How to take a life-changing journey with Pico Iyer

I've been traveling constantly for almost 50 years now and I've found that my life has been dramatically Changed by travel in big ways and small again and again I first began going to school by plane at the age of nine traveling back and forth between my parents home in California and my fourth grade classroom in Oxford England by the time I was 17 I was actually spending every season on a different continent what I noticed very quickly is that the world isn't small at all in the sense of being homogeneous yes you can get to Bhutan tomorrow or see someone in Tierra del Fuego on the screen of your phone tonight but the Wonder the surprise that shock of meeting North Korea in the flesh or Tibet or Antarctica they're no different than they've ever been of course travels a luxury but I'm increasingly convinced it's also a necessity we live in a global neighborhood and our lives are shaped every hour by people in China and Congo and Chattanooga those of us who can find the time and resources owe it to ourselves and to our neighbors to go and visit them not to do so is like sitting in a treasure house with a blindfold on while committing entire cultures to solitary confinement I also feel that in the age of the screen it's ever more important to encounter other places in real life and in the age of acceleration there's a real virtue in trying at times to go slow and to live with less distraction as I wander around this Deer Park here in Nara a part of me is thrilled of course to be surrounded by buildings that have been here since the 8th century to walk among 1200 wild deer who were regarded as God's Messengers set eyes on the second tallest wooden Pagoda in all Japan but just as important is the opportunity to live at a human Pace to sit still now and then to catch my breath to see home differently by stepping away from it during this course I'd like to share with you some ideas for making your travels truly transformative whether they're around the block or across the world we'll talk about how to prepare for a journey practically and emotionally so you can come back home a different person about how to choose a destination and chart an itinerary about how to engage with other cultures openly and thoughtfully and about how to extend the journey once you get back home so you can begin to live a little differently I'm Pico IO welcome to how to take a life-changing Journey let's begin [Music]

Channel: TED

Views: 29,868

Keywords: TEDTalk, TEDTalks, TED Talk, TED Talks, TED

Id: yoEFO-IC70U

Length: 3min 28sec (208 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 30 2023