Aside from my friends and family, I don’t think there’s anything I love more than travel. Yes, I love them more, but the pursuit of travel, the addiction that many of us long term travellers suffer from, is stronger than my need to be around them everyday. This is wonderful and terrible all at the same time. There’s also the fact that my friends are scattered in so many places around the world. For me there’s not one place in the world I miss, because I’ve left a little of my heart in so many places.
Traveling is the greatest adventure I’ve ever been on. It’s the hardest, too. It’s also where I’ve learned more than I ever did at home, or in my university. I’ve learned about myself, about the world, about different cultures and about what purpose I truly want to serve.
There are five key things I wish I knew before I set off on my own adventure and I’ve learned them the hard way.
1) You Can Never Go Home
Okay, you can. There’s nothing stopping you from going home, but it’ll never be the same. You’ll never be the same. When you go out and do all these cool things, are in life changing situations and push yourself outside your comfort zone, most things you left behind at home will seem under stimulating, stuck in time. Yes, you’ll love to see your friends and family for approximately 2 weeks, but after then you’re probably ready to go again.
My friends Dale and Franca wrote about this exact thing the other day, feeling like a foreigner at home.
2) You’ll Always Miss Something
You’ll miss a certain cafe in Morocco that served something a certain way. You’ll miss how the sunset looked while you were on Charles’ Bridge, etching your feet into the ground. You’ll miss that person who you met who you could have talked to for 10 hours a day, every day. You’ll miss the way the water glittered due to the bioluminescent plankton in Ha Long Bay. You’ll miss it all.
3) You Can Buy It There
Aside from specialised medications and specific brand products, everything you will NEED (not want) for your time in a certain country will be able to be bought there. If you’re traveling to a third-world country, or at least a country that’s cheaper than yours, hold out buying it until you arrive. Exceptions for this rule is if you are considerably smaller or larger than the local population in terms of clothing or shoes.
4) You’ll Be Okay
Things will go wrong. Some days everything will go wrong. Other days you’ll be suspicious you’re actually staring in a feature film, because everything will seem too perfect, too coordinated, impossibly wonderful. You’ll feel lonely if you’re traveling by yourself, sick of your companion if you’re not alone. Some days you’ll make ten new friends and sometimes days will go by before you have a real conversation with anyone. You’ll miss a flight, a bus, a boat. You’ll have something stolen. You’ll get sick. You’ll miss home at some point and probably wonder why you ever came out. Through it all, you’ll be okay and you’ll be stronger, more secure and more self aware from each experience.
5) It Can Be Cheaper Than Living at Home
If you come from a relatively expensive country, like I do, much of the world will be cheaper. Want exceptional value? Head to South East Asia, you can live there on a week’s expenses for the month. Central America isn’t quite so cheap so far, but here in Granada, staying in a hotel – not long term accommodation – I’m going to be spending half of what I do at home. That includes eating out for every meal and getting my laundry done for me. It’s a good deal! Even better if you figure out how to earn money online.
Is there anything you wish you knew before you set out traveling? I’d love to hear it.
