“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”- Marcel Proust
Note: This guest post was written by Lea Woodward. She runs Project Woodward with her husband whilst they travel the world permanently as Location Independent Professionals (LIPs).
Do you spend most of the year looking forward to that 2 week holiday you’ve booked in August? Or just daydreaming about what it would be like to waltz around the world, exploring the exotic destinations you see on TV?
Let’s start by exploring the reasons why many people like to travel:
To broaden your horizons. To provide some excitement and an escape from the hum drum of ‘ordinary’ life. To see the world beyond your four corners. To recharge your batteries. To challenge yourself. To meet interesting and like-minded people. To experience new cultures and lifestyles. To have some fun.
This advice comes from having spent the past 12 months travelling to and living in Panama, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Grenada, Dubai and now South Africa. Sounds like a dream lifestyle right? Yes in some respects you’d be right; but on the other hand it has its challenges.
What I have learned along the way however, is that many of the things we came looking for on our journey, we could have found right on our doorstep.
Here’s 5 ways you can experience the benefits of travelling without leaving town:
1. Start a new hobby.
Travelling helps us escape the hum drum of normal life. Starting a new hobby — something that you’re passionate about — has a similar effect. It helps you engage with other like-minded people, encourages you to learn a new skill and challenges you — depending upon the hobby — both physically and mentally.
The next step after reading this, is to find an activity you’re passionate about and pursue it. Even if it’s on your own, just get to it and try it.
2. Explore new cultures in your home town.
Many of us live in multi-cultural cities or towns. We don’t even have to leave our home town to experience a new culture.
There are a number of simple things you can try this week that will help you learn about other cultures around the world. These include:
Go out for a meal to sample a new cuisine you’ve never tried. Visit and shop at immigrant-owned stores, get chatting to the owners and you’ll be surprised how much you can learn. Make a point to make friends with foreigners and expats in your home town. As someone who has lived overseas several times in my life, it is one of the most rewarding experiences to be accepted by and make friends with locals in a strange place; you could be that ‘local’.
3. Be a ‘local’ tourist.
Unless you live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, many of us live near several tourist attractions that we’ve never actually been to. Sure, whenever we have guests we’re happy to send them off on the tourist trail but often we’ve never actually done it ourselves. Make a list of all the (tourist) places in your area that you’ve always “meant to visit”, and go visit them!
4. Learn a language.
One of the joys (and challenges) of travel abroad is the opportunity to speak to locals in their own language and get a real sense of a place. Unfortunately language barriers often stand in our way.
In most towns and cities there are evening language classes you can attend and there is nothing to whet the appetite more for a place, than learning to speak the lingo. If classes aren’t an option, then try one of the popular self-paced learning courses.
5. Get interactive online.
Blogs, websites, forums — now more than ever, it is possible to find out about a place without even visiting it. It’s even possible to use Google Earth to travel to somewhere halfway across the world without leaving your living room.
Whilst this sort of voyeurism is no substitute for visiting a place and interacting directly with locals, the advent of global forums and the world wide web makes it even easier to connect with people all around the world and learn about their language, culture and country without leaving your home.
The thing about travel is that it often frees us of our inhibitions; it makes us more willing to try things we otherwise wouldn’t. The truth is, many of these benefits and feelings can be had on your doorstep — if you really want them that much.
The trick is to open your eyes, drop your inhibitions and go out and find them.
译文:
在家门口享受旅行的五种方法
“真正的发现之旅不在于发现景色而是拓宽视野。”
-Marcel Proust
注解：这篇访文的作者是Lea Woodward.她和丈夫一起主持
Project Woodward（一家专为商业企业出谋划策的公司）的工作，他们经常环游世界，并把他们的经历写在名为
Location Independent Professionals的博客中。
你是否总是在盼望着八月份那两周的假期？或者总是幻想着环游世界，去领略电视上看到过的异国风情？
我们先分析一下，为什么那么多人都喜欢旅行：
开拓视野。
刺激，摆脱繁杂的“普通”生活。
走出去看世界。
充电。
自我挑战。
结识有趣的，志趣相投的朋友。
体验不同的文化及生活方式。
开心。
下面是在巴拿马，布宜诺斯艾利斯，多伦多，格林纳达，迪拜直到现在的南非，旅游、生活了12个月后，给大家提的一些建议。这样的旅居生活听起来像是梦想中的生活方式吧？在一些方面或许是这样，但是它也确实给我们带来了挑战。
我发现，在这一路上接触到的许多东西在我们家门口完全可以学到。
下面是可以使你在家领略到旅行乐趣的五种方法：
1. 发展新的兴趣爱好
旅行可以使我们摆脱平时繁杂的生活。发展新的兴趣爱好—找一个你非常热衷的项目，这样可以结识一些志同道合的朋友，学到新的知识，遇到新的挑战，会使你在身心两方面受益。
在看了这条建议之后，找一个你非常喜欢的活动坚持下来，哪怕就一个人，也要试着去做。
2. 在你的周围发掘新的文化
我们很多人都生活在多文化的城市中，所以不需要离开家就完全可以体验到一种新的文化。
试试做一些简单的事情，就能体会到这些文化。
出去吃饭的时候尝试没有吃过的口味。
去外地人开的小店逛逛，和店主聊聊，就会学到很多东西。
与你周围的外国人交朋友。我的一些朋友经常在国外，那种被接受而且还能和当地人交朋友的经历确实非常有益。你可以感受到成为“当地人”的感觉。
3. 成为“家乡”旅游通
无论你的家乡多么小，周围总有很多好玩的地方还没有去过。我们通常都是非常乐意让客人参观游览，但是自己就很少去了。列出那些在你周围的一直都很想去的地方，去吧！
4. 学一门新的语言 出国旅游的乐趣或者说是挑战之一就是要同当地人讲当地的语言，这样才能真正了解那个地方。但是，语言经常会成为我们的障碍。
很多地方都有夜校语言学习班，这是学习外语的好地方。如果不去学习班，也可以选一个好的自学课程。
5. 网上交流
现在通过博客，网站，论坛，不用实地游览，也可以了解一个地方。甚至可以通过谷歌搜索引擎，在家里就能游遍大半个地球。
虽然这样并不能完全替代实地的旅游，也不能完全直接的与那里的人交流，但是这种全球性的论坛和互联网确实使我们更加便捷的与世界各地的人交流，学习他们的语言、文化，了解他们的国家，而这一切完全能在家里完成。
旅行能使我们完全放开，尝试新的事物。实际上，如果你真地去做了，那么在家门口就能得到旅行的一些益处。
关键在于，睁大眼睛，甩掉束缚，走出去，去发现它们。