What I Learned About Wanderlust From Henry Rollins

What I Learned About Wanderlust From Henry Rollins

“I beg young people to travel. If you don’t have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown. Eat interesting food. Dig some interesting people. Have an adventure. Be careful. Come back and you’re going to see your country differently, you’re going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You’re going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It’s not what Tom Friedman writes about; I’m sorry. You’re going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can’t get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people-Americans and Europeans-come back and go, Ohhhhh. And the light bulb goes on.”

– Henry Rollins

Most of the time we wonder how it’s like to be in a different place with different people and a different kind of culture. We always end up daydreaming about the places we’ve never visited, and we wish to be there at some point in our lives. As days pass by, people are more engaged and interested in traveling and wandering from one place to another, be it local or international.

I remember when I was young, one of my dreams was to “travel the world”. It might sound impossible for a child to achieve this dream at a very young age, but as early as 5th grade, I knew what I really want in life. You and I may share the same dream when we’re still young, but we’re paving the way to make it possible today, definitely.

Nowadays, everything is within our reach. It’s easier to book a ticket and fly wherever you want to go. If you have a credit card, then it’s just a click away. Whether you have a lot of money or a little less, you can still manage to travel. It’s all about how you budget your money.

Traveling is one of the things that we need to try at least once in our lives. There is no harm in letting yourself experience other culture, taste unfamiliar food and meet new people. There is a sense of fulfillment once you get to experience these things.

As what I’ve learned from Henry Rollins’ quote, to travel is not just a pleasure for oneself. There are a lot of things that you can get from a trip outside your comfort zone. You cannot just stay in one place all your life without seeing the other side of the world. A lot of new things are still waiting to be seen by you. So, if you have a chance to travel, I’d say you grab it. Travel wherever you want to go and you will never have to see your own country like the way you do before. It is something worth spending your money, time and effort on.

Go get a passport, book a ticket, fly and explore other places one at a time with a brave heart and a courageous soul. You’ll never know what’s waiting for you on the other side of the world.