Why would anyone put up with long security lines, airport delays, irritating companions in a small space, a night of no sleep and a few days of jet lag?
There is nothing – nothing – like the experience of traveling to other countries, whatever the reason.
International travel will change you. It will change your outlook – both general and specific. You will see people in a different light. You will perceive your country through different eyes. You are less likely to be an ethnocentrist though we are all pretty much raised that way.
Traveling outside your home country is a must, as traveling changes all of us for the better. Most likely, you will become a better (global) citizen as a result.
Here is some of what you will come to learn through international experience:
You will realize that other countries have great things to offer. People who know that I have traveled a great deal in my lifetime eventually ask me which country I like the most. I can think of a few countries that are very special to me, but overall, I have learned that most of them have something great to contribute, and sometimes, something much better!
Traveling opens your mind. I have often thought that if people acquired a better understanding of the world through international experiences, then the world would be a better place. For example, working overseas, like others in multinational settings, I saw many ways to approach and solve business challenges that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Over time, those who work internationally begin to master the advantages of many ways to do things – almost instinctively.
You appreciate the best in each country. In their roles within those companies, multinational employees learn to reject the ”not invented here syndrome.” They take the best from everywhere. For example, what if creative entrepreneurship which is a norm in the U.S. could be combined with the best healthcare system like that of France or the best engineering as found in Germany? Talk about success.
What a concept!
Translating personal views onto a global stage is possible. If individuals can learn, adapt and appreciate the various approaches of different cultures, why not societies as a whole? And yet individual countries still hold on to their stubborn ways. What if they did not?
Traveling abroad positions each of us to bring a broader view to solving challenges in our own countries.
