good afternoon everybody I know I’ve
been there’s high benchmarks that have
been set with all the lovely
inspirational speakers that were here on
this platform before me I don’t have
much to talk about with what I’ve done
with my life but I just have small
inspirations that I would like to share
with the little things that have taken
so I woke up one morning I was wearing
this lovely orange top and I walked into
college it was during my graduation at
st. Elijah’s college Mangalore I used to
hang out with this huge bunch of friends
I used to call the NRI gang a term we
used to give students that used to study
abroad and had come back to India to
attend grad school so somewhere during
that day my friends complimented me on
the color of my top and I very
confidently told them that I had
purchased at the previous evening that
it was an original brand one that wasn’t
available in mango then and still isn’t
I’m a small town girl you see I remember
how they laughed out loud as they told
me or they asked me for the price of the
top and I said I paid about four dollars
and got the lady who gave me the top had
given me a further discount on it they
only laughed louder to tell me that the
brand that I had mentioned to them would
have never come so cheap and that I had
been duped well to me I had never
traveled out of India then so I wasn’t
convinced I remember rushing back home
that evening looking up online trying to
find out what the actual price of that
top was and only to realize that they
were not wrong I was tossing and turning
sleepless that night wondering what
happened that day feeling stupid about
what happened
and feeling backward for someone like me
that used to excel academically for
someone like me that used to be called
the brain I was speeding like my entire
being was being reduced to the size of a
little pea how could I have been duped
in this manner why were my friends
ridiculing me why did I not know about
this myself
obviously my friends worry is abroad so
they were aware of these things
happening around the world heist that I
needed to learn that’s when I realized
that I needed to know more suddenly it
dawned upon me that everything that I
knew about myself and about the world
was restricted to the geographical area
that I belong to was limited to the city
that I lived in there was no point
standing first in class being
multi-talented if I didn’t do anything
about this world because there was so
much more to life than just that the
many of you sitting here this might be
the silliest situation for a turning
point but to me it was one and it was
one that hit me hard enough to want to
know more and more every day Google
became my best friend YouTube my
favorite companion and blogs were my
buddies so I asked my best friend Google
show me the fastest way to know
everything about the world and I
followed what Google said but that was
only so much compared to when my real
life learning started and that was when
I traveled fortunately for me in those
two years I had the opportunity to meet
my brother and his family the first year
to Dubai and the second year to Prague
Czech Republic lest I forget to mention
this later of all the places that I’ve
ever seen
Prague is undoubtedly the most beautiful
and if you’ve not been there yet it’s
from from these travels I realized that
my life was being impacted in in ways
that I least thought it would from
international flights jet LAG’s
Leia was sipping on an espresso
something I haven’t developed the palate
for yet to learning words like Salaam
alaikum
dobry den traveling in metered taxis
trams metros relishing Sharma’s with
pickles to tasting varieties of cheese
my jaw dropping in front of the tallest
building in the world in Dubai to
watching the amazing change of God
ceremony at the Prague Castle I had so
many experiences to share I suddenly
realised that her eye not to have
stepped out of the country that I was
living in I wouldn’t have known or
experienced half of the feelings that I
was now I realized that things that were
taboo in my city were perfectly normal
elsewhere and things that were normal in
my city were banned elsewhere so I was
having humongous culture shocks along
the way so my thirst to experience the
world landed me a place that Leeds
Metropolitan University where I landed
straight into knee-deep snow on my 21st
birthday and boy I had no idea I was
going to go down sliding home that
evening so I was a late born being a
late born my parents my brother they’d
almost forgotten that I was growing up
so pampered with so much of love and
care it was only my time in Leeds that
taught me to be independent fearless and
strong I did it on my own
fearless enough to kill that spider in
my house alone strong enough to carry my
grocery bags on my own and independent
enough to decide how much allowance to
spend on bills and how much on shopping
I was now sitting in a class full of
students from different nationalities
listening to variations of the English
accent I was learning that unlike
me more than half the students in my
class were funding their own master’s
degree juggling between part-time
full-time and freelance jobs I was in
awe so I began to get this feeling
inside me that had I not to have stepped
out of my city when I was much younger
or had I not to have decided to get out
of India for my education probably I
wouldn’t have become this person that I
