My Top 5 Most Impactful Travel Experiences

I love to travel. Traveling has really helped me grow over the last few years. For instance, experiencing new places has helped me build my confidence and lessen my anxiety. If you’re like me, you really missed traveling in 2020. Not being able to travel this year has given me a lot of time to reflect on my past experiences and how they’ve shaped my life. I started thinking about my most impactful travel experiences and what they taught me. I’d like to share those moments with you today. These are the moments that remind me why I love to travel!

I hope that my experiences will inspire you to add these destinations to your post-Covid travel bucket list!

Looking for more travel content? Check out my budget road trip outline for the Canadian Rockies!

My Top 5 Most Impactful Travel Experiences

1. Chichen Itza, Yucatán Mexico, Temple of Kukulcán

The first vacation that I planned myself was to Cancun, Mexico. This trip was my first real experience of exploring another culture. Although we stayed in a resort, we spent most of the trip exploring the area by way of guided tours as well as on our own.

The most impactful part of the trip was our tour to Chichen Itza. We were incredibly lucky to get a tour guide who was a retired university history professor with profound knowledge of Mayan history. He was able to tell us the difference between the true history and the glamorized history that is usually told to tourists.

The Temple of Kukulcán at Chichen Itza is known for its incredible acoustic engineering. Dozens of tour groups filled the plaza in clusters. Many of them were clapping and laughing, seeming to just be goofing around. Our tour guide shook his head at the other tourists and said we would show them how it’s done. He got us to stand beside each other in a line. We clapped in unison while slowly taking steps forward until the pyramid echoed back at us. The temple chirped loudly and with intention. It sounded like a giant bird. The sound filled the plaza and the surrounding tour groups all stopped to listen.

This travel experience will always stick with me. It inspired me to learn about the history of different people and places. Hearing that ancient building chirp back and us filled me with wonder. I was amazed by how much skilled engineering was put into creating this ancient building. It made me wonder about the people who created it and what led them to ultimately abandon the impressive structure.

2. Anne Frank House, Amsterdam Netherlands

Visiting the Anne Frank House was different than any other museum experience I’ve ever had. To walk where Anne walked and to be inside the space where her family and others hid for over two years was an emotional experience. No matter how much you read about history or how many documentaries you watch, nothing can compare to standing where that history happened.

When I read excerpts from Anne’s diary growing up, I found it hard to picture what the described space she hid in was truly like. It was hard to imagine how there could be a whole space in a house that no one knew about. Experiencing the space for yourself really brings everything into perspective. You can see how much effort and risk was put into trying to keep the people inside safe.

When we learned about WWII and the Holocaust growing up in North America, it was so hard to really understand the pain and emotion connected with that time in history. In contrast with many European cities, you can’t visibly see the evidence of the war in North America. Learning about Anne Frank’s hopes and dreams while standing in the space where she lived really breaks your heart. It makes you empathize with her experience and the experiences of so many others. My visit to the Anne Frank House taught me the so much more than I could have learned in a conventional museum.

3. Stonehenge, Wiltshire England

I learned about Stonehenge many times throughout high school, as well as in my university archaeology class. It is such a famous and talked about place. I always pictured it surrounded by a city, somewhere it would be easily accessed by the masses. Maybe on the top of a hill where villagers could look up at it from their homes below. Or at least surrounded by archaeological facilities for research purposes.

It was such a shock to see it in person! Stonehenge sits surrounded by farms and fields of fluffy white sheep! It felt like an incredibly peaceful place. Even though there were many tourists visiting, the site almost looks forgotten surrounded by fields. Seeing it really helped me appreciate the mystery of how those giant stones were brought to this seemingly remote place. This travel experience stands out to me because it showed me how different it can feel learning about something than actually experiencing it for yourself.

4. The Colosseum, Rome Italy

Seeing the Colosseum in Rome sticks out for me for the opposite reason that Stonehenge does. Rather than looking like an archaeological site, the Colosseum is so integrated into the architecture of Rome that it feels as if it could still be in use. Walking by it feels just like walking by the big stadiums in downtown Vancouver. You can imagine everyone congregating there for events. We took a tour of it and walking through it felt like walking through any modern stadium. I never imagined in my life I would stay in a hotel that was a five-minute walk away from one of the wonders of the world! It is incredible how many layers of history there are in Rome. It was amazing to see them all integrated into one city skyline.

5. The Berg Lake Trail, BC’s Mount Robson Provincial Park

The last on my list of most impactful travel experiences is one that happened surprisingly close to home. Hiking the Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park was my first every multi-day backpacking hike. The whole experience was unforgettable. There is a truth to the saying “the journey is the destination.”

This was my first real experience of trail culture. Before this hike, I had never hiked anywhere that couldn’t also be accessed by day hikers. The trail culture is something truly unique. There is something so incredible about being in a place that you can only get to through a shared experience of intense effort. You know that everyone you meet had to go through the same experience to get there. Everyone around you has the same appreciation and respect for the outdoors. Everyone is willing to help each other out.

I am a firm believer in the importance of spending time in nature. There are so many psychological benefits for spending time in nature. I highly recommend that everyone give backpacking a try if they get the chance. There really is nothing else like it.

If you’re interested in outdoor travel, check out my budget road trip outline for the Canadian Rockies!

Conclusion

Our experiences shape us into the people that we are today. These travel experiences all impacted my life in an important way. I can’t wait for the world to be in a place where travel like this is possible again. However, as my number 5 pick shows, we can still have amazing travel experiences close to home!

What places had a big impact on your life? Share your travel stories in the comment section!