
Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years - ryanricard
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-arndt/20-thing-ive-learned-from_b_673264.html
======
acabal
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.

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.

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.

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.

~~~
lotusleaf1987
Not everyone can afford it, otherwise a lot more people would. Germans, Kiwis,
the English, and Australians probably also generally have more secure
employment and higher wages on average.

~~~
Ixiaus
It's a farce to say you can't afford it. I backpacked through India for two
months and spent a total of $1,534.00 (excluding airfare to and from the
country). I was well fed, sheltered, and had a blast. Many occidental
countries and developed countries in general, can be pricey if you resort to
convenience.

What's really funny, is, a hippie german couple I befriended in India came to
travel through the US a year later; they stopped in my city and we spent some
time together reminiscing. They told me they were spending _less_ money in the
US then they had in India, primarily because they adhered to little or no
convenience and used what free resources are actually taken for granted here
that aren't available in a developing or crowded country. Water was a big one,
they said they got all of their drinking water from bathroom sinks instead of
purchasing it (which you have to do in India because of sanitary issues, or
you purify it).

The trick with going on a backpacking trip is to _leave_ your job and pick up
some under-the-table jobs in the countries you are staying in (if you run out
of money and have no recourse, or want to stay longer than you saved for).
This is the point many cultured US citizens are trying to make about our
fellow "home-locked" brethren: the excuses made are vapid - you either want to
go or you don't. There is, obviously, nothing wrong if you're a person that
doesn't want to travel; but if you do, all it takes is some clever thinking
and embracement of the dynamism of life (you will find a job when you get
back, it might even be better than the one you're leaving).

~~~
Locke1689
It's nice that you have an employer who will let you leave for two months.
Most people don't.

~~~
leviathant
I think you missed the part where he said to leave your job. I've done most of
my longer-term (one month) vacations after getting laid off or quitting.

------
lionhearted
Careful, this is one is true until it's not, and then you're fucked:

> 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.

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 _hot_ \- 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.

/did research on this after getting violently ill in Cambodia, luckily the
expired medicine I bought from the untrained pharmacist did the trick.

~~~
seven
From my experience, you can not avoid getting ill. Sooner or later (probably
sooner) it is going to hit you.

Therefore my advice is, to jump right into it. Eat what the locals eat. Do
what the locals do. By this you have at least a bit fun until you have to
spend your time sitting and sh __*ing.

The human body is great in adapting to those situation. On my first visit to
an development country I took more pictures from the window of my toilet than
anything else. But since my body got somehow got used to the new environment,
I have not been ill on my last few trips.

Final advice for third world travel: Have toilet paper ready. Always!

~~~
poutine
Bad advice. The body doesn't adapt to hepatitis, salmonella, spoiled meat and
the like.

Don't think the locals are not getting sick and dying either. They are.
Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death in the developing world.

~~~
seven
Thought this would be obvious: I was not talking about stuff that makes
everybody ill. The body does not adapt well to many other things, but still
you can get used to many things that make people ill on first contact.

Why do so many travellers get sick first time they enter a country with
different hygienic standard, where the local population has no problem?

btw: I lived 2 years in central Africa, just returned from a 'local meal' in
Luanda/Angola.

~~~
poutine
The point is that you don't want to try to be like the locals. The locals in
developing countries are not healthy and do suffer from poor sanitation
(diarrhea alone is responsible for 8% of all deaths in Asia -- WHO stats). You
need to be sensible and avoid certain things.

I just got back from a month in China and didn't get sick despite eating many
things that'd make a typical westerner puke. I lived in China for several
years previously and had learned the hard way about food safety.

------
elblanco
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:

"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.

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.

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.

~~~
maxawaytoolong
Parisians are rude in the spring and summer, when Paris is overrun by
tourists. I can't say I blame them, I found the tourist situation in July
insufferable. In the fall I've found Parisians as nice as anyone else in a
huge city. I've never found New Yorkers particularly rude, especially
nowadays.

~~~
wizard_2
I'll second that, as a New Yorker who works in midtown I see tourists all the
time. Mostly people ignore them, often we give directions or advice (like
don't stop in the middle of the sidewalk, don't leave your purse on the subway
seat, this train doesn't go west 4th).

Most visitors aren't used to having so many people around them. Just be
mindful of your surroundings. Probably good advice for any city.

------
raju
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.

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. :)

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.

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).

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 _should_ 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]

[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.

