Every day, thousands of people travel to countless different destinations across the world. One chooses his or her destination by considering which place caters best to their interest or focus. For instance, if they wish to experience somewhere lively and busy, a big city, such as New York or London, would be perfect. On the contrary, if their intentions are to relax and rest, traveling to a lush Caribbean island would be more suitable. Relaxation and vacationing are the most common thoughts associated with travel, however travel can also be remarkably beneficial to education and learning. Travel experiences educate people about culture, history and about themselves.
   

To start, travel experiences enrich people’s previous knowledge of cultures. Even though knowledge about various cultures may be taught in the classroom, being fully immersed in a culture is a completely fresh experience. Additionally, traveling helps reconstruct an individual’s ideas about cultures that may have been portrayed in a prejudiced and biased way in the media. The media affects its target population’s point of view about other cultures; they may present a culture inaccurately and in a way that a culture might seem abnormal. Well-traveled individuals realize that their pre-conceived ideas of seemingly “weird’ cultures and customs are misconstrued. Contrastingly people may notice that there are significant similarities between their culture and others. In fact, they realize that these diverse cultures’ practices and customs have underlying reasons that mainly have to do with those cultures’ values. Travel develops a person’s cultural sensitivity and awareness which are crucial skills to have in the world today.
   

For countless learners of all ages, history is also an interesting subject, but travel can completely transform it into something more enlightening. Experiencing a historical place first hand, is extremely helpful in understanding a nation’s past. When wandering around a country’s monuments, galleries, palaces and worn streets, grasping its history almost becomes personal. It gives a feeling of being involved in its history. To illustrate, roaming the luxurious halls of Versailles, passes an entirely separate meaning once it is realized that those exact halls were once also roamed by Marie Antoinette and her court. In addition to experiencing history, traveling enables learning about events, places or people that remain untouched by history classes and textbooks. Visiting a destination’s local museums and galleries can profoundly enrich one’s knowledge of general world history. Frequently, world history that is taught out of books has deviated from the real and truthful accounts of what happened. These general ideas are only one of the versions of the actual events. When an individual is in a country with a well-known history, talking to the locals or even exploring the place’s history for themselves, can illuminate a more accurate perspective. Finally, history may seem like something that can simply be learnt from a dusty book, however, even a professional historian cannot claim to be an expert in their field without traveling and experiencing everything first hand.
   

In addition to teaching people academically, traveling teaches people about themselves and how they can be better individuals. Hence, tolerance and the importance of tolerance is absorbed when traveling. An experienced traveler realizes that despite the language barriers and the culture shocks, everybody is the same. They also become increasingly grateful as they are exposed to more. Specifically, while traveling, it is not uncommon to witness situations such as immense poverty and conditions that seem inhumane. Consequently, seeing these situations, sparks a sense of gratefulness and compassion. Thus, from gratitude, appreciation is developed. After returning from their travels people become more aware of what they have, and they find beauty in the simple things that they had earlier taken for granted. Traveling and stepping outside of a comfort zone go hand in hand, it will challenge an individual every step of the way. As they are exploring unfamiliar places, they will be pushed into many uncomfortable situations and to do things that they would have not done otherwise. Being constantly pushed out of their comfort zone, builds confidence and independence, that they will continue applying to their daily life when they return. After developing these traits during their travel experience, a person realizes their true potential and who they truly are.
   

Traveling teaches various skills and subjects that simply cannot be taught in the classroom. Being fully immersed in a nation’s culture and history builds an individual’s academic knowledge, but also their emotional knowledge as they become better people. Individuals considering to travel, should prepare themselves to learn and to open their mind to new perspectives. People should take advantage of travel opportunities that are presented, as these are extremely beneficial. In today’s rapidly globalizing world, traveling is the future of education as well as learning in an experiential way.