had now become I began to accept myself
the way I was I began to become
comfortable being pea-sized in this big
world I also realized that people went
to tanning salons to get my skin color
and I also realized that being English
didn’t mean that they all knew how to
spell and that the chips and the crisps
to the English were fries and chips to
Indians right I was falling in love I
was falling in love with his feeling of
belonging to the world of just being out
there experiencing it but more
importantly I was I was loving the
then was my next career move the big
career move I landed myself a place a
job in Oman one of the most beautiful
countries in the world I was manager of
marketing in corporate communications at
Omar’s largest travel and hospitality
company I was now finding ways every day
I still do to entice people in Oman to
travel to travel and experience the
world like I did and in the same breath
I was luring people from all across the
world to come and experience Oman
Arabia’s best-kept secret because much
against perceptions Oman was not a
challenge for me at all when I lived
alone the culture of the people in Oman
came to me as a pleasant surprise it’s
more than the hospitality more than the
ever so helpful nature of the Oman
easier
what I loved about a man with this
natural beauty the plethora of textures
that Oman Oman could offer that would be
enticing to photographers destination
wedding planners filmmakers – I dreamed
I dreamed of making Amanda something
better than the Cappadocia of Turkey
standing Interlaken of Switzerland and
very soon I was promoting an entire
nation to the whole world
I was representing Oman at international
travel trade exhibitions rubbing
shoulders with international film
fraternity and every time I spoke about
Oman my eyes would light up like it was
my own I used to cheer just like the
emani’s did at the crazy National Day
celebrations at the Gulf Cup matches
something was weird here like what was
going on how was I how was I able to do
this how was I able to be in love with
this this magic that Oman gave me was I
learning to become a world citizen and
that’s when I asked myself six questions
how was I able to love a country so much
that I wasn’t born in could I then fall
in love with every other country in the
same manner what if I had to travel when
I was much younger
what if annual family vacations were
made mandatory what if we started giving
the experience of lifestyle cultures
ethnicities to kids from a very young
age what if we were all trying to become
global citizens so nationality is
something that a child gets at birth
right
perceptions personalities these are
mostly built around family surrounding
society the country’s laws social norms
what your education system teaches and
your peers let me get right into it so
we’re in a world that is obsessed by
money Pollak
social media technology where the
highest-rated media houses are the ones
that document the highest number of
deaths and controversies I have a
two-year-old in my house my niece who
will never sit down to have a meal
without YouTube on her iPad so right
from a very young age were exposing
children the youth to different forms of
media that could be inflicting the
ideology in them that the place out
there the world out there is not a safe
environment and the best place to be is
cocooned in the comfort of your home in
front of a screen so it becomes our
responsibility as parents as educators
as influencers to show children that the
world is beautiful out there that
there’s a lot more you can experience in
the world then sit within the four walls
of your home cocooned in that zone that
you think is safe in front of your
screen and view the beauty of the world
outside just through that screen travel
has been redefined Travel is not as
expensive as it used to be sorry there
are very there are different options of
travel these days there are very
different varieties that people can opt
for why taking their kids on vacations
you have educational tours you have
cultural exchanges you have historical
to us
you have volunteering opportunities when
you introduce children to such forms of
travel from a very young age you you get
them to meet different people you get
them in touch with different cultures
and you know the idea of how big the
world is gets out of that little
geography textbook and the history
lessons become more relatable to the
monuments and landmarks that they see
around the world during their journeys
chopin’s how many of you know about the
okay hands down how many of you have
seen the Eiffel Tower on any form of
media YouTube Instagram there are all
right hands dot now the last one how
many of you have actually bit to the
Eiffel Tower in Paris right so you see
we started with almost 100% of you and
now we down to about fifteen twenty
right so when you when you’re actually
standing there at the Eiffel Tower and
you’re looking up at it you’d probably
wonder what kind of a person would be
crazy enough to come up with an idea
like that
standing there and getting that
life-changing experience and just
thinking to yourself wow this is more
magnificent than I ever thought it was
that right there is the power of travel
so why did I mention about my little
experiences in life to you earlier why
am i standing here on this platform when
I know like I said I haven’t achieved
top of what most of the speakers on this
