Things I Learned From Traveling The World

posted 8th July 2011    Written by: Katharine    CATEGORY: All Posts, Inspiration, Katharine, Life Lesson, Season 4, Travel, Travel/Adventure, What I've Learned

Six months ago, I made the decision to leave Philadelphia and travel the world.  I had no expectations and no set plan, except that I would spend at least one month living in Prague.

This journey around the world has taken me to Europe, Asia, and Australia and I’ve never been more confident or happier than I am right now.

Traveling for any extensive period of time truly changes your life.  It’s not easy.  You’ll face hurdles, discover hardships, cry, cry some more, and uncover things you didn’t know about yourself, but you have to allow yourself to change and grow during the journey.  This experience has a permanent place in my heart and the lessons I’ve learned along the way have given me a new perspective on life.

 

Here are some of the things I’ve learned on this journey:

Nothing is as scary as it seems. Boarding the plane to Prague was terrifying because I knew that once they shut the doors, there was no turning back.  Even if I hated living in a foreign country and teaching English, I would be stuck there for at least one month.  But looking back on it now, boarding that plane seems so easy.  You just have to take that first step.

[Most] Americans don’t know proper grammar. As a native English speaker and someone who aced English classes all throughout my education, I thought I knew all there was to know about the English language.  And then I took a grammar test on my first day of my TEFL course and failed.  Awesome. Prior to the course, I had no idea that verbs had forms.  Nor did I know about modal verbs, conditionals, or Present Perfect Future tense.  Sure, I was taught this back in grade school, but I never actually learned it.

Have patience.  This one was a tough lesson to learn, especially in teaching English as a second language.  Not every student will be quick to learn and when you live in or travel to a country with a language barrier, patience is essential during your interaction with others.

People are too connected and addicted to technology.  For the first two weeks that I lived in Australia, I didn’t have a cell phone.  Mainly because I didn’t plan on staying long enough to justify buying one, but also because I didn’t want one.  Those two weeks sans cell phone were wonderful because I didn’t feel forced to be connected to the Internet.

Last week, my boyfriend and I were sitting outside at a cafe in Surry Hills having brunch, and on both sides of us were couples plugged into their technology and not talking to each other.  For the entire hour we were there, they just sat and played with their iPads and iPhones and not saying a word.  Is this what the world’s come to now?! Put your phone away and have a real live conversation with the person sitting across from you.  I guarantee that you’re not missing out on anything on Facebook or Twitter during that hour. 

It’s okay to be selfish. This was a tough lesson to learn because I don’t consider myself a selfish person.  But sometimes when you travel around you have to be selfish.  I knew that the only way to make this experience truly wonderful and life-changing was to be selfish and put myself first in every decision that I made.  I mean, this is my journey, after all.  There’s nothing wrong with doing the things you want to do in life.

Don’t ever give up.  When my teaching contact in Thailand fell through, I wanted to pack my bags and return to America because I felt like I failed at trying to make it as an ESL teacher.  But I decided to stay in Australia and work through the struggle of finding students to tutor.  I’m now tutoring eight International students and providing private lessons to Backpackers.  It’s easy to throw in the towel when things get tough or when you fail, but it’s the tough moments and the failures that we learn the most from.

It’s never too late to start living your life the way you want to. I’ve always wanted to travel more.  I’ve always wanted to return to my Motherland.  I’ve always wanted to visit Australia.  Done, done, and done.  At 27, I’ve been to four continents.  By the time I’m 30, I will have visited all seven.  Why?  Because I want to. I know it’s scary and intimidating to think about all of the things you want do with your life, but it’s even scarier to know that you never tried. 

What have YOU learned from traveling?

{photo credit: all photos taken personally and collage created in Picnik}

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