Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

I've been long-term traveling and running my startup at the same time for the past few years (in fact just today I set up an incomplete map of my travels for the past few months at my site, turkeysandwichindustries.com), and I can attest that everything in this article is true.<p>What makes me sad sometimes is that traveling the world for a few months to a year doesn't even cross the minds of many of my fellow Americans. But doing just that is extremely common for almost any other wealthy country. The number of Americans I meet in a place can be counted on one hand; the number of English, Australians, Kiwis, Germans, etc. etc. are always huge. After some thought, I think it comes down to the fear that's being slowly baked in to our culture. People (and I mean Americans) are afraid of what happens if they don't work, of finding a new job when they come back, of insurance, of germs and war in foreign countries, of insanely improbable disaster striking, of getting lost, of running out of money, of bed bugs, of missing friends and family, of anything. Some of these are valid worries; most aren't.<p>Having grown up in just such a fear-based culture (and having a worrier gene run in the family), I struggle against those fears myself every day. It isn't easy. But the most important thing that traveling has taught me is this: that everything will be OK. You can be out of a job, get a terrible injury (I myself had an accident requiring surgery while in New Zealand), get lost, miss your flight, have your wallet stolen, lose your passport, or worse, and... everything will be OK. Your family will be there for you, your friends will be there for you, other travelers you've met will be there for you, the locals will be there for you. You'll find a job when you get back, and your old friends won't have forgotten you. As long as you've got the will and the spirit, everything will work out.<p>So get out there. See the world. It's a beautiful, fascinating, scary, wondrous place. Don't be afraid of taking a year off. Everything will be OK, and it will make you a smarter, more even-headed, tolerant, and curious person. And you'll make friends from all over the world that you can visit on your next big trip.

Careful, this is one is true until it's not, and then you're fucked:<p>&#62; 7) The rest of the world isn't full of germs. Many people travel with their own supply of water and an industrial vat of hand sanitizer.<p>As a rule, yes, you'll be fine in other countries. But especially in third world countries, only eat food that is served in a sealed package from a trusted company or served <i>hot</i> - food that is served hot will be generally cleaner and safer to eat. The big danger is food that sits around all day half-warm: that's where you get sick from. Also, don't drink the tap water in places the locals don't drink the tap water. Don't worry about ice/teeth brushing/etc, it's incidental, but don't drink tap if the locals won't drink it.<p>/did research on this after getting violently ill in Cambodia, luckily the expired medicine I bought from the untrained pharmacist did the trick.

I've had the good fortune to be able to travel quite a bit in both my professional and personal life. And I really have to echo everything the author says. But three points in particular:<p>"The media lies" is something everyone should take to heart. It's an astonishing thing to be in a place where the #1 story of the day is happening and not see anything even remotely representing the reporting on it at ground level.<p>Also, as an American, I can vouch for "people don't hate Americans". Individual people may be rude, or behave poorly, but they're likely rude and poorly behaved to everybody. It's amazing how that one simple act of understanding can completely change the lens you view the world with. There's an old American adage that the French (Parisians) are rude to Americans. Not so! Parisians are rude to everybody, it's just like New York! If you understand that, and get into the vibe, places with rough social interactions like Paris or New York actually become very navigable and pleasant.<p>And finally "Everyone should travel". I can't express this enough. There's absolutely no substitute for actually spending time in a place. Reading about the Urals is one thing, eating dill laced food from local farms everyday is another. Talking about how South Korea is modern but different than the West's version of modern is one thing, taking the Seoul Subway to a Korean bar and meeting up with a dozen friends for a night of laughter, drinking, eating and otherwise having a good time is simply a different kind of experience than doing the same in the states. All the broad brush strokes are the same, but the particulars...the texture of the event...are all different.

I have lived in 3 continents (Africa [Nigeria], Asia [India], and North America [US]) and vacationed a few times in Europe [mainly England and Switzerland]. This, IMO is good advice.<p>Contrary to popular belief, people around the world are good. They are willing to help you out and are less likely to take advantage of the fact that you are new there. There is also a sense of curiosity - about who you are, where you are from and what you think of their lands of origin. It often gets a little tiring answering all those questions. :)<p>On the other hand, governments and officials especially in third world countries tend to be corrupt and agenda-driven. It's amazing how much money changing hands can do, and this I believe is a big deterrent to foreigners in many lands. You need to be a little street smart and know how to work your way out of a potentially sticky situations.<p>I agree with other comments on HN that you need to be careful of germs. I spent a year in the US before heading back to India to visit family, and I had food off of a street-vendor. I was sick for the next 3 days (God help me now that I have been here for a decade :D). Living in a very sanitary environment like the US can (potentially) weaken your immune system [1]. Ensuring that the food is sealed, or at the very minimum hot is a good way to avoid some of the pitfalls. On the other hand, I have eaten at locals homes in Nigeria, and don't remember having any issues (it's been a while since I was there).<p>This article makes me want to drop everything and take off for a few months. Sadly, that won't be happening anytime soon. But if you were to take away one thing from this article - it is that you <i>should</i> travel. Going to most countries in the world does not have to be expensive, and it will give you a good way to find out about other cultures, and potentially give you a new avenue into your own [2]<p>[1] - I am not a doctor, but this has been my experience. I tend to be susceptible to unclean water and food - even the pollution in big cities like Bombay affects me way more than it did when I lived there.<p>[2] I was raised in a western culture - watching NBA and CNN, listening to pop and rock music, and reading Archie and Mad magazine. But after coming to the US, I have come to realize that there is a lot of things the Indian and American cultures have in common - even more, that there is a lot they can learn from each other.

