Advantages and Disadvantages of Travelling Abroad

“Live life to the fullest. You have to color outside the lines. Once in a while, if you want to make your life a masterpiece.” - Albert Einstein

The most commonly heard hobby from all age groups is “Traveling”. While few take it as a way to get away from everyday hassles and stress, some of them take it as an opportunity to learn and explore different cultures, and nationalities. Irrespective of whether it is for revitalization or for exploring, there are various advantages and disadvantages of travelling abroad.

Amidst this traveling abroad imbibes mixed emotions for the traveler, as on one hand he has the packed excitement from what could be expected to form his or her trip and on the flip side he or she is holding his/her worries for any possible barriers or problems they might have to face in the foreign land.

So, if you are also someone who has the mindset to travel and explore abroad, we have cumulated a quick read through the pros and cons of traveling abroad.

Top 10 Advantages of Traveling Abroad

Having the advantages of traveling listed might be long or maybe never-ending because when you travel you grab your own set of benefits, experiences, and certain advantages. However, we have listed the 10 best advantages below:

1. Strengthens your life skills

Life Skills are essential for everyone. Not necessary that you need to be born with it, certainly life skills can be nurtured, and traveling is the best school to strengthen your Life skills from Communication, decision–making, interpersonal skills, creative thinking, empathy, and more.

Traveling in a way introduces you to the hard facts of life that hype your critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, ensuring your sustained peace and readiness for future uncertainties or challenges.

2. Helps attain the most required boost for your emotional and mental revitalization

Traveling not just helps with life learning and experiences but has a significant role in wellness and health.

Holiday has been believed for a long as the best getaway from your daily stressful schedules and to replenish your body and soul, through nature’s way (therapy).

3. Expand your thinking horizons

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain

Traveling to different places or rather a journey away from your safe hub brings in many experiences and learnings, one of the major of which is broad-mindedness and new ways of thinking.

When you travel to different foreign lands you get to explore their culture, festivity, diversity, and much more, (default) as part of your trip but this plays a crucial role in indirectly understanding to evolve from the misconception society that’s been prevailing around.

4. Contributes to your self-development and personal growth

Considering the pros and cons of traveling, one of the major benefits or rather say advantages is that you gain confidence and other major skills (practically) required to sustain a better life.

While you travel you get to explore many places, a chance to witness their lives and strive (which we generally do not specifically take note of in our daily life), this will make you understand and realize the hard facts of life and nurture you towards a more organized and systematized living.

Traveling no doubt involves meeting new people (co-travelers, residents, etc.), hence interactions for sure which bring out or develop your communication skills and build confidence.

5. Experience different cultures and diversity

Exploring and experiencing different diversities and cultures can introduce you to very varied learning concerning their history, living, eating habits, behavior, festivals, celebrations, etc.

This also helps you to view life from a new perspective, strengthening your knowledge and morale.

6. Explore and live the foreign beauty

“Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.” - Freya Stark

One of the additional benefits of traveling also includes the unique and breathtaking sceneries.

Sometimes nothing too very special but the benefit here is the moment you hold on (a while longer) to appreciate its essence, brings you the true definition of utter bliss and satisfaction.

7. Booster to start your career (business)

You never know how! exploring, meeting new people, communicating, and understanding the different perspectives and gaps might hype your interest toward the required push for you to set up your career pathways (business)

8. Explore yourself

“You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your way can illuminate the world.” - Oprah Winfrey.

Traveling can help discover yourself – your interests, your passion, and sometimes even help search for the meaning of your life.

Traveling indirectly (but directly) brings a huge change in your daily routine (for the time being that you travel), hence ropes in great leisure to ponder over your thinking, life, interests, etc helping to strengthen your connection with your soul.

9. The best opportunity to learn foreign languages

Among the best advantages, traveling abroad could include the learning experience of new languages among the natives and not as a course or by being part of an institute. It’s a known fact that we humans learn faster while doing it.

Read More: 11 Ultimate Benefits of Learning a Second Language

10. Networking (personal and professional connections)

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” -Tim Cahill

Traveling not just can be benefiting for learning and exploring but also includes building connections.

These connections can be in terms of new friends (meeting people from different nations and bonding with them on the go, irrespective of their backgrounds, status, etc.) or maybe one of these people you meet could refer you to your future employer (you surely gain the benefit of physical networking rather than online).

Also, international experiences can be the brownie points for your next employment consideration as companies prefer people who are adaptable and flexible. This could be a major advantage for people in the marketing or advertising domain.

Top 5 Disadvantages of Traveling Abroad

Where the list of advantages of traveling abroad is impressively long and unique concerning the individual traveler, this act also accounts for fewer disadvantages that we as well might list down.

Before we read through the list below it is also important to note that the disadvantages do not necessarily apply to every of your foreign travel package, there are as well aspects like time, place (destination), etc.

1. You might miss the Company

Traveling alone does have a few drawbacks and one of the majorly felt or experienced is the feeling of isolation or loneliness.

Where every day of yours is filled with peers or known faces suddenly moving around between unfamiliar places and people might be overwhelming to start with.

2. You might feel disassociated or distanced from your nativity

This is something common among long-term travelers, spending a long period at home surely does introduce you to an altogether new world and scenario, but might have you loosen your strength or hold on to your roots.

This according to me is certainly not a complete disadvantage if you bag in more advantages collateral to it like broadening your perspective or thinking horizons, discovering yourself like such.

3. Traveling might decrease your saving

As the act is certainly not economically free, the cost involved can stress you down a little, but on the brighter side to it, you get to gain a lot more than invested which certainly not in monetary terms but rather, as a person or emotionally (a lot more meaningful than money) along with building ways to economic standing.

4. Health problems

Well changing atmosphere and environment can take a toll on your health, not just that the change in the time zones and different cuisines can further hit you with dietary problems.

5. Might miss important dates

Though this disadvantage is not mandatory, sometimes it might have its reflection on the traveler’s life if you are involved in very long periods of traveling.

Anyway, this problem is not difficult to resolve, you can probably plan your travel dates considering the life events, another way for it to risk missing it (weighing the importance of the event).

Tips to encash disadvantages to advantages

• Ensure to make a note of your travel requirements (necessities) like medicines, things to help your guidance, etc.
• While ordering food ensure to check with (read through if possible) the ingredients to reduce any possible health issues.
• Check with the destination’s climate and weather checks to ensure the suitable clothing is packed.
• Try traveling with a company as this reduces your loneliness yet is effective for exploring and shared learning.
• Ensure not to have frequent long traveling – traveling can be an advantage when added to your resume but overdoing is not suggestive as this might hinder your work efficiency.

Traveling Abroad, Surely has Much More for You to Uncover

While traveling ropes in many learnings and experiences, the act has been witnessing high growth in numbers year on year. Traveling is a package of numerous factors namely sharing, learning, smiling, enjoying, adventure, exciting, growing, and so on all in all the conclusion that can actively draw here is relaxing, revitalizing, exploring, and most importantly transforming.

Hope this article has charged you up to get on and plan your next destination. Ensure to make your checklist and pinpoint the tips mentioned above so that you do not miss any of the possible experiences of a lifetime.

“You only live once ensure to make the Best of it”