Why Travel Matters In Uncertain Times: Finding Connection, Perspective & Hope

Why travel matters • Finding connection and perspective • Resilience and joy

Do you feel overwhelmed by the state of the world? In this episode you’ll discover how travel can give you the tools to meet these challenges with empathy, curiosity, and resilience.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why travel in uncertain times isn’t an escape but a pathway to resilience
• How encounters while traveling reduce prejudice and build shared humanity
• Ways to use curiosity as an antidote to fear and division
• How travel experiences put today’s challenges into a bigger perspective
• What research shows about the happiness boost from planning a trip
• Why travel often inspires meaningful action back at home

This Week’s Small Step to Enhance Your Next Trip

Put one simple adventure on your calendar—whether it’s a day trip, museum visit, or hike. Anticipating it will lift your spirits and remind you of the hope travel can bring, even in challenging times.

Reflection

“Travel brings power and love back into your life.” — Rumi

Links & Resources

North Cascades Institute

Contact Hypothesis overview 

 Contact Hypothesis Meta-analysis

Pew Research on Why People Changed Their Minds on Marriage Equality

Curiosity Helps Learning and Memory

World Health Statistics

Travel Brings Happiness and Lowers Stress

Maya Angelou

Jane Goodall

Eleanor Roosevelt

Rumi Jalalud-Din

Editor’s Note: The first version of this episode included an incorrect quote from President Obama. I corrected it within a few hours — but if you heard that first take, my apologies. 

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Transcript

Welcome to Conversations for Curious Travelers, a Trip Scholars podcast. I'm your host, Erica Forrest. In each episode, we explore how travel helps us learn more about the world and ourselves. If you travel, not just to escape, but to grow, connect and understand you are in the right place. 

Why Travel Still Matters in Uncertain Times

I know many of us are feeling very heavy right now. The news is overwhelming wars. A climate disasters, humanitarian crises. And here in the United States, we are facing very real threats to our democracy and how we live together as a society. So why talk about travel?

Isn't that a luxury in times like these? And why talk about these challenges on a travel podcast?

today I wanted to talk about why travel matters in uncertain times, and how it can help us see the shared humanity in one another instead of othering people.

We don't understand how it can spark curiosity. And give us a wider context for the headlines that we see every day. How it can inspire us to take action and work towards the world that we want, and also how it gives us resilience and comfort and joy. So this is an episode about remembering that even in these troubled times, we have the tools to help us understand, connect to find hope.

And to act, And travel, whether it is across the world or across town, is really one of the best teachers that we have.

From division to connection through travel

I'd like to start with a story from my own life and some of the first road trips that I got to take on my own as a young adult. So when I was in college in Southern California, I was studying philosophy and world religions. I was active in the animal rights and environmental movements, and I was a vegan, and I was really trying to understand questions about suffering and how as human beings we navigate.

That and have navigated it throughout history and in different cultures suffering both our own and that of other living beans. Well, at the same time, my family had just moved to Idaho outside of Yellowstone National Park, and I would visit every summer. I would pack my own freeze dried meals to eat on the road because there wasn't a lot to eat for vegetarians, especially vegans in that part of the country.

Well, my younger brother had been taken under the wing of some of the local people in Idaho and they were teaching them all kinds of very interesting things, like how to track animals and pan for gold, and how to understand and read the geology of the land. And they were also teaching him how to hunt and trap and fish.

So you can probably imagine what it felt like in our house holding such radically different worldviews under one roof. I want to shout out to my amazing parents And I'll be honest, it was stressful, but something happened over time and I began spending more time with some of these local people and learning from my brother.

I came to realize just how deeply connected they were to the natural world. They knew every track in the snow. They knew what different tufts to fur on a twig could indicate. They knew how to find gemstones in the right part of the curve of a riverbed. They were really able to read the land because they lived alongside of it and inside of it in a way that felt both humble and protective,

So their connection to the natural world was lived daily in ways that often went beyond what I was experiencing living in the LA area. Indeed, what I could experience living in a city like that. And so we came in conservation from very different directions, but we were standing on common ground.

And that experience reshaped how I saw people I once thought of as different or other. It taught me that sometimes the values that we share, like caring for the land that we love are stronger than the labels that divide us. Right now in the United States, we are living through a time of deep division and painful othering.