platform would have I’m just an ordinary
person with a simple idea I have
traveled a tiny bit into this big world
but my life has a story it has a little
inspiration that I’d like to share with
you so that like me millions of ordinary
people in the world can travel more
importantly travel with your children as
early as they should to make them belong
to the world to show them how beautiful
it is to travel and experience the world
to break the thin borders that surround
Nations to learn from to give to and
grow with the world to become like they
say ethnocentric so that they are able
to accept people the way they are except
themselves the way they are and give
back to the community to the world at
what I know now with a little that I’ve
traveled let me share with you what I’ve
learned from my travels Travel is
undoubtedly the best form of Education
it teaches one to be humble and to
spread love so we’re living in a world
where you know you’re forced to excel
you’re forced to excel in advanced
courses get a good job buy a fancy car
get a big house and so on but if you’ve
ever thought of taking your children to
the so-called third world countries or
sometimes even to places nearby in your
own country you will realize that your
children are able to experience you know
where you have families working for more
than 12 hours to get just two meals to
feed I don’t know how many members
that’s there in the house you have you
you give give you children the
experience of of seeing such humbling
experiences that will make them
retrospect redefine their wants and
their happiness they will learn to treat
each other with dignity and in turn
begin to spread love traveling teaches
you invaluable life skills traveling
teaches you skills like communication
time management organization it teaches
you how to interact with people of
different communities different cultures
it teaches you more importantly it
teaches your children how to learn to
live on a budget so you teach your
children how to give up on that daily
luxury for the want of wanting to see a
new place tomorrow
Travel will teach you that you don’t
need much to survive it teaches you to
be minimalistic so when you realize
sorry when you realize that your entire
existence revolves around a little
suitcase a couple of clothes passport
and maybe a camera
you will realize that everything else
that made you happy your house your car
maybe all the junk that you’ve
accumulated over the years becomes very
minuscule becomes redundant in
comparison to the the happiness that you
get when you’re traveling the feeling of
you know I can do with this I’m still
happy with the little that I have and
that’s when you start teaching your
children the real value of little things
in life teaching soy travel will teach
you about yourself so most of the time
we are you know our choices our
personalities are affected by the
environment that we’re surrounded by
appears our family our friends but when
you travel you meet new people you make
new thoughts you have new experiences
you learn new things and then you
realize that your opinions your choices
your personality your ideologies they’ve
all started changing you’ve started
evolving as a person and that’s when you
start realizing who you really are what
you really want to do where you want to
be who you want to spend your time with
and as adults it’s very important to
teach your children to recognize these
interests to make these choices while
they travel travel unifies you with
nature and culture when you travel you
learn to appreciate the importance of
Beauty culture art in all its variety
you unify yourself with nature and in
turn with your inner being and you learn
the true meaning of coexistence Travel
introduces you sorry Travel inspires you
with new ideas bee business or life I
realized that when you when you travel
you see so many businesses out there
that may not have been an option when
you are in your country you learn about
new businesses you learn about probably
franchise the opportunities you learn
something new from another community and
you want to inculcate that you want to
imbibe that
your society where you can be a huge
contributor to develop your own society
so let me give you an example at the age
of 29 this man traveled from the USA to
Italy he learned about the Italian
coffee culture he took it back with him
to the USA and developed a company
that’s now worth more than 80 billion
dollars Starbucks that’s right
another one this man at the age of 40
traveled from travel to Thailand and
watched the tuk-tuk drivers drink a
beverage that kept them awake he tasted
the drink he bought the rights to the
small company and developed this into
right 20 billion dollar wise company Red
Bull that is the power of travel ok
Travel moles couriers many countries
have limited courier options so when you
travel you actually find that you may
have an aptitude for things that offer
optical carriers that may not be an
option in your country at all say as
parents many times we want to pressurize
the kids like most of our speakers said
here pressurize the kids about this is
what you got to be this is what you got
to become I have a little suggestion to
make why don’t you let them travel why
don’t you let them see what is there in
the world outside maybe you’ll realize
that they have an aptitude for something
else that was never an option for you in
