Franz ElizI haven’t covered every country in the world yet, but I’ve gained many unforgettable and valuable lessons that travelling has to offer.
From a young age, I’ve been exposed to TV content, such as world news, people, places, animals, places, and cultures. Television gave me insights into the world without leaving home. Watching television isn’t always bad, you know.
But the things I watched on TV triggered my curiosity. Those Childcraft books I read growing up also had something to do with it.
So I decided to experience the world myself – because learning through a glass screen or textbooks simply wasn’t enough. To learn more about the world, I needed to leave the comfort of my home. There’s a bigger book out there for me to discover: the world.
Here’s my favourite quote by Saint Augustine:
‘The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page’.
Every travel experience is unique. I learned different things from different trips I made. While I now see the world from different perspectives and have become more open-minded about many things, like other people’s way of life, there’s still a lot of room for me to improve myself.
But here are 15 things I learned from years of travelling:
1. Travelling Is Not a Way of Escaping Life
Many people think those who quit their job to travel the world are unhappy with their lives and try to run away from their problems. That’s not always true. And it’s unfair to generalise all travellers. After all, people travel for different reasons, even if not everyone understands them.
For many travellers, travelling is a kind of happiness. I feel the same way, too.
I admire people who aren’t afraid to leave their comfort zone to explore the world. Making such a decision isn’t always easy.
Personally, I’ve always considered the world as my school. I don’t consider long-term travelling as a way to escape life. You don’t escape life while you’re alive.
2. Travelling Is Not Always As Easy as People Think It Is
The beach, amazing food, and other great things you can find worldwide are tempting enough to make you want to just pack your bags and go. With so many travel bloggers encouraging people to travel, more people are compelled to travel today to get similar experiences.
However, it’s important to remember that a carefree journey isn’t guaranteed, no matter how well-planned a trip is.
Travelling isn’t always about having lazy days on the beach, drinking cocktails, and enjoying smooth journeys. There are harder days, especially the longer the travel.
Honestly, I didn’t prepare much when I started solo travelling. But the experiences unleashed my travel bug, motivating me to explore the world even more.
While travelling is fun, it can be very tiring. I’ve met travellers who decided that long-term travelling wasn’t for them – too tiring. Understandable. I think it’s important for anyone who wants to pursue long-term travelling to consider this.
My past travels taught me that money can be an issue – a stressful one – if I don’t plan or use my budget carefully. Even if I’m only travelling short term, I still need to be careful with my money.
I tried travelling with very little money despite not having much money saved. It was sort of an experiment or travel challenge I did in my younger – and some say ‘reckless’ – days. I admit that it was tough.
Sure, I was making money on the go. But it wasn’t pleasant to live paycheck-by-paycheck all the time. From this experience, I decided that I didn’t want to do it again. Having plenty of money saved first and then travelling with a tight budget is better. It’s less stressful this way.
The advice I would give to anyone who wants to travel for an extended period:
- Be realistic about your travel plans.
- Don’t forget to take care of your health while on the road.
- Eat well.
- Exercise always.
- Try to be frugal whenever possible, even if money is your least concern.
- Keep doing things that help you stay positive to prepare you for tougher days.
3. It’s Okay To Be Alone Sometimes
Even though I’m generally extroverted, I like being alone from time to time and enjoy travelling alone. But I could also use some company sometimes.
Years of travelling have taught me that travelling alone is okay. In fact, it has made me stronger and more independent.
An African proverb says,
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
With that in mind, travelling alone and with other people is beneficial. Travelling alone means making decisions quicker since I don’t need to consider the person I travel with. But with a friend, I often explore more places, especially remote ones. Of course, that only happens with an adventurous travel buddy.
A close friend once told me that life is a like a train journey. He said that as he often watched me say goodbye to my travel friends. I’ve learned to deal with it after years of travelling. It’s okay if people hop into and out of my life with time. We’re all individuals, after all.
As quoted by Orson Welles,
‘We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone’.
4. Meaningful Interactions Don’t Make Us Feel Alone
As mentioned earlier, it’s okay to be alone. We came to this world alone, and we’ll die alone. But the people and all living beings around us make us feel like we’re not always alone.
On the road, we can meet new people, and even if we don’t remember each other’s names and faces, it’s the journey we share that matters.
I’ve met many people who were generous and full of life even though they didn’t have much. They were happy to lend a hand, even to complete strangers like me.
Many of the people I met around the globe made a difference in my life. While we didn’t always get to see each other, we kept in touch and sometimes planned trips together. And we always welcome each other to our homes. Such friendships make me feel like I’m not always alone in this world.
5. The Art of Letting Go
Travelling taught me that collecting memories and experiences are more valuable than collecting material possessions. I can understand that not everybody will agree with me on this.
