Traveling is fantastic for a variety of reasons; you may wish to travel in-between education or travel during holiday periods at work. Some travel alone, whilst others travel with friends and family or teams. You could travel to cities, or you could experience amazing sights and different cultures by going on hikes, expeditions and other adventures. A great benefit of traveling is that it can improve your interpersonal skills both in professional and personal life. In many cultures, communication is degrading. You will pass people on the train without a look or a word. People do not smile at each other like they use to or create meaningful conversations. It is more important than ever to learn essential communication skills due to our lack of them in everyday life. Here is a list of some of the ways travelling can boost those skills.
Traveling to countries with different languages
When traveling to countries where the language is spoken is new to you can be difficult at first but will improve your interpersonal skills in a variety of ways. When there is a language barrier, a lot of communication must be done via body language and other non-verbal messaging. When you are traveling you may have to point to something on the menu other ways of communicating without words. Learning how to effectively communicate with others when language is a barrier will be especially useful for other areas of your life and perhaps your career progression.
You will meet lots of new people
When traveling you will meet lots of new people, whether that be people in shops, people in bars and cafes or people on treks and expeditions. You may be traveling with a group of people you are not familiar with. This time is your chance to communicate with all kinds of people that you would not usually come across. You will have to adapt your communication style to all kinds of people. Adaptability is a great skill to learn. This is a brilliant way of boosting your interpersonal skills and creating new friendships.
Traveling forces you to go outside of your comfort zone
You may be a shy or timid person, or just not have a great set of communication skills. However, traveling puts you in a position where you cannot stay at home and isolate yourself. With this push outside your comfort zone, it allows confidence to be built. You will be able to find the confidence to start conversations and break the ice with new people and bring that to other areas of your life. You may also be taking part in activities that are challenging. Overcoming these challenges allows you to learn how to overcome other challenges in your personal life.
It teaches you to read people
As for meeting people whilst traveling can involve non-verbal communication, we will tend to focus more on facial expressions and emotions. This can, in turn, develop your ability to read other’s feelings and emotions. This is a great interpersonal skill and can be useful for many job professions such as business management, therapy, nursing, and life coaching. All too often we tend to overlook the importance that facial expressions in communicating with each other. There are emotions that verbal communication cannot portray in the same way as gestures and facial expressions.
It will develop your listening skills
When traveling with a group, you will have to actively listen to the directions in order to keep safe. Further, if you are meeting people who do not have diverse language skills, listening is vitally important. You will have to listen carefully when a language barrier is an issue. In addition, when traveling, we often listen to the tales of the culture and we are open to many learning opportunities. Being able to listen is a vital interpersonal skill and can be useful for psychologist roles, doctors, and social workers. Being a good listener will also strengthen personal relationships, it allows us to listen to our friends’ concerns and issues and potentially provide them with support.
It can strengthen your personal relationships
The travelling can have its challenges if you travel with those who are close to you. There can be stressful periods and there can be connecting moments. When travelling creates stressful periods, it can cause tension in relationships. However, this can be a great test for the relationship. It allows individuals to learn healthy coping strategies together and learn how to overcome similar stresses in the future. Travelling can also be very inspiring and connecting. It would likely be a new experience for relationships and in turn, bring individuals together. Travelling can show peoples weaknesses and strengths. It can reveal the qualities of individuals. Therefore, travelling can not only strengthen your interpersonal skills when it comes to career choices but also your personal life.
Conclusion
Travelling can provide us with many skills which can be fantastic for our career development and generally for our quality of life.
Therefore, can be a massive learning experience as well as being fun and relaxing. It is also a fantastic way to do something new. Interpersonal skills can be a great addition to your CV and interview skills, talking about your traveling experiences to employers could encourage them to choose you for the job and may set you apart from the competition. Furthermore, traveling can challenge you in ways you may never have experienced before. This can allow you to learn how to overcome other challenges in other areas of your life such as your challenges at work or personal life.
It’s safe to say that traveling is more than a fun activity. It is not only memorable with the things that you will see and the activities you took part in but also memorable for the skills you took on board and can bring back with you into the working world. Hopefully, by learning these skills we can help cultures communicate again in everyday life.