the country you lived in why would you
not want to give your kids the wings to
fly why would you not want to inculcate
in them and early aptitude for it for a
profession to aim toward something that
Travel gives you a sense of satisfaction
awesome I think has left for the day
see ya know easier so from the little
experience that changed Austin’s life it
was when he traveled it was when he went
and clicked pictures in that little
place in Bangalore was that bangle oh
yes was that back was Bangalore so as I
was sitting there and I said there right
there that’s the power of travel you
have volunteering opportunities you have
so many organizations that are
increasing in number teach the young
adults to take part in such initiatives
you don’t want to send them alone travel
with them take part with them in such
projects so that you make your children
socially responsible morally aware and
that they realize their responsibilities
towards their community and their
you will you will teach them to become
compassionate humane when I say human i
think we’re lacking a bit of humanity
Travels teaches you to be grateful so I
know I’ve been boring you with the
points now so let me tell you about
something that I experienced with my
Omani friend she is actually in the
audience here so I met her at my
workplace I now call her family she was
32 when I convinced her family to travel
with me for 15 days to India it was her
first international trip her first
experience outside of man and I I cannot
forget the way her eyes lit up when we
walked outside the Mumbai Airport why we
were in transit the first thing she said
to me was I thought all the people in
India were in Oman there are still so
many people in India there she said
without postconviction to me if I ever
become a minister in India I will make
sure I paint all the houses and do up
all the roads in India and suddenly our
she had become grateful but things that
she wasn’t grateful for here back in
Oman you know she she became grateful
for the road systems the buildings the
facilities in the country and that’s
when it dawned upon me the travel
actually makes you grateful it makes you
grateful for the many things you don’t
realize are a blessing to you on a
normal day you become grateful to your
family to your country to your community
you actually become grateful that you’re
alive that you’re going out there seeing
those people seeing those places
experiencing those things and that
brings me to the last point element what
was the last thing you connected to
your phone how many of you tried
connecting to the Wi-Fi when you got
here anyone tried connecting to the
sorry so the last point that I would
want to want to talk about is travel
teaches you to connect you see our life
is full of connections we’re always
connecting connecting to phone
connecting to Wi-Fi Bluetooth iPods
laptop chargers it’s all it’s all
connections but what we are failing to
connect with is people travel teaches
you how to connect with people and it is
our responsibility as adults as parents
to teach our children how to unplug how
to go offline teach them not only to
lock devices but to lock eyes with
people not just to record conversations
but to have conversations with people
and not just to share stories for 24
hours but to share stories for a
and how can you have this impact on your
children it’s by going offline yourself
you will realize that when you’re on a
vacation on your offline your family
borne will get deeper your relationships
will grow stronger try the local food
with your kids try talking to the local
people in that country with your kids
you’ll realize you’ve given them an
experience of the authentic experience
of that destination of how to be in that
place and take back in numerable
memories and you will realize that
you’ve actually given unlimited
connections to your children along the
way and they will use these connections
with people as they go forward so today
I would like to ask you to compare ins
new parents parents to be people who
paint parents for a while now have you
considered educating your children
through travel have you considered
taking your kids to one new place every
year on a holiday have you begun saving
up for your annual family vacation and
more importantly have you begun you’re
working on making your children royal
citizens it’s our generation today that
understands the importance of travel
you had a yes to most of the questions
it’s because we understand the
importance of travel and it’s our
responsibility alone to pass this on to
the next generation but being a world
citizen will not be an option it will be
a requisite let me leave you with these
thoughts childhood or early adulthood
like I said earlier is the time when
people make choices perceptions they
build ideologies so it’s time to take
the snapping the filters the stories are
not hire and teach your children to
dream to dream about a world without
barriers you know in 1971 some time ago
John Lennon sang imagine there’s no
countries it’s not hard to do nothing to
kill or die for
no religion too imagine the whole world
living a life of peace you may say I’m a
dreamer but I’m not the only one and I
hope someday you will join us and the
world will live as one if he could be a
dreamer
so can we and travel and travel alone
can make your children world citizens
where between people there’s no filter thank you
