140: Does Travel Make You More “Achieved”? | The Status of Traveling

[00:00:00] When we publish this episode, it's going to be the vacation already past, the summer holiday for us. Because we're taking two weeks left. For me. And I have a question, Rosie. Welcome to The Rosie and Roula Show. Marhaba. G'day.

[00:00:24] Are well-traveled people more achieved people? Oh. Oh. That's an interesting way to phrase it. What do you mean by well-achieved people? That's my first clarifying question. I mean that they have achieved a goal. They're open to experiences.

[00:00:54] They are rich with cultural knowledge. Okay. They live the dream. Right. So it's not necessarily about status. It's just – or are you talking about status? Oh, it's also about status. Oh, God. Okay. Well, I think travel is one of the best ways you can invest in yourself. Truly, truly. How come?

[00:01:18] It opens your eyes to different cultures, to different foods, to different experiences, different ways of living, of experiencing. It encourages you to be present, to be adventurous, to try new things. And do you get money back out of traveling? No. It costs you a lot of bloody money. It's not cheap. But I still think it's one of the best ways you can invest in yourself.

[00:01:48] Because do you think from traveling a person will grow and become better when they return? I do. I do. Everyone. Yeah. Well, better? Or just – they would have learned something. How can you travel and not learn something? Yes. Well, I don't think I agree with this because this puts, again, a pressure on those who

[00:02:15] cannot travel, on those who cannot travel for health reason, for money reason. Okay. Well, first, let me say – Or for country status reason. This is true. This is true. I'm not saying it makes you – traveling doesn't make you better than everyone else. However, I think those of us who are lucky enough to be able to travel, we do better ourselves.

[00:02:43] At least that's my experience through travel. And it sucks that not everybody can do that. I think that's shit. I think it depends what kind of travel. When people travel, let's say you have people that only go to high-end travels, like to Dubai, to Singapore, to the Mauritius. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Their travel status is different.

[00:03:10] You have the backpackers who go into the countries, into the people, into the food and the culture. These are also kind of travelers. And you also have travelers like us. We go on summer vacation or whatever vacation available. And then we go to comforts where the kids can play and we don't get bothered. This is also kind of travel. There are so different kind of travels that don't all necessarily make us grow.

[00:03:40] Because I think maybe 80%, I don't have a right number. Most people that travel in summer vacation here in the Netherlands, wherever they go, they're going on their own, living in their own circle, whether it's a resort or a vacation. And I'm talking about families because it's so hard to travel and go around with people.

[00:04:02] And you also have people that travel the world, come back and never share anything about their experiences. Oh, true. Why do we travel? Why do you travel? It's a different story for me. Let's hear it. When I was in Lebanon, I used to sit in front of the window for hours watching the airplanes fly in, wishing I'm on one of them.

[00:04:31] Just to go and see cultures, see other people, nature. I had this intense desire to fly and explore the world. When I came to the Netherlands, I started fearing traveling because I felt so safe here and I didn't want to go anywhere that would make me feel unsafe. So my experience with travel is very different.

[00:04:55] But Rosie, when I came here 25 and a half years ago, I was 26 years old. All the people around me that I met, they were young people, but also their parents, etc. Traveling the world, backpacking every weekend, traveling, going on city trips. I cannot tell you how many backpacking in Australia. It was insane the amount of people around me traveling.

[00:05:23] And culturally, compared to me, they did not meet up to not even 70%. They only knew about the location they traveled to and they didn't know anything about the rest of the world. While I sat watching Euronews and CNN and absorbing all these TV channels to get to know about the world. And yes, I couldn't tell them.

[00:05:52] I went to Rome and I saw this incredible... You didn't have the bragging rights. I didn't have that. But I did know what's in the world without traveling. And this is why I wonder if that's a thing. That's such a good point. You can experience that growth without traveling. That's such a good point. And traveling, to me, doesn't have to be to a different country.

[00:06:20] Like, my priority at the moment is to see more of my country. I don't have any real desire at the moment to go overseas. I want to enjoy Australia and see all the different things it has to offer. See, you're exploring your country. And that's a beautiful way to travel. As long as we travel with an open mind and acceptance for other cultures. I find it also important.

[00:06:47] But what triggered my question is, yes, I have experienced some kind of arrogance in the beginning when I was here. But I was also younger. Maybe my perception of it was different. Some kind of arrogance of those who've been traveling. And I also couldn't meet friends because I thought they're friends. And this to add to our previous episode about friendships. Because they were traveling all the time.

[00:07:14] They did not have any time for social life. They were working. And when they had time off, they were traveling. So I felt that I lost these friends because I cannot travel with them as much as they do. So do we need travel in our lives? Yes or no? Traveling is definitely nice. Of course. It's not like a must-have, is it? It's not a must-have.

[00:07:43] And it should not become a status of our existence. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. Just rattling off all the places you've been. Oh, yes. I went here and here and I saw the Eiffel Tower and blah, blah, blah. I know people take sabbatical to travel for six months or something. And I knew people who did that.

[00:08:04] And the attention they get from the rest, and I understand because they're living probably the dream of other people to take sabbatical, travel, I don't know, South America or North America or do a whole part of the world. And then they return feeling like they're gods. They've been on a journey of six months visiting every country for two weeks. And everybody wants to hear their story surrounding them.

[00:08:34] And this, maybe that's very personal to me. It's nice that they did this, but this doesn't make them have a status or special or whatever. Kind of does though, doesn't it? Whether we like it or not. I have to know them as a person to see if they're special or not. Not their trouble curriculum. Such a good way of putting it.

