“We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard, in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment no matter what. ” — George Santayana.
Traveling is one of the greatest experiences. I highly recommend it to everyone, rich or poor, shy or outgoing. Traveling will expand your mind and show you that there’s simply so much to do out there. You just need to go into your travel experiences knowing a few things.
There are 3 things that you must know about traveling before you leave home:
#1: You’re not at home.
This heading may sound silly at first. When you think about it though it makes perfect sense. It doesn’t matter how cool you are at home (or the opposite) because you’re now in a new setting. It doesn’t matter what you do at home. It doesn’t matter how many friends you have back home.
What I’m getting at is that you can’t behave the same way you do at home when you’re on the road. You’re in a different world. Cultures are completely different around the world. Perfectly normal behavior can be taboo in other parts of the world. The onus is on you to realize that you’re out of your elements and in a new zone.
#2: You need to learn to adapt.
If you can’t adapt then you’re going to have a tough time traveling. If you can’t adapt at all in life you’re going to have a difficult time getting by.
The reason that you need to adapt rapidly is that you’re going to encounter completely new situations. For the first time ever you’re going to be inside of a grocery store where you don’t understand any of the labels. For the first time ever you might have to share a room with strangers. There will be many firsts when you travel.
A few of my first experiences that I had to adapt to while traveling through Europe last month were:
- Sharing a room with multiple strangers.
- Not knowing where to find food.
- Trying to find a local gym.
- Taking a bus for over 6 hours.
- Not understanding the language.
Just like with personal finance, we all need to adapt. Times will change and circumstances will shift. If we don’t grow we will fall behind. There’s no fun in falling behind.
#3: You can make money anywhere in the world now.
I’m not going to turn this into a make money blogging sort of article. I will tell you that you that technology allows us to stay connected to the world at all times. Technology also opens up many gates for us to earn money. Simply put, there are many ways that you can make online now so that you can afford to maintain your travels for longer.
While my new friends spent their time on Facebook I was able to write articles and work on my online projects. The best part is that I almost love to write as much as I love to travel. I was able to do two things that I love simultaneously.
These are three things that everyone needs to know about traveling for the first time. Stay tuned until next week!
Check out the other articles from the Travel Like a Rockstar Series:
Can I Travel When I’m Not Rich?
4 Little Known Ways of Saving Money While Traveling.