History shows us that societies often move through cycles like this at times of polarization and eventually times of reconciliation, and the path isn't easy. None of us can predict how this. Will unfold and how much more violence our country will endure because of it. But one thing is clear that moving forward really does require us to step beyond the labels and the walls that we have built between each other, and that is where travel can be such a powerful teacher.

travel puts us face to face with people we might otherwise only know through headlines or stereotypes. It asks us to share meals and share stories and discover common ground in unexpected places. As Maya Angelou once said, perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends. And that's what I discovered many years ago as a vegan in Idaho, learning from people whose lives looked so different from mine, and yet realizing how much common ground we shared. And it is what I have seen repeated again and again through travel. Psychologists actually have a name for this. It's the contact hypothesis.

It's this idea that direct interaction with people from different groups reduces prejudice and increases empathy. Over 500 studies across decades and countries show that when we meet and talk and learn from each other, it becomes much harder to demonize or dehumanize.

That's why I've been so grateful to have many different guest authors at Trip Scholars and why I'm so excited to have many guests here on the show.

When people are able to share their personal stories about being welcomed into other people's homes and communities and nations that. Before traveling, they might have thought of as dangerous or different and instead being welcomed in. And it doesn't, uh, erase these political differences obviously, but it does expand this understanding of shared humanity.

And we see this dynamic here at home right now, immigrants and queer people are often being singled out as other in the United States. And history shows us just how powerful it is to move beyond that. You know, I think about the example of marriage equality One of the biggest reasons public opinion shifted so dramatically is that more people came to personally know someone who was gay or lesbian, and once a friend or a neighbor or a family member those stereotypes are.Much harder to hold onto.

Travel gives us these same opportunities. Sharing a meal with a host family, striking up a conversation on the train, or connecting with fellow travelers from different backgrounds. These moments remind us that the labels never really tell the whole story. We meet people first as fellow human beings, and that changes us.

And one small step that we can take even at home is to look for ways to broaden our own circles. That could be through the stories that we read or the films that we watch, or the cultural events that we attend. And all of these encounters are invitations to seek. The people behind the labels. 

Curiosity instead of fear through travel

And that leads right in to another one of the greatest gifts of travel in difficult times.

 the way that it sparks curiosity instead of fear. And since you're here listening to conversations for curious Travelers, I already know you're a curious traveler. You are someone who chooses to lean in and wonder about the world instead of turning away. You strive to come with curiosity, not fear about the people in places that are different from what you already know.

 And neuroscience backs up the value of this perspective. Research shows that when we're curious, the same brain areas that light up for music or love or food become active, curiosity literally feels good, and it also helps us learn.

Studies have also found that when we're genuinely curious, we remember and retain information better. Travel makes this real. I mean, think about wandering through a market in another country instead of recoiling from something that is unfamiliar. Curiosity inspires us to try a new food. Or when you're standing in a museum looking at a piece by an artist from a completely different background, and instead of feeling disconnected, we lean into their story and wonder, you know, what was their life like and what can I learn here?

One of my personal favorite things in museums is finding artifacts that we still use today. The countless different iterations of things like combs and jewelry and spoons, even potty chairs across thousands of years, people aren't so different, and that reminder always makes me feel deeply connected.

I love a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. She said, the purpose of life is to live it.

To experience the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

For me, travel at its best pulls us into that way of being curious instead of fearful about the world. 

Gaining perspective through travel

And when we travel, something else important happens. The headlines start to feel different.

Travel gives us a wider context for the news that we hear every day. it's one thing to read about climate change in the paper, but it is another one to stand at the foot of a glacier in Norway and see how dramatically it's retreated in our own lifetime. It's one thing to hear debates about healthcare systems, but it's another thing to visit a country.

With a completely different healthcare system as their reality and to talk with people about the subtleties of how it shapes their lives. So travel takes these abstract ideas and makes them real and embodied and human, and it is just as true for politics like here in the United States right now.

Democracy can feel like something that we have always had something that's unshakeable, but travel teaches us otherwise. Democracies do fall. They require care and constant renewal. 

Travel reminds us of this truth. We can visit nations where democratic systems have collapsed and visit nations where democracy has been rebuilt or imagined. And I think that perspective is very important right now. one of the most profound lessons travel provides us, especially in hard times, is perspective.

When we step outside of our own routines and look at the wider world or back through history, we are reminded that the struggles we face now aren't new and we are not alone in them. Travel shows us that these challenges. Aren't just today's headlines. They're part of this bigger human story. And yet people endure.