At the end of the day, I know that the experiences, memories, and lessons gained from my travels are what I truly value. Everyone has their own ways of achieving happiness, after all.
Before leaving home to explore new places, I knew I couldn’t take everything I had. So I donated some of my possessions to a nearby charity. It felt really good. Getting rid of the things that were once valuable to me wasn’t easy, but I did it.
On many of my journeys, I crossed paths with many travellers like me. I experienced love and heartbreaks. But the experiences were worthwhile as they helped shape my perspectives on relationships and mature in many ways. The experiences also helped me realise how much I value freedom and self-love.
Saying goodbye was once hard, but it’s easier now. I realised that many things in life don’t last forever, so practising the art of letting go is ideal.
6. The World Has Many Good People
So many crazy things are happening in our world today. War. Hunger. Diseases. Crimes. Pollution. And many more. All of the things humans are capable of doing have made me realise how vicious the human race can be.Humans aren’t afraid to prey on fully-grown animals instead of their young ones. Studies have shown that humans kill much more than other predators. In the real world, running into a predator is the last thing you want. For that reason, the fear of travelling alone is understandable.
Sometimes I’m scared to travel alone, fearing running into bad people. But it doesn’t stop me from travelling alone. I can tell you that I’ve met good and bad people on the road. But meeting unpleasant individuals on the road isn’t enough to make me assume that everyone’s out there to get me. As my friend Lee once said, he hasn’t given up on the human race. He believes that there are still many good people out there.
And as I explored the world further, I learned that money isn’t always the root of all evil.
7. There Are Solutions to Most Problems
When you travel, you may also encounter all kinds of problems, and that’s when your problem-solving skills are put to the test. No matter how bad a problem is, there’s always a way out. You’ll try to find whatever possible solutions to overcome it.
I can’t keep up with how many troubles I ran into during my travels, such as getting my bank card swallowed by an ATM machine on an island in Indonesia, dealing with broken motorbike parts during my road trips in Southeast Asia, realising that none of my bank cards was working in Cambodia, and I had no money left, and the list goes on.
But thankfully, I survived these ordeals.
I cannot deny how stressful travelling, especially when alone, can be. But I highly encourage people to travel alone at least once in their lifetime. Solo travelling can teach us to become better problem solvers and make us stronger mentally and emotionally.
8. Just Go With the Flow if You Have Plenty of Time
Good planning can lead you to success.
I may not be the most organised person in the world, but I plan for many things, including my travels. However, I always aim to make my travels as flexible as possible because I like slow travel. And I enjoy discovering random things and places whenever I like.
Even with a travel itinerary planned out, I don’t always follow it. Sometimes I don’t do the things I set to do. But if I’m committed to doing a particular thing in a particular place, I won’t leave until I do it.
Since I value a lot of freedom in my travels, I never paid for full travel tours and packages from travel agencies. I only take a tour of a particular location when transportation is a concern. I’m not saying I’ll never pay for a full tour package. I would take it when I’m older and not in my best health. For now, I prefer making travel arrangements on my own.
Besides, working online allows me to take my time while travelling. I can spend some days focusing on work and then travel more on days I don’t need to work much or have to work at all.
9. A Foreign Country Can Feel Like Home
Despite not covering the whole world yet, my travel encounters made me realise that people are similar in many ways regardless of where they live and how they live.
For example, we’re all trying to create meaningful or better lives for ourselves. And working abroad, whether in Asia, Europe, or anywhere in the world, is one way to do it.
In countries like Thailand and Vietnam, I saw many westerners enjoying the simple life there. It’s not always just because of the low cost of living. It’s about the overall life quality they get there. I have a friend who loves coming to Thailand for the weather, the low cost of living, and the friendships he has established there.
When you enjoy a place so much, you’ll want to stay there longer, even if it may not be as convenient or comfortable as your home country. Some foreign countries feel like home, as stated by a friend who now lives in the Philippines.
Have I found a foreign country that feels like home? Not quite yet, but I find myself coming back to Vietnam a lot.
10. People From Around the World Have Bizarre Appetites
I’ve seen unusual food people eat in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, I had a chance to try ‘Balut’, a fertilised duck embryo. Eating it was challenging and awkward, but I did it. My friend Edmund seemed to be doing very well eating his. In Vietnam, I accidentally bought a similar delicacy, but it was the embryo of a quail instead of a duck.
In other Asian countries, you’ll find people eating raw seafood. Some even go as far as eating fermented tofu and urine-soaked eggs!
A German friend once told me that eating chicken feet or durian was bizarre to him. While I don’t consider durian a bizarre food, it certainly is bizarre to many people, especially those from outside Asia.
