Things are different when you travel. You’ll often be uncomfortable. There’s rarely a set eating schedule, and your sleep schedule is regularly disrupted. But I disagree with the recent New Yorker article, “The Case Against Travel.” Travel is not synonymous with vacation, and while the aforementioned change or inconvenience will likely be experienced in both, I think truly additive experiences only occur during travel.

I’ve met people across the world that I’m still friends with to this day. People I see every few years, maybe even only once a decade. Those relationships still teach me different ways to see the world and enrich my social life.

I treasure all my experiences with the incredible nature on this planet. I almost always hike abroad, and I hike at home often. Walking different parts of the Earth have connected me to the oneness and majesty of this planet, knowing we all share this diverse space (and need to learn to appreciate it together).

And I usually do see the typical “touristy sights,” but those are often not the experiences that linger and grow years later. It’s the new food experiences, the new relationships, the unique feelings I’ve encounter along my journey. Travel provides a window to another world, one in which you can enter if you chose. Or it can be something that enlarges your perspective. Travel can make us better human beings by being more empathetic to both culture and planet. Travel is largely responsible for who I am today. Travel gives.