How Traveling Changed Me for the Better

It was back when I was living in Mumbai. Oh, actually, this is not exactly the story of how I met your father. This is the story of how I went on a trip to Sri Lanka twice in the span of one week and when I learned something truly valuable.

Sometimes life does not always happen the way we want it.

And it’s fine. Let me explain.

So, first of all, something you might not know about me is that I love traveling. My experience as a globetrotter has changed me for the better. It helps me step outside of my comfort zone, experience other cultures, and essentially, realize that we are all one⎯ well, you don’t have to buy into my New Age spiritual bullshit. What I meant to say is that even though difference is the essence of humanity, we are all the same. We can eat different food, live in different places, have different nationalities and colors of skin but, ultimately, we are all looking for the same thing: happiness.

For me traveling has been an absolutely transformational life experience. It has changed who I am in my very core.

I was the type of person who was completely unconfident around people, insecure about myself and the world, and habitually succumbing to my glutinous love of lazing at home. Traveling solo offered me a great opportunity to reinvent my identity and be free of the ties I had back home without the fear of being judged.

I challenged myself, moved to new places without knowing a soul, had the courage to take bold decisions (like flying from Geneva to San Diego for only a 5-day trip), put myself in uncomfortable situations (such as surviving a 6-hour bus ride in remote Indonesia and then landing at 2 AM in an unknown place without any booked accommodation), and tasted insects and other culinary delights. Whatever. You got it. My character was truly tested on those “roads less traveled.”

Moreover, exploring the world has made me appreciate the little things we take for granted. Actually, some of my best traveling moments don’t entail some crazy adventure. I discovered I could be a simple girl who enjoys simple pleasures: having a hot cup of tea after a winter-day trek in Nepal, unexpectedly finding some toilet paper in my hotel room in Chennai, having a swim in the ocean followed by a glorious sunset in Los Angeles, or spending a few days in a luxurious place after walking 173 miles, by foot, from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. Simple pleasures are a relative concept after all.

Kiddos, one of the things about traveling alone is that you are never done getting to know yourself!

Certainly, there is more than one story about how I met your father that I can remember. But I would like to focus on this particular anecdote on how I became what I had to become before I could meet him.

The actual story begins in Mumbai. I was already living there for a year, learning about yoga philosophy, and taking various alternative therapy courses. For visa purposes, I had to travel out of the country. Since I was living on a limited budget, I opted for Sri Lanka, the cheapest destination near India. Please take careful note of this piece of information because it’s going to play a major role in the rest of the narrative…

Well, it is said we should never underestimate the power of destiny because when you least expect it, the littlest thing can cause a ripple effect that ends up changing your life. And that is precisely what happened on my trip to Colombo. Little things. Maybe it was because I decided to grab something to eat before heading to the airport and lost track of time. Or maybe because I was trapped a little while in the horrendous Mumbai traffic. Maybe it was because the rickshaw I hired suddenly took an unexpected turn and I got lost. Or maybe because, after taking that unexpected turn, that rickshaw was stuck behind a truck for what felt like an eternity. Perhaps it was all those little things added together. Who knows when fate is playing its game with you?

What was the result?

I missed my flight. I arrived at the airport counter 5 minutes after they closed. Bummer. The airport staff didn’t want to make an exception. Effing not cool. Needless to say, I was a wreck. But I gathered all my yoga knowledge to stay calm and balanced during that unpleasant and misfortunate event. I didn’t want my love for traveling to turn sour so I kept repeating to myself “Everything happens for a reason.” Destiny, fine, I’m not offended.

I purchased another plane ticket for the day after. A one-way ticket. I had this brilliant idea it would help me save money. Very soon, I landed in Sri Lanka and thoroughly enjoyed my stay⎯until my way back to Colombo’s airport. Does that statement give you immediate anxiety? Or, maybe you are thinking what the heck, didn’t you learn the first time?!

I did. I arrived “waaaay” early at the airport⎯among the first people to check-in! It didn’t make any difference. I was soon to discover that my first ticket was canceled because I didn’t board on time. I had no return ticket to Mumbai and was told the only alternative was to purchase another ticket⎯you could imagine my face.

I was in a highly emotional state as if I was coping with a life-threatening event. On top of that, no part of me wanted to pay for another ticket. Remember, this was supposed to be the cheapest travel destination. My plans were completely derailed! As I was resigning myself to accept the inevitable, giving my credit card to the airport worker in slow motion and hoping maybe she would not take it, something startling happened.

No, no one came to save me, give me the exact amount of money I needed, or comfort me because I was crying my eyes out. What happened is that I caught myself in my habitual way of dealing with such situations: blaming myself, thinking “I’m utterly stupid” because I didn’t know I was supposed to book a roundtrip ticket when missing a flight. I mixed all this with feelings of guilt for not taking the right action. I was very hard on myself, even though most of the events that successively led me there were out of my control.

For the first time in my life, despite the stress, the overwhelming situation, and the strong feelings of powerlessness, I really discovered how I actually felt about the shit going on in my life.

I became self-aware.

Funny thing is when we know our weaknesses then they stop being weaknesses.

Later, sitting with my feelings in one corner of the airport, I healed myself. Everything does happen for a reason. Here, it was to show me the narrow path to perfect healing. The self-awareness skills I learned from meditation and applied to my everyday life came to the fore. At that very moment, the possibility of fully accepting myself opened up in front of me.

So many life lessons can be learned from traveling.

More often than not the lessons come at the most inconvenient moment, of course. Sometimes you learn there are no “mistakes” per se, just a way to discover something about yourself. Other times, you learn that traveling is fraught with unknowns; life can throw curveballs at you, and things may not go as planned. But regardless of the lessons, you end up growing and evolving.

This was the story of how I truly turned into a modern advanced yogi, the story of becoming kinder to myself and practicing self-acceptance. And that, kids⎯even though my bank account would say the contrary⎯is priceless.