Is travel worth the trouble? Travel is, undoubtedly, one of the most costly things you could ever be stupid enough to do. It is expensive, time consuming, emotionally exhausting and occasionally embarrassing. It has landed me in several hospitals, has been the source of at least one breakup (#yolo), and is almost certainly why my student loans still need attending to. 

I have wept in airports, slept on train station floors and gotten biblically ill. All for sights, street food and that certain feeling you get whenever you’re somewhere new and suddenly feel…at home. That ‘ah ha!’ moment when, like a light switch you’ve been fumbling for in the dark, you suddenly understand your new surroundings.

I have had the highest highs and lowest lows of my life pursuing those moments. Is travel worth the trouble? Let’s look at an example, shall we?

In Guatemala, it took just 6 hours after arriving in the country for me to be bitten by a street dog and begin a saga of figuring how to not get rabies. You might call this a low point. You would be correct.

Strangely, Guatemala was also a high point. I can assure you, that is not the rabies talking.

In the midst of phone calls, doctor appointments and drinking coffee from plastic bags in medical clinics under construction, I discovered that I understand Spanish. I was, there is no other way to say this, delighted. And since I needed to stay close to the clinic under construction, I ended up having dinner with the same local family several nights in a row. I got to know them over both home cooked meals and Domino’s pizza. And I got to know Guatemala in a way that I never would have, had I not been bitten by a dog. So, somehow, the low point was also the high point. (Please note that I do NOT recommend medical emergencies as a way to get to know a country and its people.)

Admittedly, that was a trip of extremes. But that was far from my first travel low.

Among the most memorable travel lows:

• Spending three hours in a laundromat in Kuala Lumpur to make sure I didn’t bring any friends home after a stay in a bed bug ridden hostel.
• Getting lost in an ancient Cambodian temple and almost throwing a fit because it was so. damn. hot. And I should have been happy in Cambodia, and I felt really guilty that I wasn’t happy, but I had sweat through my t-shirt four hours ago. And, damnit, I just wanted to stop sweating and why is it so hot, and can we please find some shade?!
• Hiding in a 7/11 in Penang, Malaysia to shake off proposals and vows from random suitors.

So after all this fuss -the tears, the panic, the godforsaken heat- WHY would anyone do this? How could travel be worth all of these genuinely uncomfortable situations?

It’s worth it for these sorts of travel highs:

• Finding that Lisbon, Portugal reminded me of Athens, Greece for some intangible reason, and instantly feeling at home.
• Studying abroad in Florence, Italy, where I regularly made a fool of myself and somehow learned the language along the way.
• Eating at a Michelin star udon restaurant outside of Tokyo, where the hostess realized I was an incompetent westerner that clearly didn’t know how to eat udon – so she sat down with me to make sure I knew how to enjoy an astounding meal.

The highs don’t sound quite as drastic as the lows. But they are a thousand times more powerful (I mean, as long as you stay alive.)

To feel at home in a new place for no discernable reason, is worth all the lows in the world. To listen to street musicians, and somehow feel like you just met a city through its music is more meaningful than any rough patch I’ve encountered traveling.

It all comes back to that ‘ah ha!’ moment. That moment you suddenly understand a place you never thought you’d visit to begin with. The moment you connect with locals, have a meal that changes your life or listen to music that feels like your destination. And that moment is why travel is definitely worth the trouble. So I keep putting myself out there, at risk of lows time and again, to catch that moment in each new destination.

So wish me luck – and cross your fingers for highs only- on this next trip in Jordan and Israel! And, if you haven’t already, please subscribe!