8 reasons domestic travel can be the best travel!
While international travel is undeniably appealing, the beauty and benefits of traveling in your own country should never be overlooked!
This post can be appreciated by all our clients worldwide, but it goes out especially to our American readers for whom domestic travel really is the mode du jour. We’re here to discuss just what a great thing it can be.
We Americans live in a vast, varied country, covering as much land as all of Europe, which means that no matter where we call home in the States, there are still many places in the rest of the U.S. offering new adventures and travel opportunities. While some of us may think that the best travel is any travel beyond our borders and the two oceans, others have already discovered that exploring our own country is amazingly fulfilling and enriching.
Let’s take a look at eight reasons why they feel this way, why we all should, and why domestic travel really can be the best travel!
Experience your country’s unique natural beauty
We live on a beautiful planet, and every country possesses its own unique, natural wonders. However, due to that size we mentioned, the U.S. happens to be one of the most geographically diverse countries in the world. Imagine driving on a highway that starts in lush rainforest, takes you through a grove of the tallest trees in the world, winds along rocky, dramatic coastal cliffs, then ends where the road literally turns to a sandy, palm-lined beach. You’ve just driven down the West Coast of the U.S.! Marvel at how the forests and snowy peaks of the Cascades give way to the desolate beauty of the Great Basin desert. Or how the grasslands and prairies of Texas lead to the swamps of Louisiana. And in Florida, find beaches listed in Tripadvisor’s 2020 Travelers’ Choice Awards as some of the best beaches in the world. No need for the coast of Spain or a Grecian Island (as nice as those are!). These are just some examples of the incredible natural beauty awaiting us in our own backyard.
Experience your country’s culture
Some countries are culturally homogenous (think Iceland!) which can be an incredible cultural experience. The beauty of the U.S., however, is that it is the opposite. We are home to almost as many different cultures and people as there are in the world. Not only is each region beautifully colored and flavored by the different people who call it home, but every state and each town, as well. When you travel in the U.S. you are guaranteed to meet people from all different heritages and ancestry. You get to experience the world through their eyes, learn about their histories, and broaden your understanding of humanity. Isn’t that why we travel? Not just to see new places but meet people that open our minds and hearts? The nature of the U.S. with its native populations and multicultural immigrants means that this is as available to us here at home as it is when we travel internationally.
Make life easier on yourself
And yet, with all this diversity of landscape and people, there is no significant language barrier (aside from accents, slang, and colloquialisms) and no need for a passport! You are free to travel from state to state, city to city, and feel a sense of belonging even as you feel that sensation of being somewhere new and unfamiliar. Traveling within your own country, you get the best of both worlds: the ease of travel with all the new sights and sounds. And while the U.S. is not small, a flight even crosscountry still takes less time than most international flights, resulting in less time on a plane and more time exploring. We should also note that right now domestic air travel is especially easy, airports still mellow and calm, so take advantage!
Go solo for the first time!
Traveling in your own country, especially the U.S., is a great stepping off point for the first-time solo traveler. It’s no small thing to, say, drive across the U.S. or venture into a big city like New York, all on your own, if you’ve never done something like that. And yet, you’re still amongst your fellow countrymen and women, able to ask for help in your own language, able to get gas, order a sandwich, or find a hotel. It can be intimidating (even as it’s liberating) to be responsible for all your own plans, so if you want to start solo-traveling, take some of the edge off and start at home. Use the familiarity of domestic travel to free up energy for other things, like mapping that crosscountry route or taking the N.Y. subway for the first time. This will build confidence so that next time you’ll be tackling the Autobahn of Germany and subways of Tokyo!
Support your local economy
While you’re out there traveling your home country, whether with friends, family, or solo, you can feel good knowing you’re supporting local economies that, in turn, aid our larger, national economy. This is especially important now, as travel and tourism has suffered over the past months. Wherever we go we should always try to skip the kitschy shops with keychains and magnets (unless you just love them!) and instead support local artists and artisans. This country is full of beautiful products, from the edible (think Alaska smoked salmon, Vermont maple syrup, and California wine) to things that can be treasured longer (pottery, turquoise jewelry, leatherwork, and so on). Just as we’ve enthusiastically ordered from our favorite restaurants and donated to fundraisers over the past months to keep local places going, we can extend this generosity to our larger community, investing in people, shops, parks, and restaurants around the U.S. That includes skipping selfies and booking local photographers in the city and states you visit, who will happily commemorate your travels and help complete your collector’s map. (We’ll get to that in a moment!)
Be part of a tradition
Let’s turn our attention to the iconic road trip. Because if you’re going to travel domestically, especially in the U.S. and especially this year, this might be the way to go. From the family station wagon in National Lampoon’s Vacation to the convertible in Thelma & Louise to the yellow VW bus in Little Miss Sunshine, the road trip is part of our pop culture and national identity. In its development, America did not embrace passenger train travel as other countries did. It embraced the automobile, a literal and metaphorical vehicle for independence and personal expression, and with it came the tradition of the road trip. It’s out on the great open roads of America that people find out who they really are and adventure can appear at any moment on the horizon!
Collect the states
The U.S. is not the only country in the world with states. A Google search reveals there are 195! But our states are big, with big personalities, and there are 50 of them. A nice, round number that makes anyone who starts traveling them want to collect them all! Why? We’ve already mentioned the diversity and beauty of each state, but if you’re an American they are also a way of looking within, which is sorely needed right now. As Maya Angelou said, “If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going.” And beyond that, collecting is just plain addicting! My brother, who has visited all but eleven states, put it this way: “It was unintentional, but once you see the ones you’ve visited on a map, you get this desire to make the collection complete.” And he recently bought the very cool wall map created by Thunder Bunny Labs that lets you mark each state with a personal photograph. Now there’s motivation to book a local photographer in each state you visit...and visit them all!
Embrace a new experience
I travel to England every year but this year found me, instead, cancelling flights and getting vouchers from hotels. I was disappointed, but honestly, I had started to take my yearly pilgrimage for granted, sometimes not even getting excited anymore. Having all my plans upended and being homebound did two important things. First, it helped me remember what a privilege travel is. Not just to other countries, but even to just the next town up the highway! And second, it forced me to look within, and in doing so, to remember what’s truly important to me: family and growth. Neither of which require crossing any ocean. I remembered that I’ve never visited my aunt and cousins in North Carolina, or experienced the Grand Canyon, seen a musical in New York, or eaten real deep dish Chicago pizza! We don’t have to forego international travel (I’ll keep going to England!), but let’s not forget all the wonderful, important things that are right here at home.