They rebuild, they care for each other. They create beauty. They find joy, And when we see that firsthand, it helps us put our own challenges in perspective. And that perspective also means recognizing progress by many scientific measures. This is actually the best time in human history to be alive.

Global poverty has dropped dramatically in the last few decades. Lifespans are longer, child mortality has plummeted, and more people than ever have access to education, clean water and basic healthcare. That obviously does not erase the crises that we face today, but it's important to hold both truths that we are living in difficult times, and also that.

Humanity has made remarkable progress and travel lets us see both sides, the challenges and the hope. A vivid memory for me where I experienced that myself was one day in Paris I went to the catacombs. And you know, those long, wet, dark tunnels were the bones of countless Parisians are stacked, and femurs and skulls are artistically arranged in patterns.

That are deeply sobering, walking among them. I felt such reverence and awe at the connection and awareness of all the lives that have come before mine and in there with the people I loved and how brief our lives were right now. In the living form. It was heavy, but also incredibly beautiful. And then we emerged into the sunlight.

We had a gorgeous picnic in the Luxembourg gardens. The flowers were in full bloom, and the sky never looked so blue. It was one of the most sublime days I've ever had a reminder that grief and joy and death and life and loss and beauty all coexist. And that is what perspective feels like. Travel obviously does not erase suffering, but it does help us see it within a much bigger perspective.

And I invite you to think of a trip that you've taken where you were able to feel yourself as part of that bigger human story when you've had that reminder that others have walked through dark times and still found light. Reminder gives us strength to keep going, and I encourage you to lean into that as a source of strength and replenishment.

 travel also shows us that our way isn't the only way. Some countries have policies or practices that work better than what we have normalized in our own home countries. So whether it is affordable, higher education, or a different stance on gun control, or even better roads with fewer potholes, it doesn't mean that we can import solutions wholesale, but it does mean that we can broaden our imagination.

Travel really helps us ask what if and what could we do better It doesn't just highlight what we lack. It also reminds us what we do really well at home. So for me, one of the best examples is our national parks. Every time I travel abroad and visit other protected areas, I come home more grateful for the ForSight and the commitment that created our park system.

So travel gives us this perspective in both directions. It challenges us to ask what can we learn from other nations? It reminds us of what's worth cherishing and protecting.

The joy of travel and its role in well being

One of the other most powerful things travel offers us is this opportunity to really take care of ourselves, and just like that classic safety lesson on an airplane. We really do need to put on our own oxygen masks first before we can help anybody else. We have to replenish ourselves and sometimes we need to step out and let other people carry it for a while, and that is where travel can really give us this resilience and hope and comfort and joy. Take a moment to think back on some of your happiest memories.

Chances are that some of them happened while you were traveling. Maybe it was standing in awe at the stunning grandeur of nature, a canyon or a forest or the ocean. Its sunset, and maybe it was watching a family member experience utter delight like your child's splashing in a stream, or your parent seeing a long dreamed of place for the first time.

Maybe it was listening to live music or dancing in a crowded square surrounded by people that you didn't know but felt connected to. Travel gives us those uplifting moments of joy that stay with us for the rest of our lives, memories that we carry and that sustain us, and that remind us why life is worth cherishing, even when times are hard.

So part of being able to take these bigger perspectives and keep showing up in the world and keep fighting for what we believe in is remembering how to care for ourselves. And in times of turmoil, it's very easy to feel. drained and anxious or hopeless.

And when we're depleted, it's hard to stay engaged, whether that's in our local communities or in the political world or even in our families.

The happiness of anticipating a trip

Researchers have shown that simply anticipating a trip can boost our happiness and lower stress. It's actually one of the things we focus on here at Trip Scholars quite a bit, is using that anticipatory excitement to really amplify what we can learn and lean into about understanding the places that we're going to visit.

So we have a lot of resources at Trip Scholars if you want to dive into that anticipatory part of the trip. there are studies that show that people are actually happier. In the planning stage of a trip than they are during the trip or remembering the trip again at Trip Scholars. We try to balance that out. So there is joy throughout, but that is what the research has shown. And so it's not just about the trip itself, it's about the hope and the joy that we feel when we're looking forward to something.

