Some trips leave you with a camera roll full of photos, while others leave you with more questions than answers about how you want to live your life.
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Whether it’s a discovery of you being braver than you think, having the distance from home to process a life challenge or experiencing a new way of life, some destinations leave a lasting impact long after you’ve unpacked your suitcase.
Could making a change in your life be a mere plane ticket away, and if so, where does one start?
Explore, a UK-based international tour operator, has analysed more than 1,500 comments from the most active travel forums on Reddit to find out what truly makes a destination stand out above all others and resulting in serious personal reflection.
What makes a destination life-changing?
Sifting through 447 unprompted mentions of a destination described as either “life-changing” or “transformative” on Reddit, Explore found a recurring theme in users mentioning a quiet but significant change in their confidence, especially among solo travellers.
They found that being able to tackle somewhere unknown on their own terms left them returning changed, even if not dramatically.
While for others, being in a place that helps process a loss, illness or end of a relationship through both physical and emotional distance is what left the mark.
Explore was most surprised by Redditors’ remarking about experiencing different ways of life, especially in countries such as Italy, Japan and Morocco, where the local relationship with time and the day-to-day grind is at a radically different pace.
Also important was the destination’s nature – not just in terms of panoramic views, but something that caused them to become more aware of the world around them.
Experiencing a spiritual awakening was another aspect that made users describe destinations as “life-changing”.
Which are the world’s top three life-changing destinations?
Japan
Explore found that one in 10 travellers describe Japan as a “life-changing” or “transformative” destination – more than anywhere else in the world.
The tour operator highlights the contrast between the island country’s hyper-modern cities, including Tokyo, with neon-lit streets that are endlessly alive, with traditional, slower-paced towns, such as Takayama within the northern Alps, that force travellers to notice details that may ordinarily be overlooked.
What also emerged from Reddit discussions was the feeling of being able to lose one’s self entirely. Travellers can wander into a quaint restaurant where no one speaks English and end up eating the best meal of their lives, or soak indoors in a hot spring onsen bath as snowflakes fall outdoors.
India
If Japan encourages introspection, India does the opposite: It demands your full attention.
The second most popular destination on the survey, Explore described India’s ability to flood the senses with colours, sounds from the market streets, rich aroma of spices, as nothing short of “relentless”.
While first-time visitors may be attracted to the allure of bigger cities, such as Mumbai, Delhi or Varanasi, Explore pointed to gentler destinations, such as Kerala. The state on the country’s tropical Malabar Coast is famed for its tea-covered hills, palm-fringed backwaters, golden-sanded beaches and stunning waterfalls offer a slower pace to absorb the country’s richness.
“It's a country of contrasts with a real mix of chaos and calm, which is exactly why travellers find it so life-changing,” Explore said.
New Zealand
For travellers seeking a unique silence or peacefulness that leaves an indelible sense of feeling present, New Zealand is the place to go – especially for its cinematic landscapes of fjords, volcanic plateaus and rivers.
Redditors were also found to frequently discuss the mark left on them by Māori culture, and its range of traditions that go beyond curated tourism.
Traditional hospitality through “manaakitanga”, which means showing respect, rooted in connection to the land and extreme natural beauty are hard to shake for many visitors.
Top life-changing destinations in the world
- 1 Japan
- 2 India
- 3 New Zealand
- 4 Thailand
- 5 Iceland
- 6 Italy
- 7 Switzerland
- 8 Peru
- 9 Jordan
- 10 Nepal
- 11. Colombia
- 12= Vietnam, Tanzania
- 14= Morocco, Ireland