Travel Broadens The Mind example essay topic

Travelling enables many people to broaden their minds in certain respects. When you travel you gain new ideas and experience new things. However you do not have to travel miles to expand your horizons, and there are many disadvantages associated with travelling. Travelling makes it possible to experience new cultures; for example, observing different religions and customs, even if it just means traipsing round an Indian mosque, or visiting an Egyptian temple.

While travelling, you can learn new languages, which may increase your confidence. If you learn a few basic phrases, you are given the chance to interact with the native people. Also you are more likely to experience the friendliness of the locals because language barriers are broken. This may lead to prejudice ideas being destroyed. A new language gives a different outlook on life. Travel also teaches you independence, because it allows you to escape the familiar surroundings of home and stay in a strange or alien place.

Just arranging travel and accommodation can give you new responsibilities. Often when people travel they leave everyday commodities behind and have to learn to cope without them. Improvising or making do without them teaches patience and determination, and when you return home you become more grateful for the things you left behind. Not only does travelling allow you to see new cultures, it also often allows you to learn the roots of your own cultures.

Travelling enables you to become aware of differences in lifestyle whether they are regional or national - and to learn how different people interact and generally what they base their ideas on. Travelling lets people explore their own customs and way of life, and appreciate their countries history and traditions. Travelling introduces new ideas that can change your opinions on different topics and help you to become more open minded about things you would normally disapprove of. Such as exploring different political situations in countries you visit. By experiencing life in different social systems or under different governments, you can see how successful they are and form intelligent opinions. Travelling can also make you more aware of other traditions and help you understand different views and perceptions that foreign people have.

Our neighbours in France, a mere twenty-two miles from our shores live diverse lives from our selves, socially, politically and legally. By visiting new places you are introduced to new etiquette, which you may be expected to abide by. This provokes awareness in many people on the correct rules of behaviour in society and broadens the mind. The opportunities of travel are expanding. Package holidays are becoming more popular.

And travelling to new countries is being made more accessible, and cheaper. In the future there will be orbital hotels in space offering out of this world holidays. Ordinary holidaymakers will be able to travel to space and back. How could travelling to a different planet not broaden the mind Space travel could put a new perspective on life and change the way you think and the way you live your live. However, travelling has many disadvantages and it is possible to take the view that it does not broaden the mind. Travelling can be very expensive and you may have to be inconvenienced by having to get visas or a passport.

Why would you want to go to all this bother when you are able to experience new cultures through media, such as television programmes, newspaper articles or the Internet There are numerous travel programmes on the television and radio, and it is much easier and cheaper to see new places by this method. Also England is very international and there are many foreign people living and studying here. So you do not have to go abroad in order to learn new languages or see different traditions. An example of this is China Town in London. Here in this bustling town are many Cantonese and Mandarin speaking people.

There are a variety of restaurants offering a taste of the eastern culture. There are also many dangers associated with foreign cultures. There are the hazards of diseases and you may have to go to the trouble of getting injections and taking malaria tablets. You are relatively safe in England as there is no risk of wars or terrorist attacks. Some people could feel going abroad daunting because of the different laws and punishments for crimes. Also some might argue that there is no point in going abroad, as everywhere is becoming the same and homogenized.

An example of this is the fact that in many countries there are McDonalds restaurants situated everywhere. Moreover many countries cultures are modified to suit English tastes. So in fact you are not really experiencing the true way of life in that country. Also when you go travelling you often dont meet people of new nationalities. As Laurence Sterne expressed it As an English man does not travel to see English men, I retired to my room. Guests staying in many resorts are urged to remain in the safety of the complex of the hotel, and urged not to venture out, because of disturbing sights of poverty or fear of the unaltered world outside the hotel.

Many tourists are reluctant to venture forth and so seldom see the real country, and its people, which they are visiting. However I feel that it is much easier to broaden the mind by travelling than watching travel programmes. It is also much more enjoyable. By experiencing first hand the sounds and smells textures and tastes, satisfying all of your senses, and witness the country first hand. If you wish to do this then you have to tolerate any misfortunes encountered. Such as deadly cobras, cancelled flights or flash floods.

So if you dare to be more adventurous than going to But lins, then you will reap rewards from it. Claudia Wilde Analytical Essay Summer Term 2001 English Language Coursework.