Why You Should Get Out of the House and Travel - Right Now

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

I feel compelled to tell the world that we should all get out more and go travel.

Even if it’s just to some place nearby.

Get out of your house, get out of your neighborhood, and go explore.

Let those small trips be stepping stones to bigger trips to go see the great, big, beautiful world we live in, with its myriad of cultures and peoples.

Save up money if you need to.

Don’t worry too much about travel plans, accommodations, itineraries. Just put some money in your pocket, grab a backpack with some clothes in it - and go!

Things don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Perfect planning is restrictive and quite frankly, boring.

You’ll never have adventure that way, and your memories will be lackluster.

The best memories come from the spontaneous and unexpected things that happen, the joys of discovery and finding something off the beaten track.

That doesn’t mean don’t go see the big, touristy things. But leave room (lots of it) for all of the other things too.

Follow your instincts and listen to your heart. Go where it wants to go.

I feel I’ve been very lucky to get some good travel under my belt in life. Some of that happened by chance, but a lot of it has also been deliberate.

I was a missionary for my church for two years in my 20’s (I’m Latter-Day Saint). You don’t get to choose where you go, but I was really happy to be chosen to go internationally and be sent to the Moscow, Russia mission.

I had the great experience of being put in a position where I was forced to learn the Russian language, for which I’m incredibly thankful.

I got to meet so many different people with different rhythms of life and ways of living, and different perspectives on the world, too.

I also met my wife there (and yes, she’s Russian). And we got to have a pretty romantic love story, complete with obstacles and opposition, people trying to keep us apart, secret meetings, and all the kinds of stuff you read about in books - because I followed my heart and said “yes” to not just love, but also to risk and adventure, and all of those things happened because of my travel.

We often reminisce together about those younger days (we’re in our early 40’s now) and we are always looking for new adventures and experiences - and so, we travel!

Internationally speaking, in my time, I’ve been lucky to see Mexico, England, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia and of course, a great deal of Russia. Some of them were just little tastes, others were more extended trips and of course, in the case of Russia, living there for two years - in Moscow and other cities in the region.

On the state-side, I live in the tech-capital of the South known as the Rocket City (Huntsville) in North Alabama, and while many think there’s not much to see in my state, there is actually a wealth of history and natural beauty. And plenty of good barbecue, southern cooking and yes, football.

I’ve, of course, also spent much time in the region so I’ve seen plenty of Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, etc. I’ve had some fun trips to New Orleans and New York City, have visited Chicago and Cincinnati, our nation’s capital Washington D.C., the head of the Mississippi river at Minneapolis, and the gateway to the West in St. Louis.

As for our great frontier, I have also been on large road trips out west to see the beautiful mountains, prairies and gorgeous deserts in Nevada and Arizona, the coast of California, the tinsel of Hollywood, the Pacific Northwest (I originally come from Seattle), and recently had an amazing trip driving around Alaska where I got on a small plane and had the incredible experience of landing on snow-covered Denali - North America’s tallest mountain.

There are many other places, too, but you get the idea.

I’m not trying to brag (hey, a lot of people have seen even more than I have) - but I’ll admit, I’m really grateful and happy to have been the places I’ve been and want to see so much more, and those plans are in the works.

I’m grateful for the perspective it’s given me about different people around the world, that there are other ways of looking at things, other ways of doing things, other ways of living and enjoying life.

And it’s just so much fun.

Whether it be local or international, there is always something interesting you can find.

You can become an expert on your own area and its history, geography and secrets, or you can travel more broadly and expand your horizons with new places, taking memories back home with you that you will cherish for the rest of your life.

You might meet someone.

You might help someone.

You might discover something new.

You might change your life.

So say “yes” to adventure, get out there, and come back with stories to share!