3 Benefits of Traveling Outside of the City
To me, travel is a must-do life experience with many benefits. I was blessed with a family that had the opportunity to live and travel all over the world, followed by an international career that allowed me to travel and work in many countries, plus a married someone who is as passionate about exploring as I am. Travel opened my mind and my heart to the world.
I love to travel for work, but there is nothing like a vacation too! And vacation that involves traveling? Bonus! Especially if it is a significant distance away from home. That vacation can end up opening your eyes to new ways of life, can provide an excellent opportunity for relaxation and recharging your batteries, and it can even provide professional inspiration, and motivation.
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I am a travel writer and I work in tech and I am always surrounded by really smart people who do things like creating online businesses that integrate ip geolocation api; including travel apps and apps that make your life easier on the road whether you are in a big city or small. Just because a location is not in a major city doesn't mean that it doesn't offer a lot and geo-location tools go a long way to help smaller locations market themselves.
But I digress!
Out of all the different places that you could potentially travel to, there are certainly substantial and often under-discussed benefits of traveling to rural villages or other smaller locales. Here are my top 3!
A taste of a slower pace of life
As far back as a hundred years ago, the vast majority of people – including in developed nations – lived in rural settings and enjoyed a significantly slower pace of life than modern people do.
Today, the situation is completely reversed, with the majority of people living in increasingly urban environments, with all the hustle, bustle, and noise that is typically associated with those environments. [Although with the recent events in 2020, I personally think there is going to be an exodus out of big cities and back into more rural environments…]
While there are certainly benefits to living in more urban environments, many people (including myself) could benefit from getting a taste of a slower pace of life, at least from time to time, in order to rest, recharge, and reconsider whether a more mellow everyday life and routine might not be better in the grand scheme of things. That is the reason I stepped away from the insane pace of life in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015 and took a sabbatical. For nearly 2 years Mr. Misdaventures and I traveled full-time in an RV visiting anywhere BUT a big city! I know that not everyone can do that full-time, but I bet most of you could try it out during a vacation!
Spending some time in a small quaint village somewhere in a beautiful natural setting is a remarkably soothing and rejuvenating experience.
The opportunity to reconnect with the land and with more holistic ways of life
It seems like whenever any research is done on the subject, it is discovered that spending time in nature on a regular basis is a remarkably healthy thing to do – and leads to an enhanced sense of well-being in addition to better physical health, and more.
Spending time in a rural village setting can help you to reconnect with nature in quite an intimate way, while simultaneously also helping you to get back in touch with certain more holistic ways of life and daily routines than the ones you might be used to.
Even if you don’t take to the experience wholeheartedly, there are important experiences and insights that you can extract from it and apply to your everyday life.
The experience of a very different perspective than that offered by city life
In the course of your everyday routine – especially if you live in an urban environment – you’ll probably find that you get so locked into certain ways of seeing and doing things that it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to actually consider things from a different angle.
Spending time in a rural village setting can help you to experience flashes of insight and perspective that can be invaluable when it comes to helping you to structure your life as dynamically and meaningfully as possible.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE big cities too, otherwise, I would not have visited Paris more than 50 times. I would not have worked in San Francisco for 10 years etc. But there is something, no 3 somethings, about traveling outside of the big city that can't quite be replicated.
What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Do share!
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Yes, this is always great to do. You can find some many quieter spots that are just as lovely!
This post is really informative informative, I really enjoyed reading it.
That countryside seems like a great place to visit, and a real change from city life. I would like a change from my surroundings every so often.
I miss traveling. I am excited about a trip that I have planned for next month
I love traveling outside of city limits as well. Some of my best purchase finds and food finds have been in little whole-in-the-wall places.
I so agree. Some of our favorite memories are little side trips we took and fell in love with.
I couldn’t agree more. Exploring different places far from our home is a priceless experience.
I love traveling outside of cities to be honest. I am more of a quiet person myself so having the experience to just enjoy other slower paces of life is so fun to me.
I agree with all your points. I do love traveling outside the city because it’s a welcome break from the fast pace life.
I like a mix of both. Cities are fun and vibrant but I love the beauty and slower pace of rural life.
I have lived in small cities, big cities and have now lived out of town for about 18 years and I would never move back to a city! I am always taking a walk in the woods or down a creek and come back feeling 10x better than when I started my walk or hike! And its all in my backyard! Best mental health breaks ever!
Oh yes! Sometimes we have a lot of amazing places that are near us and we just need to discover!
The idea of a slower pace of life is what attracts me most about travel! My daily pace is too quick!
I agree that there are a lot of benefits. I would love to be able to travel anywhere right about now. I think my husband and I are waiting another year to go anywhere though.
It can be a really good idea as it can be much quieter and you can see more of the country that hasn’t been overrun by tourists.
When we travel, we usually try to avoid cities and crowds. I would definitely agree to these benefits.
I agree with you. Sometimes we need to reconnect to nature and see a different perspective other than the urban life.
Yes, I couldn’t agree more with you on this! I do enjoy visiting countryside away from hustle and bustle of city life 😍
I love going to different places too. I love how quiet and peaceful it is. It gives me room to relax more and forget about what is happening around for a while.