[00:09:02] Oh, wow. Wow. Before we wrap up, because I think this is linked to travel. Do you have a holiday or a time you were traveling that brings back really fond memories? Do you have a favorite? Huh. Well, I'm not a big traveler. Mm. Bring back fond memories.

[00:09:28] I, I, we've been traveling every year with my family, with my children. And they're all, I have fond memories of all of them. All of them. But, oh no, I do. I do. After COVID, we were, I never wanted to visit Venice in Italy. Okay. Even though it's a dream for me to visit it. But I kind of refuse to be in this tourist masa and on that island or place. And I have that.

[00:09:57] I am a principal traveler. Yeah. I think you mentioned this in a few episodes ago. For two weeks. And I might not drink alcohol because the setup, I have to see the setup, how it's going to be. Is the person serving me alcohol is a, is a Muslim believer only serving alcohol for Western people? Then I won't drink alcohol because it feels wrong. I'm going for the, the, the nice sea, the snorkeler and the sun. Anyway, the fun memory.

[00:10:26] So we went to Venice after COVID because the, the, just the roads in Europe. Someone is cutting some trees. We drove to Italy and we decided to drive to Venice. It's empty after COVID, post COVID. The whole country was empty. We went to Venice. Venice was empty. The streets were empty.

[00:10:57] So clean. We walked barefoot in Venice, in all these streets. I can't, my goodness. I can't even remember the St. Marcos plane. What's the big plane in Venice? People will laugh at me because I don't remember the name. I don't remember the name. The very famous plane there. Yes. Yeah. We were the only ones having a coffee at the terrace.

[00:11:23] It was completely empty and our son was running around barefoot. We went to the artist market, painters. We were the only one there. This experience of Venice, who had it? I'm bragging now. Yeah, you are. I'm bragging. Yeah. Yeah. This was remarkable because I never thought I would visit Venice given the crowd that's always there. Yeah.

[00:11:50] So was it the place that made it special or just the experience of it being so quiet? Yeah. It's beautiful, but it's not that it blew my mind like I was expecting. It's beautiful, but Amsterdam is very much beautiful too. Paris is amazing. It wasn't a place where I thought my mind is blown. No. No.

[00:12:17] But you've got a fond memory just because of the things that took place. Yeah. Yeah. The circumstances. Yes, that's the word. The circumstances. Yeah. It could have been anywhere. Yeah. How about you? I think it's similar in that the memories are more who I'm with or what I was feeling at the time, not necessarily where I was.

[00:12:49] Fond memories of being in the Peloponnese with my family, eating delicious food, swimming, you know, being surrounded by the locals and that have their afternoon nap, you know, 3pm and everything shuts down and you've got to be quiet. The kids have to be quiet. But that could have been anywhere. Or, you know, going places where, you know, like Barcelona where there's, you know, Gaudi's artwork and the Parkwell. Yes.

[00:13:17] Oh my God, that was mind blowing. But what I remember most is the feeling of being surrounded by such beauty, which doesn't have to be in that location, I don't think. True. We can be like, there are many beautiful places in the world and we can be surrounded by beauty even around the corner at the best museum in your city. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.

[00:13:42] The bottom line of this episode, I guess, is that travel is beautiful and it's not a must. Traveling within our countries where we live is incredible. For example, if you live in Lebanon, you don't travel this much. You have the ski season and the snow. You have the sea season and the summer. You have the hiking, the waterfalls, the nature. It's a country that has everything so that people don't feel like they need to travel.

[00:14:10] Do you encourage people who haven't traveled to give it a go? I don't know. No, I cannot say. You can't say. No. Why not? Because I'm the one who came to the Netherlands and being scared to travel this long distance locations. Like I'm too scared to go to Bali or to go to these places because they're so far from home.

[00:14:38] But that's my personal fear of being away from home. So I like to go to close by places. But do you think your life's better because you have traveled? Like you chose to leave Lebanon and you've chosen to see these different places? My reasons to leave Lebanon is not for leisure, pleasure, travel. It was different. And no, no.

[00:15:05] I like traveling, but it's not a must, a high priority on my list. I have other priorities than traveling. You've definitely made me think because I started the episode going, you know, travel's one of the best investments you can make in yourself. But that just sounds like a bit privileged and up yourself, doesn't it? Now I think back to that. Sorry, I didn't want to like invalidate your experience.

[00:15:34] You were holding back, were you? Gosh. No, it's very personal. Travel is so personal. The thing is that travel doesn't make the person. Right. And that's the bottom line. It doesn't make their status. It doesn't make the person. I'm biased because I'm not a traveler. But again, it's not my hobby. You're not a traveler, but you've still been to many places. Yeah.

[00:16:02] I think one common thread we've got in this conversation is it doesn't, travel doesn't give you status. Just because someone is well-traveled and they've been to all the countries and the cities and the places, it doesn't make them any better than you. Don't feel smaller than them. Yes. And if you travel, please share your experiences because traveling with, I travel through the eyes of people. Ooh. I love that.

[00:16:29] And through the stories we tell, the stories we share. Oh, that's beautiful. Yes. It saves me money. It saves me flying and. Connection with people, isn't it? If I want to go or not. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. This was an interesting conversation. I wasn't expecting it to go in that direction, but good chat. I love it. Thanks, Rosie. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

[00:16:59] If you got a kick out of our conversation today, can you pretty please hit the follow button and share it with another opinionated person? This is the easiest way for you to support the show. It also gives Rula and I the motivation to keep going. Rosie, I have to stop you there. Stop telling people what to do. If they like to follow the show and share it, it's totally up to them. Guys, please. Can you help us follow and share the show? Thank you so much. See you next time. That's what I just said. Ah. Bye.

[00:17:29] Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.