[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.

~~~
rivo
I got sick a few times from street-vendor food in 3rd world countries. It
turned out that they often reuse oil for too long. I now avoid deep-fried
food, dirty or tap water, and things like ice-cream. I've been fine on my
travels since.

~~~
blizkreeg
This is a mild suggestion. Could we stop using the term 3rd world to refer to
relatively poor countries? I think in a modern, globalized, and rapidly
developing world, '3rd world' is unnecessary and carries a derogatory
connotation to it, IMO. I can't speak for others from a so-called third world
country, but it offends me.

Plus, the true meaning of third world is something quite different, concocted
during the cold war: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World>

~~~
SkyMarshal
How about 'developing world' instead? Any other suggestions?

~~~
kroger
It's not so simple as 'developed world' vs 'developing world'. There's an
awesome Hans Rosling ted talk [1] about that. Here's an quote from it:

"I find my experience from 20 years of Africa is that the seemingly impossible
is possible. Africa has not done bad. In 50 years they've gone from a pre-
Medieval situation to a very decent 100-year-ago Europe, with a functioning
nation and state. I would say that sub-Saharan Africa has done best in the
world during the last 50 years. Because we don't consider where they came
from. It's this stupid concept of developing countries which puts us,
Argentina and Mozambique together 50 years ago, and says that Mozambique did
worse. We have to know a little more about the world. I have a neighbor who
knows 200 types of wine. He knows everything. He knows the name of the grape,
the temperature and everything. I only know two types of wine -- red and
white. (Laughter) But my neighbor only knows two types of countries --
industrialized and developing. And I know 200, I know about the small data.
But you can do that."

[1]
[http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_o...](http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html)

~~~
metamemetics
> _It's not so simple as 'developed world' vs 'developing world'_

Of course. These are just useful categories. Humans like to put things into
categories so we can make statements about ideas. Saying it's "not so simple"
is a strawman as I don't think anyone is claiming that a country is a data
structure with the capacity of 1 bit (developed or developing).

Maybe if you said or quoted something about how the act of using this
categorical construction in analysis when performed too often is the physical
cause of some sort of injustice.

------
suthakamal
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.

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

\- 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).

\- 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.

\- 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.

~~~
Ixiaus
_Taking Pepto Bismol prophylactically..._

Ick! That'll give you all sorts of unpleasant side-effects - it's much better
to eat raw garlic or raw onions every morning. You'll adjust to the local
organisms better and you won't get sick at all.

To each his own on taking electronics/phones/etc... When I go backpacking I
prefer to take the "no itinerary" approach, leaving technology at home so I'm
not in the Western Bubble wherever I go.

------
qeorge
Mentioned in the article, you can get free room and board in some amazing
places in return for your labor. Check out <http://www.wwoof.org> if you're
interested.

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.

~~~
DanielStraight
First time I've heard about wwoof. Thanks for the tip. Any tips on how to make
the most of it / find the best hosts / etc?

------
maxawaytoolong
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.

However, in Mexico, the default foreigners are usually from the US.

~~~
run4yourlives
Canadians travel, so you can't excuse the distance.

I think the problem is (I say this as a Canadian) that the US has a very
insular streak to it's fabric that is manifested in ways such as this. This
same streak that caused the US to join both world wars when they were half
over.

My guess is that it stems from the individual nature of the founders, along
with the split from England. This isn't as strong in Canada and Australia
because those countries remained extensions of the Empire and thus were
automatically and continuously connected to the larger world.

The US spent a better part of the 1800's focusing exclusively on North
America.

~~~
evgen
Another alternative hypothesis for you to consider: there is already so much
beauty, novelty, and interesting diversity in the US that it takes a slightly
bigger push to get past this local maxima. No offense, but if you chopped out
and stitched together all of the interesting bits of Canada you would have a
land mass that was about the size of California and with a similar population;
in the US we have 49 other states to tool around in as well that present a
much greater diversity in terms of environment and inhabitants. We get all
that without needing to use a passport, exchange currency, or try to learn to
speak like a tourist in another language. It is not the same thing as real
international travel, but it is a close-enough approximation for some people
that it serves as a reasonable substitute.

~~~
run4yourlives
_there is already so much beauty, novelty, and interesting diversity in the US
that it takes a slightly bigger push to get past this local maxima_

That statement though is illustrative of my point, though. Canadians and/or
Australians will either view their country as boring or too large, and so they
head overseas. Americans don't.