been there’s high benchmarks that have
been set with all the lovely
inspirational speakers that were here on
this platform before me I don’t have
much to talk about with what I’ve done
with my life but I just have small
inspirations that I would like to share
with the little things that have taken
so I woke up one morning I was wearing
this lovely orange top and I walked into
college it was during my graduation at
st. Elijah’s college Mangalore I used to
hang out with this huge bunch of friends
I used to call the NRI gang a term we
used to give students that used to study
abroad and had come back to India to
attend grad school so somewhere during
that day my friends complimented me on
the color of my top and I very
confidently told them that I had
purchased at the previous evening that
it was an original brand one that wasn’t
available in mango then and still isn’t
I’m a small town girl you see I remember
how they laughed out loud as they told
me or they asked me for the price of the
top and I said I paid about four dollars
and got the lady who gave me the top had
given me a further discount on it they
only laughed louder to tell me that the
brand that I had mentioned to them would
have never come so cheap and that I had
been duped well to me I had never
traveled out of India then so I wasn’t
convinced I remember rushing back home
that evening looking up online trying to
find out what the actual price of that
top was and only to realize that they
were not wrong I was tossing and turning
sleepless that night wondering what
happened that day feeling stupid about
what happened
and feeling backward for someone like me
that used to excel academically for
someone like me that used to be called
the brain I was speeding like my entire
being was being reduced to the size of a
little pea how could I have been duped
in this manner why were my friends
ridiculing me why did I not know about
this myself
obviously my friends worry is abroad so
they were aware of these things
happening around the world heist that I
needed to learn that’s when I realized
that I needed to know more suddenly it
dawned upon me that everything that I
knew about myself and about the world
was restricted to the geographical area
that I belong to was limited to the city
that I lived in there was no point
standing first in class being
multi-talented if I didn’t do anything
about this world because there was so
much more to life than just that the
many of you sitting here this might be
the silliest situation for a turning
point but to me it was one and it was
one that hit me hard enough to want to
know more and more every day Google
became my best friend YouTube my
favorite companion and blogs were my
buddies so I asked my best friend Google
show me the fastest way to know
everything about the world and I
followed what Google said but that was
only so much compared to when my real
life learning started and that was when
I traveled fortunately for me in those
two years I had the opportunity to meet
my brother and his family the first year
to Dubai and the second year to Prague
Czech Republic lest I forget to mention
this later of all the places that I’ve
ever seen
Prague is undoubtedly the most beautiful
and if you’ve not been there yet it’s
from from these travels I realized that
my life was being impacted in in ways
that I least thought it would from
international flights jet LAG’s
Leia was sipping on an espresso
something I haven’t developed the palate
for yet to learning words like Salaam
alaikum
dobry den traveling in metered taxis
trams metros relishing Sharma’s with
pickles to tasting varieties of cheese
my jaw dropping in front of the tallest
building in the world in Dubai to
watching the amazing change of God
ceremony at the Prague Castle I had so
many experiences to share I suddenly
realised that her eye not to have
stepped out of the country that I was
living in I wouldn’t have known or
experienced half of the feelings that I
was now I realized that things that were
taboo in my city were perfectly normal
elsewhere and things that were normal in
my city were banned elsewhere so I was
having humongous culture shocks along
the way so my thirst to experience the
world landed me a place that Leeds
Metropolitan University where I landed
straight into knee-deep snow on my 21st
birthday and boy I had no idea I was
going to go down sliding home that
evening so I was a late born being a
late born my parents my brother they’d
almost forgotten that I was growing up
so pampered with so much of love and
care it was only my time in Leeds that
taught me to be independent fearless and
strong I did it on my own
fearless enough to kill that spider in
my house alone strong enough to carry my
grocery bags on my own and independent
enough to decide how much allowance to
spend on bills and how much on shopping
I was now sitting in a class full of
students from different nationalities
listening to variations of the English
accent I was learning that unlike
me more than half the students in my
class were funding their own master’s
degree juggling between part-time
full-time and freelance jobs I was in
awe so I began to get this feeling
inside me that had I not to have stepped
out of my city when I was much younger
or had I not to have decided to get out
of India for my education probably I
wouldn’t have become this person that I
had now become I began to accept myself
