The Euphoria of Traveling

At the conclusion of a recent Intelligence Squared Asia debate on whether “Money Can’t Buy Happiness” the audience was split - 49% agreed and 49% disagreed, with 2% undecided. But when it came to travel, there was one very obvious winning premise - being on the road brings us all joy.

In the real voyage of discovery, it is not about trying to discover new landscapes, but about having new eyes. People who’ve been bitten by the travel bug will tell you how exploring the world leads to bliss. Now, there’s some scientific evidence to support those anecdotes.

Not necessarily, experts say. Here’s what to understand about the relationship between travel and happiness, along with some ways you can reap some of the psychological benefits of taking a vacation when you’re on a tight budget or stuck at home. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced most people to stay at home, canceling and postponing trips they had planned for 2020 and early 2021. But prior to the pandemic, increasing levels of wealth disparity meant that many people couldn’t afford to take a vacation.

As a result of widespread job losses and the economic ramifications of this pandemic, many people may find it difficult to travel, even after traveling becomes safe again. That doesn’t mean people who can’t travel are doomed to lower life satisfaction. In a weird way, that’s a silver lining of the pandemic as it has forced us to look for simpler things that can help bring happiness. People are realizing there are simpler ways to achieve happiness. It is not natural for us to be this sedentary. Travel is in our genes. For most of the time our species has existed, “we’ve lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers moving about in small bands”.

What This Means For You?

While it might seem like people who can’t afford to take a vacation can’t benefit from traveling, the truth is that you may be able to achieve these benefits in other ways—something that’s especially important while many people are still stuck at home during the pandemic.

Taking a virtual tour of a foreign destination could satiate

Taking a virtual tour of a foreign destination could satiate wanderlust. You may also be able to reduce stress by spending time in nature close to home when traveling isn’t an option.

One of the most valuable aspects of travel is how it broadens your horizons. Most people have had that feeling of visiting a country for the first time, and being excited and enthralled by everything that surrounds them. By immersing yourself in a different culture, you have endless opportunities to learn new things. These could be physical skills such as mountaineering or pottery, or more academic pursuits such as a second language – either way, these novel experiences offer an instant mood boost. It is also a fantastic way to keep your brain active, which is hugely beneficial for your cognitive powers too!

Neuroscientists explain that travel rewires our brains because new experiences are core to building new neural pathways in the brain. You don’t necessarily need to hop on an airplane and immerse yourself in a different culture to enhance your happiness. For most people, a flurry of destinations, lodgings and travel experiences flood the mind. Your brain quickly processes and imagines the views you’ll see, the food you’ll savor, and the climate you’ll feel on your skin. And just like that, you’ve given yourself a spark of happiness.

On top of that, the anticipation of a future trip, even if it’s months away, literally improves our chemical makeup. It delivers a delicious dose of feel-good dopamine, which the Coleman Institute calls the “anticipation molecule”. It’s obvious that travel comes with a myriad of health benefits for the mind, body and soul, so what are you waiting for – it’s time to book that holiday. Your health will thank you for it!

-Aadarsh Jayadeep