I don't think this speaks so much to the actual fact than it does to the way
one looks at the situation.

------
heresy
Everyone needs to do something like this at least once.

It's a lot harder to believe the bullshit peddled about other nationalities
when you've toured through their country and experienced their hospitality.

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.

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.

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.

------
khandelwal
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.

I would think that everything ends up being rather similar.

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.

~~~
yardie
For the most part, the most expensive part of travel is the fare. It ends up
being cheaper to start in one country, travel through the others, using cars,
trains, or low-cost airlines, and then finish up going home.

And usually when you do these things you've broken free of all your
commitments; sold the house, finished the lease, sold the car, etc. This
leaves you with more money available down route.

Doing 2 trips a year still costs plenty. You're still paying for your house
even if you aren't in it as well as paying for wherever you are. You're still
paying for that car to sit in park, your still paying for cable, mobile
phones, electricity, etc.

When I traveled I firesaled everything that wasn't going with me, sold the
car, sublet the apartment, and cancelled my phone. I stayed with my parents 1
week and worked right up until the day I left. No more bills meant I had more
disposable income.

And even when things are at their worst, everything still manages to work out.

------
T_S_
Pretty sensible article, except for the health concerns. Don't be afraid, just
prepare like you are.

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.

You just don't know what kind of medicine or care is going to be available.

------
dennisgorelik
> Most people have a deep desire to travel around the world.

Not exactly. The author forgets that his data set is strongly biased toward
travelers and people who dream about travel.

------
wallflower
If you liked this article and it got you wondering why you aren't traveling
more, read Brave New Traveler and WorldHum for inspiration.

<http://bravenewtraveler.com>

<http://worldhum.com>

~~~
GFischer
Thanks, I liked this article:

[http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2010/08/16/why-goal-based-
li...](http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2010/08/16/why-goal-based-living-will-
ruin-your-life/)

------
rythie
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.)

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.

American culture seems to dominate the world particularly in that movies and
T.V. seem to be everywhere.

------
yayitswei
"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.

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).

------
shralpmeister
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.

Vive la difference!

~~~
gruseom
An American is proud of what he is: an American. A Canadian is proud of what
he is not: an American.

~~~
mrtron
Ah, a load of shit.

Canadians are proud to be Canadian. Traveling around has shown me that people
often don't know much about Canada, but they recognize the people are nice.
That alone is enough to be proud of.

The whole 'Canada identity crisis' is because Canadians are too concerned with
their international appearance and place. We need to just embrace the core
identity we already have instead of looking for a new one.

The Olympics was an example of Canada trying too hard on the international
scene. The closing ceremonies had this horrid 'comedy' portion designed to
show that we don't take ourselves too seriously. That in itself was just
trying too hard - you don't need an intentionally lame comedy sketch to show
that.

Anyways Daniel - I recommend you travel more. The further I get from Canada
the more I realize it is only a few Canadians and Americans that see it as a
US vs Canada issue - we already have our own distinct identity.

~~~
gruseom
_it is only a few Canadians and Americans that see it as a US vs Canada issue_

No Americans see "it" as a "US vs Canada issue" because "it" is an exclusively
Canadian concern. What Americans think of Canada is (a) nothing and (b) (when
pressed) that big cold-but-friendly blank space at the top of the map. That
doesn't stop them from being warm and fuzzy when they find out you're
Canadian.

~~~
arethuza
Could be worse - you could be the "cold-but- _un_ friendly blank space at the
top of the map" which I suspect is how English people see Scotland ;-)

------
intranation
_Just because people use electricity and have running water doesn't mean they
are abandoning their culture to embrace western values._

Is anyone actually surprised by this? That's some serious western arrogance.

~~~
cryptoz
Slow down now. Aren't (usable) electricity and running water _both_ Western
inventions?! I think that it's not so arrogant to suggest that if people adopt
those things that they have a bit of Western in their culture.

I would equally say that we have some Chinese culture in our fireworks
displays. It goes both ways. We are abandoning our non-fireworks culture to
embrace theirs, just as others abandon their non-electrical culture to embrace
parts of Western culture.

------
fgf
"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."

A contradiction in terms.

~~~
ramchip
I'm not sure if that's what you meant, but possibly an explanation to the
downvoters: a Ph.D. is a specialization; "specialization in general knowledge"
doesn't compute.

------
known
Traveling != Living