the way I was I began to become
comfortable being pea-sized in this big
world I also realized that people went
to tanning salons to get my skin color
and I also realized that being English
didn’t mean that they all knew how to
spell and that the chips and the crisps
to the English were fries and chips to
Indians right I was falling in love I
was falling in love with his feeling of
belonging to the world of just being out
there experiencing it but more
importantly I was I was loving the
then was my next career move the big
career move I landed myself a place a
job in Oman one of the most beautiful
countries in the world I was manager of
marketing in corporate communications at
Omar’s largest travel and hospitality
company I was now finding ways every day
I still do to entice people in Oman to
travel to travel and experience the
world like I did and in the same breath
I was luring people from all across the
world to come and experience Oman
Arabia’s best-kept secret because much
against perceptions Oman was not a
challenge for me at all when I lived
alone the culture of the people in Oman
came to me as a pleasant surprise it’s
more than the hospitality more than the
ever so helpful nature of the Oman
easier
what I loved about a man with this
natural beauty the plethora of textures
that Oman Oman could offer that would be
enticing to photographers destination
wedding planners filmmakers – I dreamed
I dreamed of making Amanda something
better than the Cappadocia of Turkey
standing Interlaken of Switzerland and
very soon I was promoting an entire
nation to the whole world
I was representing Oman at international
travel trade exhibitions rubbing
shoulders with international film
fraternity and every time I spoke about
Oman my eyes would light up like it was
my own I used to cheer just like the
emani’s did at the crazy National Day
celebrations at the Gulf Cup matches
something was weird here like what was
going on how was I how was I able to do
this how was I able to be in love with
this this magic that Oman gave me was I
learning to become a world citizen and
that’s when I asked myself six questions
how was I able to love a country so much
that I wasn’t born in could I then fall
in love with every other country in the
same manner what if I had to travel when
I was much younger
what if annual family vacations were
made mandatory what if we started giving
the experience of lifestyle cultures
ethnicities to kids from a very young
age what if we were all trying to become
global citizens so nationality is
something that a child gets at birth
right
perceptions personalities these are
mostly built around family surrounding
society the country’s laws social norms
what your education system teaches and
your peers let me get right into it so
we’re in a world that is obsessed by
money Pollak
social media technology where the
highest-rated media houses are the ones
that document the highest number of
deaths and controversies I have a
two-year-old in my house my niece who
will never sit down to have a meal
without YouTube on her iPad so right
from a very young age were exposing
children the youth to different forms of
media that could be inflicting the
ideology in them that the place out
there the world out there is not a safe
environment and the best place to be is
cocooned in the comfort of your home in
front of a screen so it becomes our
responsibility as parents as educators
as influencers to show children that the
world is beautiful out there that
there’s a lot more you can experience in
the world then sit within the four walls
of your home cocooned in that zone that
you think is safe in front of your
screen and view the beauty of the world
outside just through that screen travel
has been redefined Travel is not as
expensive as it used to be sorry there
are very there are different options of
travel these days there are very
different varieties that people can opt
for why taking their kids on vacations
you have educational tours you have
cultural exchanges you have historical
to us
you have volunteering opportunities when
you introduce children to such forms of
travel from a very young age you you get
them to meet different people you get
them in touch with different cultures
and you know the idea of how big the
world is gets out of that little
geography textbook and the history
lessons become more relatable to the
monuments and landmarks that they see
around the world during their journeys
chopin’s how many of you know about the
okay hands down how many of you have
seen the Eiffel Tower on any form of
media YouTube Instagram there are all
right hands dot now the last one how
many of you have actually bit to the
Eiffel Tower in Paris right so you see
we started with almost 100% of you and
now we down to about fifteen twenty
right so when you when you’re actually
standing there at the Eiffel Tower and
you’re looking up at it you’d probably
wonder what kind of a person would be
crazy enough to come up with an idea
like that
standing there and getting that
life-changing experience and just
thinking to yourself wow this is more
magnificent than I ever thought it was
that right there is the power of travel
so why did I mention about my little
experiences in life to you earlier why
am i standing here on this platform when
I know like I said I haven’t achieved
top of what most of the speakers on this
platform would have I’m just an ordinary
