and things that you have seen over the last 12 months. You look back and say how truly lucky you are to have been able to complete these wonderful journeys. How fortunate you have been to have the time and money to visit remote parts of the globe, see how different people live and how they interact with their little part of the world. Watching animals go through their annual cycles of survival to ensure that their offspring can continue the “circle of life” can truly be an eye opening experience as well as one that lets you know exactly where you stand in this wonderful world of ours. 

Travelling to me is not about going somewhere you have never been before in order to stand in front of a building, a mountain a lake or an animal and take a selfie photo to post on the internet. It’s not about checking something off a list. Travelling is truly a learning experience and should be viewed that way. It’s getting to see how other people live. Maybe even live in their shoes for a few days. As simple as that is, try not staying at the first class hotel downtown but stay in the rural outskirts of the city or village and find that little bed and breakfast that allows a family to survive by providing a great place to stay and eat for the night.

Take the time to understand the struggles that people have and how they have managed to overcome them. It may be through a combination of their faith and religion or some other binding structure in their habitat. What I have found in my adventures is the truly cohesive foundation that forms the family structure. There is a realization that in order to survive, the family must flourish and all stops are pulled out to ensure that happens. The focus on making sure that the youth of the family has more opportunity than the generation before puts tremendous pressure on that structure. The reverence that the elders of the family receive is truly fascinating. They truly become the guiding structure that the people will follow.

So having said that…go out and explore. Discover and share. Take the time to stop and smell the roses.