I believe this wholeheartedly.

For me, travel has been one of life’s greatest joys.

I’m a minimalist when it comes to material possessions, but when it comes to travelling, I’m the opposite. Experiencing faraway places, seeing how others live, and immersing myself in diverse ways of life have enriched me in countless ways.

Travel has shaped my persona, my legal persona, broadened my understanding of the world and left me with lasting memories and insights that continue to influence my personal life and the professional and legal work that I do to this day.

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I am such a different, and indeed a better person (as well as a better lawyer) for having travelled.

The dilemma of modern travel

So, I thought it would be easy to sit down and knock out a few words espousing the virtues of travel for lawyers, urging them to go forth more and travel their hearts out. But the words didn’t come out so readily, or as effusively as I was hoping, because there is an elephant in the room that I needed to confront.

In today’s world, travel comes with a recognition and commensurate challenge – how do we embrace its immense personal and professional value while also acknowledging the need to do so more mindfully, responsibly, and sustainably than ever before?

It is a balancing act of competing interests that we, as lawyers, are called to do in relation to our work and professional services every day, but it applies just as much to travelling. Here, it is about professional and personal development over sustainability and mindfulness. The short answer isn’t to stop travelling altogether; that’s neither realistic nor necessary.

We do, however, need to urgently rethink how we travel and aim to make it more thoughtful, sustainable, and beneficial for both the traveller and the places we visit and the people who inhabit them.

Travel has been a lifeline for me, especially for my wellbeing and development as a professional and as a lawyer.

For many years, travelling was limited to an annual Christmas respite at the end of a frantic long working year. Stepping away from the daily grind of a busy work life and immersing myself in a completely different environment has kept me refreshed, focused, inspired, and quite frankly, sane.

For professionals such as lawyers, travel offers more than a holiday.

It is an education that no workplace, classroom, or conference can ever replicate, something I have stressed many a time to coaching and consulting clients as well as lawyer colleagues.

Why travel makes you a better lawyer

Travel challenges us physically, mentally, and spiritually. It tires yet invigorates us. It sparks that creativity of seeing things differently, pushes us to question our long-held assumptions, and provides a much-needed reset.

Professionally, it means coming back to work with newfound ideas and a more creative mind. Personally, it has also deepened my empathy and understanding of humanity’s shared existence.

The more I travel, the more I realise how different we are, and yet how similar we are.

Wandering back streets, eating and drinking local cuisine, and people watching in cafés show me a diversity of culture and give me a nuanced understanding that we are all striving to be and do the same things on this planet. It is in these moments of reflection that travel has challenged and changed me, often in ways I did not expect.

The hidden toll of travel

Yet, as much as I champion travel, I cannot ignore the other side.

Over-tourism is a growing issue, impacting and straining local communities to the brink. Iconic destinations like Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, Bali in Indonesia, Barcelona in Spain, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Venice in Italy are all prime examples of places struggling under the weight of their popularity. It has been in these places that the contradictions of travel have become so apparent to me.

The guilt of wanting to see and be part of these glorious places, and yet seeing the chaos that mass travel is creating for the locals in so many ways – how and where they live, how they traverse their city and how they work there.

The environmental toll of travel is undeniable, and it is increasingly unsustainable. It warrants attention, empathy, and some level of intervention.

A way forward

Again, this doesn’t mean we should stop travelling or defer the trip of a lifetime, but it does mean we need to be more empathetic and sensitive about how we do it than ever before. How we approach modern-day travel, therefore, matters. To explore the world sustainably, we need to shift our mindset a bit. Thoughtful travel is about respecting the places and people we visit, understanding the challenges being faced by the locals, and actively modifying the way we travel in more sustainable ways.

I am not here to offer a one-size prescription, nor do I suggest my own way offers a perfect solution. Indeed, it is only a starting point for it all being more mindful and intentional.

Being a better traveller

More than ever, I am trying to stay longer in places, staying in lesser known places, supporting small and local businesses as much as I can, minimising air travel (a bit of a challenge for us Australians), eating and drinking two to three streets back from the main, hanging out where the locals hang out, not using hard copy travel guides, picking up a few pieces of litter each day, using trains and buses wherever possible or even better, walking wherever I can, and avoiding high season travel.

I will keep on travelling. Travel is more than an escape for me. It’s an opportunity to connect, reconnect, learn, and grow, albeit with a more heightened empathy for the locals in mind.

I can see how much better I am upon my return in seeing and doing things differently in my life and professional practice. For all the challenges it is creating, in my view, travel remains one of the most rewarding things you can do. It explains things to you, fills in the gaps, joins the dots, and helps you see your place in the world more clearly. It enriches your life and the lives of others.

So, yes, travel. Travel as much as you can. But try to do it a bit differently. Travel thoughtfully, sensitively, purposefully, sustainably and with an open mind.

The world is there, ready to show us things we cannot learn any other way.

Paul Ippolito is a legal futurist, coach to lawyers and consultant to law firms.