person with a simple idea I have
traveled a tiny bit into this big world
but my life has a story it has a little
inspiration that I’d like to share with
you so that like me millions of ordinary
people in the world can travel more
importantly travel with your children as
early as they should to make them belong
to the world to show them how beautiful
it is to travel and experience the world
to break the thin borders that surround
Nations to learn from to give to and
grow with the world to become like they
say ethnocentric so that they are able
to accept people the way they are except
themselves the way they are and give
back to the community to the world at
what I know now with a little that I’ve
traveled let me share with you what I’ve
learned from my travels Travel is
undoubtedly the best form of Education
it teaches one to be humble and to
spread love so we’re living in a world
where you know you’re forced to excel
you’re forced to excel in advanced
courses get a good job buy a fancy car
get a big house and so on but if you’ve
ever thought of taking your children to
the so-called third world countries or
sometimes even to places nearby in your
own country you will realize that your
children are able to experience you know
where you have families working for more
than 12 hours to get just two meals to
feed I don’t know how many members
that’s there in the house you have you
you give give you children the
experience of of seeing such humbling
experiences that will make them
retrospect redefine their wants and
their happiness they will learn to treat
each other with dignity and in turn
begin to spread love traveling teaches
you invaluable life skills traveling
teaches you skills like communication
time management organization it teaches
you how to interact with people of
different communities different cultures
it teaches you more importantly it
teaches your children how to learn to
live on a budget so you teach your
children how to give up on that daily
luxury for the want of wanting to see a
new place tomorrow
Travel will teach you that you don’t
need much to survive it teaches you to
be minimalistic so when you realize
sorry when you realize that your entire
existence revolves around a little
suitcase a couple of clothes passport
and maybe a camera
you will realize that everything else
that made you happy your house your car
maybe all the junk that you’ve
accumulated over the years becomes very
minuscule becomes redundant in
comparison to the the happiness that you
get when you’re traveling the feeling of
you know I can do with this I’m still
happy with the little that I have and
that’s when you start teaching your
children the real value of little things
in life teaching soy travel will teach
you about yourself so most of the time
we are you know our choices our
personalities are affected by the
environment that we’re surrounded by
appears our family our friends but when
you travel you meet new people you make
new thoughts you have new experiences
you learn new things and then you
realize that your opinions your choices
your personality your ideologies they’ve
all started changing you’ve started
evolving as a person and that’s when you
start realizing who you really are what
you really want to do where you want to
be who you want to spend your time with
and as adults it’s very important to
teach your children to recognize these
interests to make these choices while
they travel travel unifies you with
nature and culture when you travel you
learn to appreciate the importance of
Beauty culture art in all its variety
you unify yourself with nature and in
turn with your inner being and you learn
the true meaning of coexistence Travel
introduces you sorry Travel inspires you
with new ideas bee business or life I
realized that when you when you travel
you see so many businesses out there
that may not have been an option when
you are in your country you learn about
new businesses you learn about probably
franchise the opportunities you learn
something new from another community and
you want to inculcate that you want to
imbibe that
your society where you can be a huge
contributor to develop your own society
so let me give you an example at the age
of 29 this man traveled from the USA to
Italy he learned about the Italian
coffee culture he took it back with him
to the USA and developed a company
that’s now worth more than 80 billion
dollars Starbucks that’s right
another one this man at the age of 40
traveled from travel to Thailand and
watched the tuk-tuk drivers drink a
beverage that kept them awake he tasted
the drink he bought the rights to the
small company and developed this into
right 20 billion dollar wise company Red
Bull that is the power of travel ok
Travel moles couriers many countries
have limited courier options so when you
travel you actually find that you may
have an aptitude for things that offer
optical carriers that may not be an
option in your country at all say as
parents many times we want to pressurize
the kids like most of our speakers said
here pressurize the kids about this is
what you got to be this is what you got
to become I have a little suggestion to
make why don’t you let them travel why
don’t you let them see what is there in
the world outside maybe you’ll realize
that they have an aptitude for something
else that was never an option for you in
the country you lived in why would you