My wife and I took 4 months off to travel around southeast asia (Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand), and had a great time. Managing to stay just connected enough to read and keep up with goings-on back home, and disconnected enough to not worry about our eMail gave us a great change of perspective and energy about coming back to San Francisco, ready to go build something.<p>Favourite travel tips: - Kindle's International Roaming plan is $5/wk for subscriptions, so you can get your NYTimes, FT, Economist, etc. while on the go... even in places w/o paved roads and ATM's<p>- The Kindle is also great generally because you can be less diligent about charging it, and read it anywhere from the beach to an airport lounge without any eyestrain... It also beats a stack of books (but an iPad would do so as well).<p>- Taking Pepto Bismol prophylactically changes the PH of your stomach, making you much less likely to suffer from food-borne illnesses. That said, the effects become detrimental to your body as a whole after a few weeks, so we slowly weaned ourselves off of it, to give our immune system a chance to slowly adjust to the local flora/fauna.<p>- An unlocked iPhone is your best friend... whether it's for maps to find your way, a travel guide for a city, downloading a podcast to teach you the local phrases you need, finding/booking a hotel, or making that Skype call back home.

Mentioned in the article, you can get free room and board in some amazing places in return for your labor. Check out <a href="http://www.wwoof.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.wwoof.org</a> if you're interested.<p>My folks have spent a month Italy each of the last 7 years, at virtually no expense beyond the airplane tickets. They work on an olive farm, and stay in buildings constructed in the 1300s.

I used to travel. Africa, Australia, Japan, Europe, Mexico, etc. His point about Americans not traveling is valid. I wonder if part of the reason is that North America is so far away from everywhere else. It takes 11 hours to fly from Berlin to Thailand, but it takes 25 hours to fly from NYC to Thailand. Most Americans probably have to get to NYC or LA to get anywhere else in the world, which can be another 3-5 hours of flight time. The long distance is the main reason I don't travel as much as I once did.<p>However, in Mexico, the default foreigners are usually from the US.

Everyone needs to do something like this at least once.<p>It's a lot harder to believe the bullshit peddled about other nationalities when you've toured through their country and experienced their hospitality.<p>Personally, traveling for a year changed me and the way I approach people...I was and still am an introvert, but I'm a lot more confident in social situations.<p>Also, if you're a Bible belt type, prepare to come back a lot more liberal and tolerant in your outlook, not a bad thing.<p>If nothing else, you'll also discover what the author discovered, how little you actually need to achieve a base level of comfort, and how embarrassingly high your six figure salary actually is, comparatively speaking.

I don't get the point of traveling all at once (months at a time or more). It seems to me that most people that do so, visit dozens of countries back-to-back in a relatively short span of time.<p>I would think that everything ends up being rather similar.<p>I travel ten days at a time, with 6 months to a year in between international trips. Most trips only include one or two countries. Anything else would be a cognitive overload.

Pretty sensible article, except for the health concerns. Don't be afraid, just prepare like you are.<p>Glad the author is in robust health, but be prepared with antibiotics, anti-diarrhea medicine and remedies for whatever you are prone to getting, say, allergies. Worst case planning makes the trip more fun. For example, my friend got malaria in Kenya.<p>You just don't know what kind of medicine or care is going to be available.

&#62; Most people have a deep desire to travel around the world.<p>Not exactly. The author forgets that his data set is strongly biased toward travelers and people who dream about travel.

If you liked this article and it got you wondering why you aren't traveling more, read Brave New Traveler and WorldHum for inspiration.<p><a href="http://bravenewtraveler.com" rel="nofollow">http://bravenewtraveler.com</a><p><a href="http://worldhum.com" rel="nofollow">http://worldhum.com</a>

If anything it's the other travellers that are anti-American (but not to their faces). The natives of countries don't seem to have a preference really except some country specific issues (Wars, long standing disputes etc.)<p>As for point #2, the media lies. The point is, really that you can't get a balanced point of view about anything from the news, since it only reports the unusual and abnormal otherwise it's not news and that's typically bad news too.<p>American culture seems to dominate the world particularly in that movies and T.V. seem to be everywhere.

"You don't need a lot of stuff" really resonated with me. I'm currently taking this mindset and applying it to my startup lifestyle. That, and learning how to connect with many different kinds of people, were two of the biggest takeaways from my six months of traveling.<p>I personally wouldn't try to run a startup while abroad, since living in a foreign city takes up so much energy (both to enjoy my surroundings and to figure out how to do day-to-day things).

As a Canadian living in the US, I have to take exception to his remark that Canadian and American cultures are the same. The differences might appear subtle, but I'd say the differences are huge. They just run deeper beneath the superficial similarity. I'm speaking of English Canadians BTW.<p>Vive la difference!

<i>Just because people use electricity and have running water doesn't mean they are abandoning their culture to embrace western values.</i><p>Is anyone actually surprised by this? That's some serious western arrogance.

"Three and a half years and 70 countries later, I've gotten the equivalent of a Ph.D in general knowledge about the people and places of Planet Earth."<p>A contradiction in terms.

Traveling != Living