Have I ever shared the reason why I started traveling?

I didn’t grow up in a home that often traveled. In fact, my dad still deems it very unsafe to do so.

I didn’t have a ton of friends who liked to travel either. I grew up in a small conservative town where everyone gets married super young and starts popping out babies like produce on a conveyer belt.

Why then, having grown up in this environment, did I grow up to become a wandering fanatic and travel nursing nomad?

Well, I was on the path to following the small-town cultural footsteps until one painful and gut-wrenching moment. A moment when, at the time, I thought my whole world was falling apart.

I was in college and in a serious relationship. My boyfriend of two years, who I thought I was going to marry and have babies with eventually, was deployed overseas.

At the time, we were living together, shared finances, and well on our way to achieving the “get married and have kids” dream.

The day I thought my whole life was falling apart was the day I learned my boyfriend was cheating on me during his deployment. The day we broke up, I felt hopeless and defeated. 

I conclusively felt like I had failed at life and didn’t know how to recover. All I knew, was I needed to pack my bags and get out of that tainted apartment.

While living back at home with my parents (I know, humiliating), I was focusing all my efforts on completing nursing school. I just wanted to get on with my mundane life.

One day, while scrolling through Facebook, I saw an ad for “European Highlights Adventure” pop up on my feed. It was a month-long tour throughout western Europe, a place I had only seen pictures of. 

Before I knew it, I was hitting that “sign me up” button and booking flights to Europe.

See also:

• Want to Travel the World? 7 Myths That Could be Holding You Back

The rest was history. After that month-long European road trip, I came home obsessed with travel and knew I needed more. 

After that trip, I was healed from all my heartache. I had met so many amazing people, learned that life isn’t about following in everyone else’s footsteps, and I, as a result, blossomed into a new person.

Everyone talks about “travel” and “vacations” and the fun they can bring to life—but not many people talk about the life-altering values of it. 

Some reasons I believe travel is the best form of health and wellness:

1. Travel makes you a more well-rounded human being.

Travel will open your eyes to new ways of life, challenge your current mindset, and give you opportunities for growth and self-improvement.

2. Travel teaches you who you really are.

All the possibilities and obstacles travel throws your way helps you discover who you are and how you handle life’s challenges.

3. Travel creates meaningful relationships.

With travel, I have met so many incredible people with the same mindset and outlook on life as me.

4. Travel is an opportunity for adventure.

Travel can get you partaking in activities you only once dreamed about doing! Read my post about Spartan Races, for example.

5. Travel helps you move forward.

Just like my trip to Europe after my gruesome breakup, travel enables you to get out of your emotional bubble and helps you move on.

6. Travel gives you a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

You’ll come home from a trip feeling fresh and new. Like you had just gone through a significant life accomplishment.

7. Travel gets you outdoors.

It’s no secret that being outdoors and in nature improves our overall mood, sense of well-being, and helps cure ailments such as anxiety and depression.

8. Travel gives you an escape.

It provides a momentary break from the monotonous daily lives to new adventures and excitement. It gives us a mental and emotional escape from our jobs, responsibilities, and any heartaches we’re struggling with back home.

9. Travel is like hitting the reset button.

Need a life change? Travel can help you take a step back from your daily routine and evaluate what really matters to you.

And the tourism industry is catching on to these wellness travel trends.

 In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that the concept of “wellness” switched from just being a luxury form of travel to now a necessity of travelers with a vast range of budgets.

It’s becoming more well-known by tourism boards and hospitality businesses that individuals are traveling to enhance their personal health and well-being. Travelers are seeking to bring balance to their often-times demanding and disconnected lives through travel and the destinations they visit.

See also:

• The “No Excuse” Healthy Travel Guide: Best Travel Exercise Equipment

 Here are some stats:

According to the Global Wellness Institute, world travelers made 830 million wellness trips in 2017, which is 139 million more than in the year 2015. By analyzing recent data, we could be looking at 1 billion wellness-style trips in 2020! 

Also, the wellness tourism industry grew 12.8 percent in just the last two years. Within that, the $639 billion wellness travel marker’s annual growth rate of 6.6 percent in two years is more than double the growth rate of the tourism industry overall, roughly 3.2 percent.

Travel is a chance for personal transformation and growth. To see the tourism community changing the way we view and experience travel is exciting.

Here are some ways wellness tourism is changing the way we travel:

1. We’re seeing more health & wellness in airports.

We’re seeing a significant increase in airport yoga rooms, in-transit fitness clubs and workout rooms, spa centers, therapy dogs, napping pods, healthier food options, and so much more! Airports are also remodeling their infrastructure to include more gardens, green space, and natural lighting!

See also: 

• 9 Ways to Keepin’ It Healthy at the Airport

2. Wellness tourism is putting emphasis on emerging destinations. 

More travelers are opting for a more “holistic wellness journey” for their vacation time. They want to connect with nature and have exposure to more local and traditional values. This is such a fantastic shift! Wellness travel can actually help prevent overtourism by drawing people away from overly crowded cities and into more peaceful, less-touristed areas.

3. There are notable changes in hotel hospitality.  

More and more hotels are highlighting their “wellness” offerings to travelers, such as spas, fitness centers, rooftop yoga, and health cafes. Just take a look at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas. This resort has developed “Stay Well” hotel rooms included with circadian lighting to improve your overall sleep, purified water and air, and even stress-relieving aromatherapy.

At the root of this historical growth is a major shift in what consumers value. Wellness and health are more top-of-mind for people than ever before. 

Personally, as someone who used travel as a means of getting over a brutal breakup, I’m very excited to see how the wellness tourism industry will continue to thrive. Wellness tourism will help people, like me, deal with the humdrum of everyday routine and life’s many curveballs.

If you liked this post, please share!
|