IS TRAVELLING A LUXURY OR AN

INVESTMENT?

Shruti Dhupia
I got into an interesting discussion with a fellow traveler on whether travelling is a luxury or an
investment.

Many people consider travelling as a luxury for select and fortunate few. Luxury is all about
comfort and convenience. Spending on fine clothes, jewelry or cars can be under the category of
luxury. No judgement here and good to indulge in luxury if that gives you pleasure. There can be
a luxury travel too to a very comfortable hotel, well chartered package and a holiday with full
comfort and indulgences.

And then there can be travel to unknown places, out of comfort zone, with the intent to explore
and learn. I consider my solo-travel as an investment that took effort. It needed to be prioritized
in my busy schedule. There was effort to get visa, research on the place, charter out an itinerary
and plan my finances.

In my first solo-travel, I stepped to faraway land and explored three countries with different
languages, currencies, and nationalities. Here are some of my experiences and realization from
this exploration.

§ Vision into action: You hear about a place and charter your itinerary on a piece of paper.
You make some choices about place to stay and things to do. It’s an experience to see
that vision unfolding into reality as you land and witness the place, people, and things for
yourself.

§ Out of your comfort zone: I had excitement to explore the new and at the same time the
anxiety of unknown land where language, people, routes that were unfamiliar. My mind
needed to be continuously alert to figure out routes, people, and places on my own. It
reinforced my innate ability to navigate through things in life. Come what may, I will be
able to sustain myself.

§ World is full of possibilities: Meeting different people and their life journeys did open my
mind to a world of infinite possibilities. It was fulfilling to see how some people are so
love in their craft be it herding their animals or making wooden crafts. Further interacted
with so many people who did move to a new country and settled in a span of 3-4 years. It
was interesting to see how put their efforts to acquire new language skills and pick skills
for livelihoods. Most importantly, how did they take chances in life even post their 50’s
to charter into unknown territories and embrace the newness with open heart and minds.

§ Self-discovery: I realized that after a few visits to the market-place area of different
cities, my heart and mind no longer yearns for such experiences. Connect with nature or
culture/history that enhances my insight excite me. I would rather indulge in those
areas than strolling in marketplaces. Occasionally a stroll is fine, but I would like to
reserve that more for travel with companions. My independent saga is either deep
connect with nature or discover about a place with its history and culture.
 § Makes history comes alive: Travel takes back you to time and history. I get interested
and intrigued by travel and then develop the inquisitiveness to discover more about it.
Every country has its own unique history and it’s interesting to see how their context
has shaped them and continues to do so. You do become more aware about world
history and the dynamics by moving out of your own cocoon.

§ Connect with fellow humans: This has been my favorite part of the travel. As a solo
traveler, I was blessed to meet different kinds of people along the way. With a warm heart
and a happy aura, I got day long companions on many days. There was a 60-year-old
American biker who was doing inter-country on bike. We soon decided to take a dip into
a pool and naturally shared our life stories. The next encounter was with a 60-year-old
Philippines woman. She has a large family with spouse and three children but decided to
do a solo as they all had other priorities. She didn’t want to compromise on her travel
plans and decided to do it by herself. Met a Brazilian intern during a city walk tour and we
mutually agreed to discover more about the city together. Not only did we discover the
city, but we also discovered so much about our countries and culture. Finally, a young
Indian student crossed my path, and we couldn’t conclude the day without indulging in
some Indian food together.

Travel is indeed an investment if you make it so. You learn more about life and yourself by travel
than through books or conversations. While I don’t undermine value of other things, immersing
in travel experience is splendidly powerful. Do it for yourself, prioritize and see how it works for
you. It may take some initial courage and push you out of your comfort zone- but will be worth
it.