40 Lessons Learned from Traveling Around the World

40 Lessons Learned from Traveling Around the World (in no particular order)

As mentioned in my about page, in October of 2016, I left the comforts of my home and full-time job in Minneapolis for a 5.5 mo trip around the world, visiting 6 continents and 23 countries. Since then I’ve had a lifestyle shift- meaning I currently ‘live abroad’ primarily in Rome, though travel several times a year to my home in Minnesota as well as to and in between my partner’s home in Azerbaijan. Essentially this shift shook me out of routine and opened my eyes to many life lessons that has shaped my views on the world… as well as some small tidbits that might make some days a little more enjoyable.

Rather than going through the stress of dumping your belongings and parting from your loved ones and pets, I thought I’d spare you some time and money with the Spark Notes of what I learned from my experiences.

I wrote this following list after the first trip in 2017 when I lived out of a backpack not much larger than one you’d take to school, and below you’ll find the lessons I’d add now:

Things learned from a solo trip around the world (in no particular order):

Groceries are almost always cheaper
Greeting new people w/ kisses is so sweet and everyone in the world should do it (though it ends up being awkward if it’s not the same expectations for both parties)
People (mostly) are good and are (almost) never their government
Always use public transportation when commuting from an airport when possible- it is insanely cheaper and usually completely comfortable
You actually don’t need a ton of different outfits in order to feel appropriate for the world if you are smart about layering
Living minimalistic eliminates some stresses and teaches you great lessons on materialism, but will still cause some other stresses or discomforts
It’s good to be direct and say no when you mean it
Plantains are always a good side dish
Purchasing oranges and bananas is never wasted money
It’s possible to appreciate things and let them enhance your life without having them/buying them
There will always be more stuff
Getting rid of material items you’re attached to is important, and a slow lesson to learn
A lot of people in hostels only stay in hostels, and because of this you often don’t get the best understanding of what a place is really like if you don’t connect with locals
Laughing because of stress is always the best way to handle it
Planning ahead transportation is always cheaper than leaving it to the last minute
Veggies and fruit are always a good purchase
If you can get it done now, you absolutely SHOULD. You might not have the opportunity again.
It’s OK to not be in control of your day
It’s OK to collaborate (and often quite rewarding)
Sleeping enough is incredibly important- especially if you can wake up naturally
Rinsing with cold water will always feel insanely healthy and awakening- regardless if it actually is
Squeezing lemon or ginger into water is a small way to make it delicious all day
Forgetting to take said piece of ginger out of your water bottle means you may get stopped and almost fined by New Zealand customs
Tasks can get done just the same without overthinking and stressing about them
Writing is therapeutic when stressed
If you see a cute pen in Taipei with a cat on it, buy two- you’ll definitely use it up and be sad when it runs dry in a few months
Expect to make mistakes, so you don’t stress when they happen
It’s better to be clean + have clean clothes on when going to sleep (vs in the morning)
Seaweed can be incorporated into many more foods than you might think
Having an anti-bacterial water bottle is the most valuable item when traveling *though I’ve recently learned its actually really unhealthy to be drinking all your water in something copper-lined, whoops!
Headphones prevent people from talking to you
If you feel a man (or anyone who could cause harm to you walking alone down a path) is approaching you and you sense he’s about to say or do something uncomfortable, a great pre-defense is to snap up your gaze as if you are locking eyes with a friend just past him and possibly wave. He’ll assume he’s not alone as he thought.
If Uber is illegal in a country you’re in, then don’t use it.
When traveling longterm add to your budget the cost of sending items back to family for space reasons
Things I’d add now that over a year has passed:
Always be humble and assume you could be wrong
Having an open mind without preconceived prejudices will lead to the best solutions
Remember to show your friends you appreciate them
Hosting is a wonderful way to show love
Take a walk once a day to clear any chaos from your brain
Kicking around a soccer ball is always a good idea
Maybe every year it would be beneficial to reevaluate and life lessons. Every day I feel I’m adding some thoughts to my Notes app, or jotting down something on my notebook.

On a semi-related note, if you are looking for an awesome interactive coffee table book, one of my favorite purchases is the booklet box by Stefan Sagmeister- “Things I’ve Learned in My Life So Far:”

Stefan Sagmeister Things I've Learned in My Life So Far

Two Weeks in Moscow, Russia

Growing up in the USA even after the dissipation of most Cold War tension I was still subconsciously influenced to view Russia (and its citizens) as 'scary communists' and certainly not a place to explore as USA citizen. While conversely I observed an embrace of capitalism and too many uses of the USA flag in fashion to count, it is true that Russia still has tight border control in and out of the country for most citizens outside the former Soviet Union making it challenging (ie inconvenient and expensive) to visit!