11. Remote Work Is a Dream Job for Many Travellers
Working from home or anywhere in the world is not impossible anymore. In fact, many companies today are encouraging their employees to work digitally. These remote workers are usually known as digital nomads or location-independent contractors. All they need is a laptop and a good Internet connection. Remote work seems like a dream job for many. For me, it definitely is. I’ve been doing this for more than 5 years.
Note: It’s not as easy as many people assume it is. If you think you can just sit by the beach or the pool all day, whenever and wherever you like, you’re just going to get crushed by the cold truth of remote work.
Unless you have accommodation – with a stable Internet connection – where you know you’ll work in the next days or weeks, you’ll always need to hunt for WiFi. Even with pocket WiFi, you always want to ensure you’ve got good Internet coverage.
Working on an island can sometimes be frustrating, as I’ve learned. Slow Internet is a pain; so slow that it’s easy to feel like punching the laptop screen.
You might end up like one of those people who spend more than 40 hours a week working in their rooms and barely have time to go out and gain new adventures. Or, in time, you might become like one of those successful remote workers who only need to spend 4 hours a day at work, and the rest of the day goes to relaxation, fun and more exploration.
12. Learning Foreign Languages Broadens My Horizons
Bonjour! Guten tag! Ciao! Ni hao! Hola! Salam! Sveiki!
I try to pick up different languages whenever possible. Learning foreign languages has helped to broaden my horizons. And I’ve found many meaningful friendships thanks to it.
There are so many learning resources today, free or paid. I use both free and paid language-learning resources. But I learned that native speakers are the most valuable language-learning resources.
Making friends from around the globe has motivated me to learn new languages. It’s good to know I have people to practise different languages with.
I’m currently using Reword for vocabulary memorization. Lawless French is also an excellent website I’m using (on a Premium subscription) to improve my French. I’m also using Lingohut to learn Latvian, which is free to use.
I picked up Spanish in uni. But I continue to use language-learning apps and websites to practise. I don’t want to forget such a beautiful language.
13. I’ll Still Travel Even if I Don’t Get To Share My Stories
Many of us share our travel stories via social media for others to see. We enjoy the attention we get, and we feel good when we inspire others. If something feels good, it’s natural to want to inspire others to explore it, too.
Often, I didn’t capture some of my best moments on the road. It wasn’t always easy, especially when I was always busy living in the moment. Who wants to film or photograph every single thing they do, anyway?
I like using words to share my stories, especially when I don’t have photos or videos to help me tell the stories. By documenting my travels, I can look back at them from time to time. My memories can get murky, so I don’t always remember the things I’ve done. It’s good to have something to remind me of them.
But even if I don’t get to share my stories with the world, I believe I’ll still go out there and explore. That’s because my travels aren’t just about pretty photographs or documenting my road trips. It’s more about the experiences and the friendships I build along the way.
14. Documenting Experiences Gives Me Pleasure
I’ve always been a fan of films and documentaries. If I had to choose between photography and videography, I’d choose the latter. One thing that makes me happy is making videos for myself and others. Watching the moments that I captured gives me a lot of pleasure.
I don’t particularly like looking at my face in videos. So, I don’t show my face a lot in my travel videos. I enjoy filming people, places, things, and animals the most.
Travelling allows me to capture different moments around the world. I try to create a unique story in every video I make. More travels mean more stories.
Overall, filming is a great way to share knowledge, preserve memories, and invite others into my life’s journey.
I still have a lot to learn. So I’m going to keep travelling.
15. Travelling Is a Privilege
Many people assume that travellers are rich, but that’s not always true. While some travellers are stupid rich, most travellers need to work hard to fund their travels. They can fund their travels by securing a high-paying job.
Without a high-paying job, people can also save for travelling, even a round-the-world one-year trip. They can do it by making sacrifices in different life areas. For example, not eating out at all, not buying anything other than essentials, living a simple life, staying single, etc. Whatever ways work with their life circumstances.
I’ve met a traveller who worked as a rubbish collector to save for his travels. And I met another traveller who washed plates (in Denmark, if I remember it correctly) to fund his trips.
The point is you don’t need to be rich to be able to travel. But you need certain kinds of freedom to be able to do it. For example, a poor person in Asia might not be able to do this now (or ever at all) due to responsibilities like caring for younger siblings or caring for an ill parent. A person battling with a life-altering ailment may not even bother to travel as they’re busy fighting for their lives.
In other words, being able to travel is a privilege. Sure, many of us can choose to make sacrifices that allow us to see the world. But for some, leaving home isn’t even an option.
Since everyone’s life circumstances are different, it’s okay if not everyone travels or wants to travel.
Should you feel bad for having such a privilege? No. You can use your privilege to inspire others, educate, or change lives. My Spanish friend Gabi travels a lot and dedicates pretty much of his time to helping natural disaster victims and less fortunate people. I still chuckle to this day, reminiscing how much he looks like Jesus.
