MARCH 2026
TRAVEL
How travel has shaped the way I see the world
Something I think about a lot when I travel is how we are all fundamentally the same. Every person wants connection, community, and something to look forward to. We all have families, routines, things that stress us out and things that make us happy. And yet somehow, the way people actually live their lives varies so wildly from one place to the next that it is genuinely mind-boggling to witness up close.
The food is different. The greetings are different. The pace of a day, the layout of a neighborhood, the things people gather around and celebrate. Same human beings, completely different worlds. I find that more fascinating than anything I could read in a book or watch in a documentary. Seeing it with your own eyes is an entirely different perspective.
Venice, Italy
Food is where I feel this most directly. Every place I have traveled has introduced me to something I would never have found at home. A market I wandered into by accident. A dish with no English translation on the menu that turned out to be the best thing I ate all trip. A tiny stall run by someone who had clearly been perfecting the same recipe for years. Those moments are small but they stay with me. They are a reminder that there is an enormous amount going on in the world that has nothing to do with whatever I am stressed about.
And that brings me to the other reason travel matters so much to me. When life feels heavy and my head is full, I sometimes catch myself thinking about the bigger picture in a way that tips into existential territory. Not in a dramatic way, just a quiet awareness that the things stressing me out today will not matter forever. That kind of thinking can go two ways. It can feel paralyzing, or it can feel freeing. Travel is what makes it feel freeing for me.
Athens, Greece
The moment I am somewhere new, something resets. I am paying attention to what is right in front of me instead of whatever I was spiraling about before. A street I have never walked down. A smell I cannot place. People going about their lives completely unbothered by my to-do list. There is something grounding about experiencing even a small sliver of a life that looks nothing like your own. It puts things back in proportion.
I think that is what travel does at its core. It reminds you that your slice of life is just one of billions and somehow that is not a heavy thought. It is actually a relief. The world is big, people are kind, and there is always more to see. That realization is genuinely one of the things that keeps me happy and keeps me moving forward. Just getting on a plane and going somewhere I have never been before.
Palafrugell, Spain
Every trip sends me home with something new. A flavor I start experimenting with in my own kitchen. A way of thinking about community or creativity that I had not considered before. A small shift in perspective that makes everything at home feel a little more manageable. The world is too big and too interesting to stay in one place for too long.