Consider that one of the best ways to move through the sadness of ending a trip is to make sure you already have the seeds of your next trip planned. It can also be a wonderful way to move through health challenges grief.

Or painful life transitions. and in this time of uncertainty that we're all part of, it can fill us with hope to be looking forward to our next trips. And it doesn't have to mean that we're booking an all around the world adventure. It can be something small like a day at a local museum or a weekend camping trip.

Having events to look forward to is a powerful act of hope. And resilience. Caring for ourselves in this way isn't selfish. It's how we stay replenished so we can continue showing up for other things that do matter, and keeping our spirits alive, caring for others, being creative. My suggestion is this week try to put something on your calendar for you to look forward to,

It doesn't have to be elaborate. It doesn't have to be an international trip. Just choose one outing or one adventure and give yourself that gift of anticipation. If you are looking to plan a bigger trip, you're always welcome to get in touch. I love supporting people in planning their dream trips, but when we do this, when we travel and plan and engage, something else happens.

Travel inspires action

We are often inspired to move into action. So travel doesn't just change us. It often inspires us to try and change the world for better. Many travelers come home with a new sense of responsibility. Maybe it, it is supporting environmental causes after seeing a coral reef in danger, or maybe it's donating to humanitarian relief after meeting families who shared their struggles.

Sometimes it's political realizing that the freedoms we enjoy or take for granted Are not universal. Jane Goodall put it beautifully when she said, only if we understand will we care. Only if we care will we help and only if we help shall all be saved. Travel deepens our understanding and that can lead directly to care and action.

For example, here at Trip Scholars, we've been contributing to the North Cascades Institute. It's up in North Cascades National Park not far from where I live, and I've actually been able to organize and go up there with different youth groups who attended their mountain school.

They also have a really robust program where they're able to bring in a lot of kids and teens from underserved communities,It's been really inspiring to see kids in that environment, surrounded by those majestic mountains and they're learning naturalist skills and experiencing that beauty firsthand.

It just inspires us to want to do more. We see how precious it is, and then it has this ripple effect, whether as adults or kids or teens, we're bringing that back out into the world.

I encourage you to think back on some of the trips that you've taken and ask yourself, what was I inspired to do because of how I was moved by these trips? And maybe you made a donation or called your senator or chose to compost more,

Or maybe you chose to share your stories with others.

We've actually found that people are often much more inspired by actual experiences and personal stories. Than they are by statistics and numbers and logical arguments. By sharing your travel stories with others, you might spark that curiosity and empathy in them as well. And sometimes one of the most powerful things that you can do is invite someone along on your trip.

Travel has a way of opening up our understanding of the world, and for someone who hasn't had those opportunities, even a short or local trip can be transformational. Whether it's taking a teenager in your life to a museum or inviting a friend to join you on a hike in a national park, or planning a trip with a family member who has never left the country.

These shared experiences can open doors, and they don't just expand our own perspective. They ripple out into the perspectives of the people that we travel with, and hopefully we can help inspire people move forward. As we build the world that we are wanting. So these small actions multiplied by so many of us, they really do add up.

And as we close, I'd like to circle back to where we started and that travel in challenging times isn't about escaping reality. It is about helping us meet it with more empathy, curiosity, and courage, and often in a much more connected way. Travel,reminds us that we are not powerless.

It teaches us to see the shared humanity in one another, to replace that fear with curiosity and to find perspective in the attention grabbing headlines. It also often encourage us to take what we have learned and turn it into action and to take good care of ourselves.

This Week’s Small Step to Enhance Your Next Trip

In every episode, we like to leave you with one small action you could take this week or today to implement this aspect of travel and to today.

I really want to encourage you. To bring one spark of travel into your life that brings you joy. It could be planning a local outing, or if you're planning a big trip in the future, pick up a book or watch a film or go find a place to listen to music that comes from that area and give yourself the reminder that curiosity and connection and that joy that we experience during travel can help sustain us in these challenging times.

Reflection on Travel

I will leave you with the words of Rumi, the poet who said, travel brings power and love back into your life, and that is what I wish for you. Empowerment and a sense of being loved and part of the world. Thanks so much for joining me. I know your time is valuable and I'm truly grateful that you spent some of it here together. Please come visit me at tripscholars.com for free travel resources, workshops and travel coaching. And if you enjoyed today's show, please follow, review or share. It really helps other curious travelers find us.

Until next time, curious Travelers.