4 Lessons from My First Long Trip

I haven’t written in a while because I’ve been really busy.  I’m back from Thailand, I’m severely jet lagged, I am having a bit of culture shock re-adapting the the US, and I’m working like crazy to get some new sites built.  But, no, I’m not dead.  At least, not yet anyway…

I just got back from my very first mini-retirement, as Tim Ferriss would call it, and I’ve learned a lot of important things that would-be working travelers could possibly benefit from.

Try to Make Friends Before You Go

I was gone for about two and a half months, which really isn’t that long in the big scheme of things. It’s not really enough time to navigate around a language barrier and get to the point where you can make friends and meet new people.

I started to make a few connections right before we left to return home, but it all came too late.

On the other hand, I made some friends in Singapore through this blog and it was great to instantly have some friends when I got there!  If you plan on traveling and want to meet new people, start a blog!  Seriously, this domain is probably the best $10 I’ve spent for this reason alone.

There are other ways to meet people too.  You can join groups and make friends at home with people that have friends of their own where you’re going.

With the internet these days offering things like blogs, meetup.com, couch surfing, and all sorts of other things, it is actually pretty easy to meet people all over the world.  It certainly makes things easier if you’ve already got friends to help you find your way around a new city and unfamiliar customs.

Less Is More

One of the few things I did right was I packed light.  Very light.  All I brought was a Jansport backpack that I used to carry textbooks in when I was in school.  After two and a half months of living with 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants, I’ve come to appreciate minimalism.  In fact, I’d like to actually become a minimalist, which is something I’ve thought about for quite some time, but I’ve been far to materialistic to actually do it.

I would see weary travelers staggering around with rucksacks twice the size of their torso and I would wonder what they had in them.  For the life of me, I could not figure out what they could possibly fill up those bags with.

Anyway, traveling light makes things easy.  Airports are easy because you don’t have checked luggage and you don’t have to worry about lost bags or waiting at baggage claim.  Moving from one place to the next is easy with less stuff.  Somehow, it is also mentally liberating to have less stuff too.

Ideally, I would like to get to the point where I can literally fit everything I own in one backpack and carry all my stuff anywhere.  There is something very appealing about that to me.  But, I’ve got a lot of stuff to get rid of before that happens…

Sure, a shirt might get worn out from time to time, but that’s not really a big deal.  Just go out and get a new shirt, which really isn’t a big deal in Thailand.  They seem to sell T-shirts everywhere for about the equivalent of $3 US.  I may not have been particularly fashionable, but travel is more about the experience than looking your best.

Tourist Attractions Are Often Unsatisfying

Sure, if you are traveling, you should probably see the historic sites.  But don’t expect them to change your life or anything.  I went and saw Wat Pho, which is an incredibly beautiful and intricately detailed Buddhist temple.  However, I cannot say that it has really done much else for me.

What I find more rewarding are the small and simple things that happen while you are traveling.  The unscripted events that unfold on their own as you simply navigate your way through your day.  The act of traveling is much more rewarding for me than the destinations in and of themselves.

Small adventures like saving a live fish that got washed up on the beach in Krabi, randomly finding an elephant walking down the street in Chiang Mai, or trying to give someone directions in Thai in Bangkok.

These are much more rewarding for me personally.  I think that is because we often have a lot of expectations when it comes to famous attractions.  We expect them to somehow change us, which is a way of closing ourselves from the adventure of traveling.  I don’t know if this makes any sense, but when our “travel expectation” guard is down, we have a much higher chance of enjoying the act of traveling itself and connections and stories that come with it.

Set Measurable Goals for Yourself

This is probably the most important thing I learned. Sure, while you’re slaving away at work or building websites or whatever, the thought of lounging by the beach may seem like the most perfect thing in the world. Something you could never tire of.

However, about half-way through my trip, I started to feel a vague sense of dissatisfaction that I couldn’t explain. And worse yet, I felt guilty for it.

On closer examination, it was due to a lack of any real goals. Sure I was taking Thai language classes and yoga, but I didn’t really have any real goals.

The language classes could have been better. Unfortunately the school I signed up with had an ineffective methodology (for me) where they simply talk at you in Thai and somehow you’re supposed to learn Thai. I think if I had studied at a placed that put more importance on grammar and vocabulary, I would have had more to focus on and more language skills to work on perfecting.

Yoga was nice too. I enjoyed doing it and it helped my body a lot. But going in, I really didn’t have any goals for it. I guess I just didn’t know enough about it to set any goals. Maybe a good goal could have been to work my way up to the intermediate or advanced class by the time I left.

Anyway, setting clear and measurable goals for yourself is important in keeping yourself feeling good and moving in a positive direction when you go on a long trip like this.

This trip was a really great adventure for me, and I’m glad I took it.  It showed me a culture that is practically unimaginable for most people living in the United States.  I’ve learned tons of lessons from it though that will hopefully help me (and maybe a few other people) the next time they head out to wander around the world.

Well, I’ve got more things I need to do and a mammoth in-box full of e-mails that I still need to sort through (If you e-mailed me, sorry!  Hopefully I’ll be caught up in a few days).  I am trying to regain balance in my life and find some time to post more frequently here.

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