The Rebound: Travel Can Change Your Life

I haven’t watched the entire old 2009 movie “The Rebound” but the last 9 minutes of the movie are spectacular. I’ve watched this countless times. It’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvHeM_e5bbY&list=RDSvHeM_e5bbY&start_radio=1.

Basically the movie is about a 40-something single mother Sandy who moves to New York and encounters a young listless 25 year man Aram (read boy) also recovering from a marital misadventure. Their friendship turns into a romance but it ends due to the age difference and social pressure. 

But this break up leads to Aram waking up and he ends up traveling the world as you see in the video. It’s his first time traveling, he has always wanted to go to Cleveland which shows how parochial he was. He visits Paris, Istanbul, India and Bangladesh and Sub Saharan Africa. And it’s captivating as he walks around beautiful places with a sense of wonder. He grows up. At last. Travel makes you confront reality and expands your horizons. When he runs into Sandy 5 years later this is very clear and they rekindle their romance. As Aram said: “Its just timing”

It seems like so few young kids travel the world outside of Instagram-set and their travel tends to be sterile. No hard core backpacking, no hard nature, no off the beaten track. No real adventure. It’s tragic and absolutely shows how clueless and lost so many kids seem to be these days. 

Yet my point is that if you are feeling lost in life, dealing with tragedy or loss, traveling can be a balm. Getting away from your normal environment and habits can be really good for you.You get smarter and you are better able to deal with the pain. It worked for me many times. Travel can be a nice short term escape. And if not done too excessively, like in my case, it will help you heal. To come back stronger. Come back stronger to truly live life.