Traveling: In or Out?

Lately, traveling's been a very popular activity for us Indonesians. Some people stay inside the country in search of hidden beaches, experience of hiking mountains, sensation of island hopping, and many other ways. Some others, on the contrary, fly over the continents, hang around Doraemon museum, pose in front of Eiffel Tower, sleep at Sappada Mountain, damn, never thought that Indonesians are actually rich!

Many people said,

"Why traveling abroad? Indonesia's good already."

And to be honest, I don't like that justification. I mean, without a doubt, Indonesia's the most beautiful set of lands I ever known in my whole life. There are indeed, some scenic islands somewhere on the other side of the globe but, that could be all for the country. While Indonesia, there are lots, and many others yet to be discovered.

But there are many things you can't see, or learn, just by traveling within Nusantara borders. Like culture. Or, what others have that we don't. And vice versa. Then you can figure out similarities between them and us, as well as learn their origins, way of living, language, economy, God, I can't even mention everything. Traveling is not just about the beauty you see with your eyes, but also what you feel in your heart.

Okay you've seen crazy panoramas, sick beaches and volcanoes, but if inside you don't feel challenged like, you're just safe at home, well, it's just a simple holiday that happened to be exciting because of the good visuals. I'm not offending Indonesia's potential in tourism, oh God no, because believe me, I just figured out that I actually want to start conquering this country. In fact, this post is actually a teaser of my very first domestic trip I ever done, that I'll write right after this.

So why am I bringing this up?

Simply because I just want to make things clear. That from traveling own country, and traveling overseas, I don't think you can make a comparison out of those two. There's a whole lot of different things to be talked about in each side. You can't say which one is better than which one.

Although to be honest, I still have one ultimate point of why I slightly prefer go on an international trip. The one thing you can't have from just traveling inside, from just enjoying your own treasure, which is

The grateful feeling,

That you weren't the citizen of those places you're traveling to

That instead, you were born, and raised, in such rich nation

We call it "Tanah Air"