Surprising hard-earned lessons learned from travel

40 lessons learned from travel

40 lessons learned from 40 years of travel to over 40 countries

Not every one of these lessons learned from travel will be surprising if you’re an experienced traveler, but they can all be good reminders of the value travel provides and why you love it. Here are 40 of the many lessons learned from travel I’ve gleaned over the years:

  1. People that seem scary at first on a trip rarely are.
  2. People that don’t seem scary at first on a trip can be.
  3. It’s easier and often more rewarding to meet interesting people on a trip than at home.
  4. Travel let’s you play—and enjoy—“Opposite Day” every day on a trip. You get to explore sides of your personality you don’t at home.
  5. The further you are from home, the more introspective you become.
  6. Statistically, you’re more likely to die at home than on a trip.
  7. The most dangerous things on a trip are not the things that seem the most dangerous. Heat stroke or dehydration is a far greater risk than terrorism or a plane crash. 
  8. You’re capable of so much more than you think you are at home:
    • Physical endurance to hike or paddle or ride that one more mile
    • Mental resiliency to endure stressful situations
    • Patience to wait hours
    • Compassion to offset your plans in order to help someone else
    • Guts to try new food and experiences you’d never even consider at home
  9. People are more the same everywhere than they are different.
  10. People are more different when you travel than you’ll realize at home.
  11. The time spent traveling is more than a logistical necessity to endure. It can be fruitful time used in ways you don’t at home (e.g. reflection, planning, reading, prayer, sketching, writing, dreaming).
  12. Boredom can enhance creativity. Using the boring moments of travel to simply daydream can lead to surprising ideas and insights.
  13. The best memories don’t always make marvelous stories in themselves, but are key elements of a bigger story in your life. 
  14. The worst moments on a trip often make the best stories later.
  15. Your most memorable moments on a trip usually involve people.
  16. Discovery is personal. Even if a million people have visited a place before you, it is still a discovery for you.
  17. As J.R.R. Tolkien stated, “Not all who wander are lost.” But not all who are lost, wander. Movement of almost any kind is the best anecdote to feeling stuck, on a trip or at home.
  18. Strangers that act like your new best friend rarely are. You find such people in disproportionate numbers in touristy places.
  19. Strangers who seem aloof at first can end up being your new best friend (or at least more than a mere acquaintance) once you get to know each other and get beyond stereotypes.
  20. The kindness of a stranger can likely resolve almost any bind you find yourself in.
  21. The distinction between traveler and tourist rarely helps since it involves comparisons of experiences.
  22. Comparing experiences and motivations rarely benefits anyone.
  23. “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.”
  24. A passion shared is a passion doubled.
  25. Traveling is inherently selfish but with a little extra effort, doesn’t have to be.
  26. People make places…and trips. A great traveling companion can make a terrible place enjoyable. The wrong traveling companion can make a great place a nightmare.
  27. Places make (or at least influence) us more than we realize: “Where you are almost always affects who you are.”1
  28. Food and eating disproportionately adds pleasure to a trip. 
  29. Who you are and what you care most about affects where you go and what you do in ways you may not realize until later.
  30. It’s easier to go deeper faster with strangers on a trip than at home.
  31. Anticipation and reflection can be the best parts of your trip.
  32. Caffeine usually makes people happy until it fades. Alcohol (in moderation) sometimes makes people happy until it doesn’t. But wonder—something you experience more on a trip—almost always makes you both happy and filled with awe.
  33. Travel won’t provide you with a (lasting) sense of purpose or meaning. But it can be revelatory in adding to what does. 
  34. No matter where you go, there you are. You can’t outrun yourself. Work on the inner life first. But let the outer life help reveal what needs work.
  35. The most essential things to pack on a trip aren’t things but mindsets.
  36. Never make major life decisions on a trip. Instead, let your trip reveal what life decisions you may want to consider when you return.
  37. The most crowded places usually aren’t crowded a block or two from the busy streets or areas. Hidden discoveries are closer than you think.
  38. Having a purpose on a trip, even it is only to find a particular item, scene, or type of food, adds surprising richness to any journey.
  39. There’s always another train. Few once-in-a-lifetime opportunities truly are. Your trip may look different if you miss a flight or connection, but often it ends up better.
  40. The biggest memories of a trip often occur in the smallest moments.

Bonus lesson: There are places you have never seen or imagined less than an hour from your home.

  1. This is a key theme throughout Hidden Travel ↩︎