I live to travel. Vagabonding through several countries has been a wonderful experience to learn, explore, and grow.
I spent a year in South Korea, seven months in Taiwan, and four months in Australia, and at each location, I sought to immerse myself in the local culture and lifestyles. More importantly, I strove to maintain awareness of my own perceptions and programming.
I noticed that, sometimes, travelers visit a foreign land and immediately display animosity towards the new traditions (“they’re backwards”, “they’re mean”, “why are they doing that?”, etc); other times, travelers escape to a new country and immediately denounce their own cultures in favor of the local’s. My response to this behavior is simple: there is no “better” or “worse” – it’s just different. When one judges, they only see from their backgrounds. Their perspectives. And they miss a golden opportunity to learn and grow.
Probably the greatest thing I learned while traveling is that the generosity of other people transforms good vacations to amazing ones. I can’t even list the numerous times that strangers sacrificed their precious time and effort to help me.