What I Learned on the Trip - Tips, Tricks, Life Lessons, etc
I wrote these almost immediately after the trip, now reflecting on them a year later, I have some additional thoughts/perspectives...
1. Don't try to see so many cities in a short period of time. The cities I enjoyed the most were the ones where I stayed at least 3 nights or more. It usually takes an afternoon to get your bearings and figure out what you want to do. (Still agree a year later)
2. Take a few "down days". Sightseeing and touring for days/weeks on end is tiring...your feet with thank you as well. (Feel even stronger about this a year later)
3. Pay the few extra euros for first class seats on the European trains. You don't always get tons of additional amenities, but there are many fewer people, more room for luggage and it is usually quiet. (Still a good suggestion a year later)
4. A smile goes a long way. I had to rely on the kindness of strangers many times - at hotels, at train stations, in shops, in restaurants - and a genuine smile was always appreciated - both given and received. With the exception of a few taxi drivers, this trip has reinforced my belief that most people are nice, straightforward and not looking to deceive you. I will certainly be more tolerate in the US as I encounter tourists and help in anyway that I can. Being lost in a foreign country is not fun. (Over the last year I feel that I've been a "kinder" traveler on a weekly basis...helping folks who appear lost, offering to put a bag overhead on the plane. After 17 years of weekly business travel, I may have become a little jaded and set high expectations.)
5. Traveler's Diarrhea. I had read in a guide book before leaving that with traveler's diarrhea, it is not a matter of if, but when. I thought, oh not me...I'll be fine, my stomach is great. I was very careful about only getting bottled water, etc...but it did happen. It will happen, regardless. On a positive note, I think I lost a few pounds those days. (Truer words were never written.)
6. Three months might be too long...if I had to do it over again, I would think about breaking up the trip. I would have been happy coming home after 6-8 weeks....then perhaps "re-starting" the trip a few month later. (This may be one of the items where I disagree a year later....perhaps just remember all of the positive things now. Now I think I would travel for an even longer period of time. Getting away for such an extended period of time was an amazing opportunity and who knows if you could ever get away again.)
7. Conversions and exchange rates are always on my mind. I've changed currencies so frequently, that I’m always the dumbfounded customer at the check-out counter searching frantically for the numbers on the bills and coins because I haven’t had time to memorize “the look” of the money. Thanks to the kind cashiers who give me a nod of reassurance when I pull up the appropriate bill...or even pick the correct coins out of my hand. I'm also constantly trying to relate everything back to $US to know how good/bad of a deal it is. For the most part - South America - pretty good deal; Europe - pretty much a bad deal; Asia - mostly a good deal, just knowing what you are getting is probably fake.
(A year later...my 6 weeks in Europe would be MUCH cheaper now!!!)
8. The rest of the world has not learned or doesn't care about the dangers of smoking. Every country I visited, I was in a very small minority of people who didn't smoke. I feel like I was in a cloud of smoke for much of Europe and Asia. When having dinner at an outdoor cafe, people would stop eating in the middle of their entree to have a smoke, then go back to eating. No wonder people in Europe and Asia are so skinny - they're smoking all the time! There are much bigger warnings and nasty pictures on the sides of cigarette packages, but that has served as no deterrent. I would venture to guess that these countries have very high instances of lung, throat and mouth cancer. (I just had a co-worker who visited Europe for 2 weeks and this was the first comment they made to me on the return...glad to hear it is not just my sensitivity to smoking.)
9. What is customary, appropriate and accepted in America is often very different across the globe. For me the most highlighted example of this was in China - pushing, shoving, no personal space is absolutely acceptable in queue lines throughout China. The way that I was touched and treated in those queue lines would cause fist fights in the USA. (I have tried to use this in smaller contexts over the past year and it has really helped me understand different cultures in various scenarios.)
10. PDAs - Seeing how the different cultures interact with each other on the streets and in public has been extremely interesting. The people in South America and throughout most of Europe are very passionate and hold hands, touch, kiss, etc in public. Japan is very reserved, I never saw one couple holding hands and certainly not kissing or anything more risqué. It was a mixed bag within the other Asian countries. (Yep, still interesting a year later...)
11. We are very privileged in the USA. Some of the things that we take for granted or expect in the US are great luxuries in other countries. The standard of living is so different in various countries, but people are often seemingly happier, closer with their families and more appreciative than we are in the US. When I asked in one country for the location of the market, the concierge asked why I wanted to go there since we have everything in the USA. (I do think of this often since being back in the US, but then I still find myself buying more clothes, Christmas ornments and adding more things to my Amazon Wish List....old habits are hard to break.)
12. I quickly became accustomed to not working. I loved sleeping a bit later, exploring new cities, journaling/blogging, visiting museums and enjoying new foods. I think that bodes well for retirement....need to recalculate my retirement needs and timeframe! (This was short-lived...I'm back to working crazy hours and barely remember a time when I didn't...)
13. As the trip continued, I began to better appreciate the cost/price for convenience. For example when I shipped a box home early in the trip, I spent over 2 hours in Barcelona finding and dealing with lines at a local post office. By the last box in Vietnam, I merely dropped off a bag of stuff with the business center and gladly paid for their service of shipping it for me. I also became much more liberal in my tipping of the concierges, especially when I was going to be at a hotel for several days. The advice and services they provided were invaluable and well worth the tip! (I find that this lesson is appearing in my life more and more over the last year. Perhaps a function of valuing my time more. I've certainly paid more in the past year for convenience and have fully appreciated and enjoyed the less stress it has provided.)
14. "Restarting my life" after returning has been much more difficult than I expected. The biggest issue has been restarting a minor insurance policy through work (Longterm Disability which could not be continued during a LOA) and trying to do a few work-related things while I was still considered an inactive employee (Insurance coverage sign-up for next year). Also going through 3 months of mail is daunting and I had no idea that I subscribed to so many magazines. A month after returning and reading many, I still have a stack over 10 inches tall of back magazines to read. (I can't remember now, but I think I gave up on the magazines after a month of looking at them stacked up on my desk. And that LTD insurance policy took almost 6 months to resolve! However, regardless of the months and months of planning, the issues of "restarting my life" and any opportunity lost from work, the trip was absolutely worth it....and I would not hesitate repeating it in a second.)
This will probably be the last entry in my Around-the-world travel blog...and let's admit it, I've been milking it for a year now. I appreciate all of the comments I received and hope that everyone enjoyed living a bit vicariously for those very special 90 days. Over the last three months I've re-read that day's blog entry from the previous year...it was a wonderful way to remember the trip. I certainly was very lucky and privledged to have those experiences. This weekend I plan to decorate a Christmas tree with all of the ornaments that I purchased during the course of the trip...I'm sure it will be another incredible reminder of my amazing experiences.
Safe travels to you all!
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