My thoughts on travel

1996 was the year I traveled for the first time out of my home country. I was 12 years old. My parents, my sister and I flew from Athens, Greece, to Kansas and from there we took on a 22-day road trip exploring the western USA. Fun fact: no one in the family could speak English but me, so I had the crucial role of communicating at every place, with everyone, about everything, making sure that we eat, sleep and have fun! The trip was an extraordinary experience for me, although some might argue that there is nothing extraordinary to see in a highly developed country. Fast forward to 2020: I have traveled in more than 25 countries, become "addicted" to exploring different places around the world. My main learnings in a few words: 1) each people deal with life in both common and uncommon ways, 2) overconsumption hurts our health and our planet, and 3) building a universal view to the world might help sustain Earth.

In our days, social media are boosting the importance of saving our planet by limiting globalization and its byproducts. I agree with the urgency. At the same time, I stand by those promoting the kind of globalization which allows and cultivates progress for every little part on each continent, even if this comes at a short-term cost for the planet. Take travel for example: if we stopped flying around the world for business or leisure we would reduce emissions and limit the effects of global warming. But wouldn't we also limit our ability to experience our planet's diversity and learn from its wisdom? Wouldn't that slow down our advances in improving life for everyone on Earth? One might suggest an obvious route to success: less travel -> fewer emissions -> faster recovery for the environment. But could we also consider an alternative route? Responsible travel -> educational experiences on-site -> mind-altering learnings -> life improvement and sustainability.

An example from Greece would be: travel to Santorini* in winter -> hike to the volcano crater and visit the prehistoric city of Akrotiri -> learn about one of the most powerful eruptions in human history and its impact on the environment -> take learnings back and implement best practices.

While writing about Greece, another thing comes to mind; many people in my country don't travel often (a byproduct of the last financial crisis together with the deep-rooted idea that "Greece is the best place so I don't need to go elsewhere"). Led by incomplete education and bias from culture and media, many Greeks still disregard important matters, such as recycling. I consider myself lucky to be able to travel so often because it has helped me minimize those biases. In my mind, travel is the simplest fun way to "educate" yourself about what is really happening around the world. See how others deal with global challenges and immerse yourself in cultures different to yours; learn to equate people in your eyes, annihilate racism and come up with ways to better your homeplace. I want to believe that the more people travel, the more they will learn and the easier it will be to save this planet. So next time you get a chance to travel, ask yourself, "can I make it responsible and educational?". If yes then off you go!

*Santorini is a travel destination impacted by #overtourism, where almost 5 million annual visitors take selfies during sunset and make the lives of the 25,000 locals harder than it is (no freshwater, no recycling, no infrastructure). How can you help? First step: "educate" yourself by watching this video that tells the story of the Santorini volcano - https://vimeo.com/113042536.