A Wide World is a Terrible Thing to Waste

During my visit in the States, I bumped into one or two people who think the current government in the USA is socialist. They have never seen and tasted life in a socialist country. They didn’t know the UK Labour Party’s ideal is Stalinist socialism.

We didn’t talk long. They would have lectured me about something they haven’t learned. I would have shot back with first hand experience, which they would have ignored.

Have you been abroad from whatever country you grew up in? No? Then do it! Don’t put it off until you retire. Go now, while you can and while broadening your mind can influence your politics for all the years you have left.

Making it more than a vacation is best, if you can swing it. Get a temporary job, arrange to write travel articles and illustrate them with photographs from your trip, sign up to do charity work in a developing country… or if you can’t make it a working trip, set up a blog and promise everyone you know that you’ll post insightful updates there throughout your trip. Do something that will force you to pay attention to what it is like for people to live there instead of just looking at the tourist attractions.

Make the trip long enough or intense enough to force a mental transition. When you only go somewhere for a matter of days, you won’t really shift your perspective. Buy a Eurail pass and spend a month hopping European trains with just a backpack, take the trans-Siberian railway, whatever it takes.

To paraphrase a great advertising campaign, a wide world is a terrible thing to miss. Go find out more about some corner of the world other than your own. Don’t take someone else’s word for it–not even mine. There’s no substitute for experience. Add to yours. You will love yourself for it.