爱华网I have been very fortunate to travel extensively throughout the world while still young. I have visited most of the continental United States, plus many cities in Alaska and Hawaii. I also traveled abroad to Africa, Switzerland, Ireland, Great Britain, Scotland, France, Mexico, and Bonaire. I then lived for several years in Grenada, West Indies. I wouldn’t trade my experiences for the world, and I still have so many countries yet to visit. Based on my experience, I recommend every young person get out of their hometown and see what’s out there. Here are seven ways traveling changed me forever.
我很幸运，依然年轻的我已到过世界的很多地方。我曾游历过美国的大部分内陆地区和阿拉斯加、夏威夷的许多城市，也曾行走在非洲、瑞士、爱尔兰、英国、苏格兰、法国、墨西哥和博内尔岛的土地上。我在西印度群岛的格林纳达度过了几年时光。我不想说走遍了世界，因为前面还有许多国家在向我招手。基于个人经验，我建议年轻人走出家门，去看看外面的世界。下面是旅行使我永久改变的七个方面:
1. Traveling changes the way you relate to the world.
旅行改变你与世界的联系方式
I grew up in a tiny rural town. If I hadn’t had the opportunity to travel when I was younger, I would have a difficult time envisioning much else outside my comfortable country bubble. When you travel to other countries and see the amazing beauty of sunsets over seas, eagles riding mountain currents, monkeys swinging through rain forests, grizzlies catching salmon in the rapids, majestic waterfalls spilling off vertical drops, and volcanoes smoking under their fiery breath, you realize the world is full of more beauty that you are capable of seeing in a lifetime. But, you still have the intense passion to try.
我长在一个乡村小镇。如果年轻时没有机会旅行，我会满足于自认为舒适的乡村生活。当你领略异域风情，看到海上日落、山鹰盘旋、猴子穿梭雨林，灰熊激流抓鲑鱼，高涯飞瀑，火山喷发后烟雾迷离的惊世之美时，你知道世上有着你一生览不尽的美景，但是，你仍然充满激情。
If you don’t see this when you are younger, you have less desire to venture out when you are older and have job and family constraints in play. If I didn’t know what I was missing, I would have less of a desire to put the effort into taking the time to travel. You also develop a deeper sense of obligation to save our planet’s beauty for the coming generations. After all, you’ve seen it firsthand, and it’s worth saving!
如果年轻时不出去看看，等年龄大一些，有了工作，再加上家庭的约束，就更没有冒险的渴望了。如果不知道我在错过什么，我就不会有想方设法抽出时间去旅行的强烈渴望。与此同时，为子孙后代保护地球之美的更深切的责任感油然而生。你亲眼见证了地球之美，子孙后代也应该享受到这种盛景。
（爱华阅读配图）
2. Traveling changes the way you relate to others.
旅行改变你与他人的联系方式
Unfortunately, the area I grew up in didn’t have much diversity. Everyone looked and acted basically the same. When I traveled, I learned about other cultures. I realized that my life could be enriched by developing friendships with people who didn’t look or act like me.
很遗憾，我生长的地方缺乏多样性，每个人的长相以及他们的行为方式基本相同。旅行时，我知道其他文化的存在。我意识到，与那些长相或行为方式和我的不同的人发展友谊，可以丰富我的人生。
Far from my hometown, I developed friendships with people who were nothing like me, but were exactly what I needed. This taught me to embrace, not fear, experiences and relationships that were outside my comfort zone. It also taught me the importance of communication skills. Let’s just say I paid a lot better attention during college Spanish class after visiting Mexico, and perked up in French class after my time in France and Africa.
在远方，和与我完全不同却正是我需要的人成了朋友。我从中学会了拥抱而不是惧怕舒适区以外的体验与友情，我还懂得了沟通能力的重要性。我想说的是，墨西哥归来的我在大学里更努力地学习西班牙语，法国和非洲归来的我投入更大的热情学习法语。
3. Traveling humbles you enough to realize it’s not all about you.
旅行让你谦卑、关注他人
the older I become, the more I realize I actually know very little about life. It seems the confidence of knowing it all is usually graced upon the young. However, the sooner that bubble bursts, the better; at least in my case. Traveling sometimes puts you in tough situations. You see that the world is so much bigger than your perspective on it. You soon realize the world doesn’t revolve around you. You learn that you really weren’t the big fish in the ocean, but just a tiny minnow in a pothole.
随着年龄的增长，我越发意识到我对生活知之甚少。似乎年轻人有着无所不知的自信，而这种自信越早打破越好，至少在我如此。旅行时而将你带入困境。你知道，世界比你的想像要广阔得多。你很快会意识到世界不是以你为中心，你不过是水坑里的一条小米诺鱼，而不是大海里的一条大鱼。
Now, that doesn’t mean you aren’t still important, but it does change your perspective to be more open to learning from other people and situations vs lecturing and bestowing your vast wisdom to those lucky enough to be in earshot. Traveling teaches you to let go of the perceived concept of control. You learn that it’s a big enough challenge to just control yourself, and learn to give up trying to do so for the rest of the planet.
并不是说你不重要，而是旅行的确开阔视野，让你乐于从他人或身外的环境中获取知识，而不是向那些有幸倾听你的人讲述你的无穷智慧并赐予他们知识。旅行教你不固守已感知到的控制理念。控制自己就已是巨大的挑战，不要为试图控制周围的事物作徒劳努力。
