Why I Travel

I travel because I learn and grow. 

I’ve been told directly and indirectly by people close to me to be cautious of not using travel as an escape. Not a fun getaway vacation kind of escape. But as fuel for the human tendency of escapism. As in running away from your problems. 

I checked. I definitely had that tendency in me. But I don’t believe I traveled only for that reason. Once I became self-aware of this tendency in me, I made sure to filter out those tendencies by confronting myself with that escapist pattern to make sure I hold myself accountable to myself. After that, gratefully, I uncovered that I am in love with travel and that love is pure. Free from contaminants like escapist desires and such. 

I have always believed that the world is my home. Not Canada. Not India. Not Europe. Not Brampton. It would be foolish of me to mentally limit myself to a single place. Countries, borders, and laws exist but there is one commonality that transcends these and it is simply being a human being. We have that in common across every country, border, and legal system. I witnessed this common-ness by growing up as a kid between Canada and India. Two vastly different cultures and systems and countries, yet I had food, I slept, and I used the washroom just like everyone else around me. That was enough evidence and data to show me that there is something I share in common with the people in Canada and the people in India.

The more I traveled, the more this common-ness was reinforced in my mind. The USA family trips to New York, DC, or California. Brussels and London in 2012. Havana, Cuba in 2015. Spain and Switzerland in 2017. Spain by myself in 2021. Italy and Greece in 2022. And most recently, Mexico in 2023. 
Through all these different places, peoples, and cultures I could not help but see the common thread through the myriad of differences. A kind of oneness that is felt and understood, which cannot be analyzed and taught. This oneness is what makes me believe that the world is my home.

The biggest advantage of this is the perspective shift I feel when I am in a different place in the world. Two key moments really underline this feeling: reading the news from a different place and seeing different types of planes fly out of different airports.

Sipping on my cup of Indian tea on the 7th floor of a building in Mumbai on the couch while a cricket match or Indian news channel is playing in the background, it is very different reading about some European news or Canadian events in the paper. The smells, the humidity, the wind, the fabric of the couch, and the newspaper is Indian, but the article is referring to the province of Ontario, Prime Minister of Canada, or the Euro. These things seem so far away to me in that moment, yet they are so familiar. Because I am in a different place 13,000 km away,  but I still feel connected to it. That is when it really hits me that I am still on the same Earth, but just on a different part of it. 

Watching planes is the second thing that really reminds me of this oneness. In Toronto, most of the European or non-North American airlines fly in with huge planes like the Boeing 777 or Airbus A330. While all the smaller aircraft like the staple Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s are 9 out of 10 times Air Canadas, Westjets, or some American airlines. So, I get used to associating Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, and so on with the bigger planes. As soon as I’m in Mumbai or Madrid, I see small Air India 737s or Iberia A320s. (Google these planes and you’ll know what I mean quickly.) I’m used to seeing the Boeing 777 Air India fly in and out of Toronto or the Emirates A380. When I see a small tiny ATR with an Air India livery on it that is taking about an hour flight, it’s a new piece to my aviation puzzle. I am again reminded of my different location on this planet. I am now in a place where small Lufthansas are normal and big Delta’s are the norm. Yet I am still on Earth, ready to eat, sleep, and excrete.

This same mental phenomenon reoccurs time and time again in various things like the sun, stars, skies, or bodies of water. The news and the planes are the first two moments when something materialistic and very “normal” things were being done in different places and that made me aware of this immaterial oneness. That was just my first shallow and conscious bridge. Subconsciously, I’ve been aware of the deeper realities such as nature from when I was a kid.

When I was sitting in a small bakery in Barcelona in 2017 and I saw the sun in the clear blue sky after an overnight flight from Toronto, that moment was frozen in my mind and I remember thinking how amazing it was that a few hours ago I was seeing this same sun from a different point on this planet and now I’m here sitting in this cafe in a very different place but still having breakfast all the same. 

When I was in a small village in the state of Gujarat in India, and just before sunrise I could see the stars beaming at their highest luminosity with their light, I couldn’t help but notice how these stars are the same, but they just look different to me because of their orientation in the sky or my position on our Earth.

Realizing this oneness over the years has been a journey of profound growth and learning. And that is addictive. It does make me want to escape. But not because of a quick dopamine hit. Rather, it has more to do with the transcendental and immaterial growth that I have experienced every time I travel and the person I become as a result. 

I travel because I grow and learn.