Psychologist Adam Galinsky from Columbia has published a series of studies on a topic our industry usually treats with all the philosophical depth of a LinkedIn post by Big Luca: the transformative power of travel. And no, not the usual “find yourself in Bali” brochure cliché. This is more… nerdy. We’re talking cognitive neuroscience.
Galinsky shows that living abroad enhances what psychologists call cognitive flexibility: the ability to break out of rigid mental patterns and integrate different perspectives. In plain terms, your brain stops behaving like an Excel spreadsheet running macros.
But here’s the real twist: it’s not travel itself that creates this effect. It comes down to two variables—depth and breadth of experience.
In other words, hopping across ten countries while staying inside a comfortable tourist bubble—eating the same familiar food everywhere—doesn’t do much (a point Anthony Bourdain never stopped making). It’s like watching the world through aquarium glass. Truly immersing yourself in a different cultural context, on the other hand, forces your brain to do something it absolutely hates: rewrite its own operating system.
When our internal “scripts” stop working—because language, social norms, gestures, and unspoken rules all shift—we enter what psychologists call cognitive disequilibrium. A refined academic term for total confusion. And it’s precisely this mental friction that fuels openness, creativity, and tolerance. (Not coincidentally, the same research shows a very practical outcome: people with international experience tend to receive more job offers.)
The reason is simple: travel doesn’t automatically make us more interesting—it makes us better thinkers. And maybe this is where the tourism industry keeps telling itself the wrong story. Perhaps we’re not selling “experiences” (whatever that actually means), but temporary cognitive disorientation.
Sure, it doesn’t sound as marketable. But for once, it might actually be true.
Because when you disrupt the mental framework through which you interpret the world—even for a few days—something potentially dangerous can happen: you might come back home and no longer accept the version of your life you had before.
See you next week,
Simone
SIMONE PUORTO