not want to give your kids the wings to
fly why would you not want to inculcate
in them and early aptitude for it for a
profession to aim toward something that
Travel gives you a sense of satisfaction
awesome I think has left for the day
see ya know easier so from the little
experience that changed Austin’s life it
was when he traveled it was when he went
and clicked pictures in that little
place in Bangalore was that bangle oh
yes was that back was Bangalore so as I
was sitting there and I said there right
there that’s the power of travel you
have volunteering opportunities you have
so many organizations that are
increasing in number teach the young
adults to take part in such initiatives
you don’t want to send them alone travel
with them take part with them in such
projects so that you make your children
socially responsible morally aware and
that they realize their responsibilities
towards their community and their
you will you will teach them to become
compassionate humane when I say human i
think we’re lacking a bit of humanity
Travels teaches you to be grateful so I
know I’ve been boring you with the
points now so let me tell you about
something that I experienced with my
Omani friend she is actually in the
audience here so I met her at my
workplace I now call her family she was
32 when I convinced her family to travel
with me for 15 days to India it was her
first international trip her first
experience outside of man and I I cannot
forget the way her eyes lit up when we
walked outside the Mumbai Airport why we
were in transit the first thing she said
to me was I thought all the people in
India were in Oman there are still so
many people in India there she said
without postconviction to me if I ever
become a minister in India I will make
sure I paint all the houses and do up
all the roads in India and suddenly our
she had become grateful but things that
she wasn’t grateful for here back in
Oman you know she she became grateful
for the road systems the buildings the
facilities in the country and that’s
when it dawned upon me the travel
actually makes you grateful it makes you
grateful for the many things you don’t
realize are a blessing to you on a
normal day you become grateful to your
family to your country to your community
you actually become grateful that you’re
alive that you’re going out there seeing
those people seeing those places
experiencing those things and that
brings me to the last point element what
was the last thing you connected to
your phone how many of you tried
connecting to the Wi-Fi when you got
here anyone tried connecting to the
sorry so the last point that I would
want to want to talk about is travel
teaches you to connect you see our life
is full of connections we’re always
connecting connecting to phone
connecting to Wi-Fi Bluetooth iPods
laptop chargers it’s all it’s all
connections but what we are failing to
connect with is people travel teaches
you how to connect with people and it is
our responsibility as adults as parents
to teach our children how to unplug how
to go offline teach them not only to
lock devices but to lock eyes with
people not just to record conversations
but to have conversations with people
and not just to share stories for 24
hours but to share stories for a
and how can you have this impact on your
children it’s by going offline yourself
you will realize that when you’re on a
vacation on your offline your family
borne will get deeper your relationships
will grow stronger try the local food
with your kids try talking to the local
people in that country with your kids
you’ll realize you’ve given them an
experience of the authentic experience
of that destination of how to be in that
place and take back in numerable
memories and you will realize that
you’ve actually given unlimited
connections to your children along the
way and they will use these connections
with people as they go forward so today
I would like to ask you to compare ins
new parents parents to be people who
paint parents for a while now have you
considered educating your children
through travel have you considered
taking your kids to one new place every
year on a holiday have you begun saving
up for your annual family vacation and
more importantly have you begun you’re
working on making your children royal
citizens it’s our generation today that
understands the importance of travel
you had a yes to most of the questions
it’s because we understand the
importance of travel and it’s our
responsibility alone to pass this on to
the next generation but being a world
citizen will not be an option it will be
a requisite let me leave you with these
thoughts childhood or early adulthood
like I said earlier is the time when
people make choices perceptions they
build ideologies so it’s time to take
the snapping the filters the stories are
not hire and teach your children to
dream to dream about a world without
barriers you know in 1971 some time ago
John Lennon sang imagine there’s no
countries it’s not hard to do nothing to
kill or die for
no religion too imagine the whole world
living a life of peace you may say I’m a
dreamer but I’m not the only one and I
hope someday you will join us and the
world will live as one if he could be a
dreamer
so can we and travel and travel alone
can make your children world citizens
where between people there’s no filter thank you
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