Short Post: Travel and Major Life Exeperiences

I don't know who originally said it but I have often heard that travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer and I totally agree with the sentiment but I am not crazy about the word choice.

Recently, my wife and I went on a trip to Paris, France and Prague, Czech Republic. I can say with

certainty that I learned more about myself, my wife, and the world on that trip than I did in my first two years of college.  I think that most of us are very prone to routine and habit and it has been my experience that routine and habit only demand routine and habitual behavior.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been.

For me, Prague and Paris were so delightfully different, so new and confusing, so perfectly demanding of myself.  I learned an appreciation and a love for different art, languages, food, clothing, lifestyles, and I think that is where the value in humanity lays.  We spend so much of our lives collecting things that serve virtually no purpose but we do it because it's a practical decision.  But is it a useful decision?  Of course there are material necessities that are requisite of a certain standard of living but I think we need to look at the trade off. I know dozens of people who have living rooms in their homes that are filled with art that is never admired, furniture that is never used, and desperately awaits conversations with friends that will never be had.  I think it comes back to this idea of routine.  We do these things out of tradition or habit or whatever you want to call it but the fact remains that habit causes most of us to miss out on life.  There is a world full of experiences and most of the people I know would rather watch reruns of The Office on their 60'' TV than put in the effort that adventure demands of those who intend to adventure.  To me it doesn't make much sense but then again, most things don't. I haven't travelled much, and certainly not as much as I would like, but for some unknown reason I have a love for learning and while some guy on Youtube can take me on a walk through the streets of Vienna I'd much rather do it with my own two feet.