Traveling overseas can be probably the most fulfilling experiences you’ll ever have in your life. There are some people who consider traveling as a necessity and there are also those who consider it a luxury. Whatever your reasons for selecting to travel; to work (maybe a TEFL course – https://www.theteflacademy.com/course-option) or leisure, you need to be adequately prepared for the unique challenges that travel can pose. How much should you pack? Should you learn the language, at least the basics before traveling? How to quickly make friends in a foreign land?
Choose Your Destination Carefully
The point of traveling is not to collect stamps in your passport. Whether you plan to visit 7, 11, 35 or even 50 countries in a given time period, you should choose a destination based on what you want to experience while in that country.
Aside from potential experiences, the country you choose to visit can even be dictated by how much you are willing to spend on your trip. But take money out of the equation for a moment and realize that even although you may only visit one country in the world, experience seeing different cultures, different buildings, experiencing different weather patterns or even just hearing people speak a language you do not understand. don’t understand unmatched.
If you exhaust your dream goals and get to a point where every goal feels the same, you may want to take other people along. Seeing a new location from their perspective can significantly improve your experience.
Decide Why You Want to Travel
Most people think that the biggest decision you must make when traveling is selecting the destination you want to visit. Destinations are important, but not as important as why you want to go here. Are you trying to prove something to yourself or someone else? Did something occur in your life that pushed you outside your comfort zone?
Your “why” will significantly shape the experience you have when traveling overseas. If for example you want to travel to a foreign country to broaden your view of the world, you may be more open to experiences that you may find uncommon. This is why some people who leave their homes to explore a new culture return changed both physically and emotionally.
Ask yourself why you want to travel and with the right answers you can shape a memorable experience.
Get Ready For A Unique Challenge
Your friend’s latest vacation photo may look great, but it hides many of the challenges your friend had to face to get to the attractive location you see in the photo. Each destination has its own unique challenges and knowing about them before you travel can help even though over-preparation can even take something out of the experience.
There are some expected inconveniences that you may must deal with while on vacation. Things like blisters and swollen feet etc. will occur if you are hiking trp. You can even expect some other challenges like food poisoning from foreign dishes and even bedbugs.
But it is all these challenges that make the travel experience unique, providing you with the perfect story to tell your future grandchildren. That and all the attractive sunsets, sharing delicious food with new friends and solo walks in some of the world’s most spectacular locations make for the perfect getaway. Without all the bad stuff it would be impossible to have a complete experience.
The Travel Needs You Really Need
The most stressful time of travel is packing. What should you bring with you? If you use Google’s travel packing list, you can easily get confused by dozens of blogs and forums all claiming to know what you need to pack. Whether you are going on a two-week or two-year trip, there are specific things that will make your trip a lot easier;
- Tylenol
- Wet wipes
- earplugs
- Pocket charger
- what a book
- A notebook
- A camera
You should also remember to be patient with the people you meet, but even more so because you may never get anywhere in time. Buses will jam, flights will be delayed and you’ll have a hard time finding a taxi. This is one more reason why flexibility is a requirement when traveling. Being able to change any inflexible plan (you should never have) is possibly the only way you can see or experience something the average tourist never sees.
And finally, understand that every experience is unique. Don’t try to recreate the experience your friend told you about because you cannot. Instead set out to have your own unique experience at whichever destination you choose.
