4 TED Talks That Will Make You A Better Traveler

Unsplash/Artem Bali

When you need some wisdom in your life, you gotta turn to TED. Although we mostly hear about viral videos on business and leadership from the organization, that can extend to travel as well. These four TED Talks will make you a better traveler and expand your perspective on the world before you head out on your next venture around the globe.

1. “Don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I’m a local” — Taiye Selasi

Selasi examines the idea of national identity versus cultural identity. In other words, do the countries we’re from really define us? She points out how the idea of what country we’re from really just calls to mind clichés. What matters more are rituals (cultural traditions), relationships (the people who matter to you) and restrictions (passports, politics and laws). Travelers will recognize Selasi’s idea of home in multiple places around the world and learn from the complicated sense of how to trace where we belong and where we feel belongs to us.

2. “My year reading a book from every country in the world” — Ann Morgan

When Anne Morgan looked at her bookshelf and saw only English-speaking authors, she decided to read a novel, memoir or collection of short stories by an author from every country in the world. She found ways around translation issues (there are many nations that don’t regularly publish in English) and crowd-sourced her book choices, extending the perspectives she read even further.

3. “The danger of a single story” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses what happens when we consume one story about an entire culture, over and over. What and how stories are told is an issue of power, she says. And if we only see one perspective on a culture, country or people, we don’t come close to seeing the entire picture. The single story creates stereotypes, not always untrue, but an incomplete picture nevertheless.

4. “What’s left to explore?” — Nathan Wolfe

Wolfe tackles the idea that there’s not much left to explore in the world since we’ve seen the bottom of the deepest oceans and even walked on the moon. But he points out that explorers throughout history have found entire miniature worlds within one anthill or microbiome. There will always be something — you just have to figure out where you want to look.

RELATED

Here Are The 10 Best TED Talks Of All Time

6 TED Talks That Could Help You Harness Your Inner Creativity