There are a few ways to see the country within 72 hours- either getting a pretty painless transit visa at a consulate that doesn't require sponsorship- or without a visa entirely through some cruises that may pass in St Petersburg. But to stay longer than that, as I did visiting my partner's family in inland Moscow, it takes a proper visa requiring planning exact days and accommodation months in advance and a hefty (over $200 if mailing) price tag for a single entry.

This is why I wanted to share my 2 week experience in Moscow, because it's a place not many people would necessarily get an inside perspective on, and some of it may be surprising.

WHY I was there:

To visit my partner's sister and family (husband + 2 daughters). After only actually 'dating' for a collective month, it was decided I'd a) return to Rome to move in with him and b) come with to his annual family visits to Moscow and Azerbaijan. It sounds crazy I know, but sometimes you just listen to your gut and go with it. We spent 2 weeks in Moscow (these dates could not be changed after getting the visa) then one month in AZ.

HOW we got there:

Cost (one way): $160 with Air Serbia

Route: Rome > Belgrade, Serbia (w/ day long stopover- see below) > Moscow

WHAT surprised me the most:

First of all there were not just malls, but really NICE malls everywhere. I had a completely embarrassingly misguided assumption that Russia was, and is currently, communist— and furthermore that most its citizens were content with this and they despised western capitalist culture. (I know I'm an ID10T, send me the judgement and snark...) This couldn't have been further from the truth. While the government might hold on to some ideals from socialism, they clearly are using capitalism (in the business sense) as part of their economy. I saw many Western brands but also Russian brands too. I can't tell you how many H&M's, english words, and USA flags I saw. Of course keep in mind I was in the capital Moscow and can only share from that perspective. The downfall- I couldn't find ONE shirt with cyrillic on it. Mostly everything was written in the Latin alphabet, in English. A bummer since I really wanted to take home a shirt with Russian on it. (I was learning Russian on Duolingo before the visit and was in love with the aesthetics their alphabet)

GUM- This building in the Red Square is a massive mall.  Shopping, restaurants and an extensive grocery store on the on the bottom level. — GUM- This building in the Red Square is a massive mall. Shopping, restaurants and an extensive grocery store on the on the bottom level.

Second, I was surprised with all the images of Putin holding cute baby animals. In a bookstore I saw a calendar with the cover being Putin holding a baby leopard cub, and countless magnets made of the image of him holding his Caucasian Mountain puppy. Putin couldn't hurt anyone I mean look at him momentarily father that adorable furry creature!

You can tell by the blurriness of these photos I snapped these discretely!

And third, I was amazed at how beautiful the metro stations were. I had heard this ahead of time, but I wasn't prepared for every little detail of every station to be so emaculate and intentionally designed. I wish I had a better camera to capture them at low lighting, and I regret being shy about rushing to take these, but you can get the idea:

WHAT we did:

The purpose of the trip was for visiting family, so much of our time was spent relaxing, conversing, and eating the most delicious home cooked Russian-inspired Azerbaijani food. We also were able to treat the little ones by taking them to museums and parks, which Moscow has a ton of being in the middle of the boreal forest. We were happy to explore different parts of the city and we could also help out Onar's sister by giving her a break from watching them.

This was the meal we were welcomed with.... WOW is all I can say. So delicious!!!

Countless cups of tea a day, and not one cup was without sweets! The Solomka are candies from Soviet Union era, they kind of laughed that I wanted to take a photo of them because they're so plain/common. Also I'm 100% in love with Onar's sister's or… — Countless cups of tea a day, and not one cup was without sweets! The Solomka are candies from Soviet Union era, they kind of laughed that I wanted to take a photo of them because they're so plain/common. Also I'm 100% in love with Onar's sister's ornate dishes for everything.

VDNH:
You can't visit Moscow without experiencing VDNH. It's an insanely large park with beautiful fountains, gardens, food, and cosmonaut themed attractions. It used to have amusement rides but they've since been taken down. The bottom two photos are from opposite ends of the park. Space exploration is definitely a huge sense of pride in Russia, rightfully so. Even though the US was the first to land on the moon, the Russians were first with basically everything else. (And let's not forget how their socialism set high standards for gender equality leagues before the US- the first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova in 1963, 20 years before Sally Kristen Ride who was the 3rd woman in space after another Soviet female cosmonaut in 1982.)

This fountain in VDNH is comprised of 16 different prominent females from the different countries part of the Soviet Union.

Orlov Museum of Paleontology: Because of the extreme conditions in Siberia, dinosaur fossils were preserved significantly better here than other parts of the world. This is the reason why this museum is unique and super impressive. I unfortunately didn't take many photos, but here are a couple of the entrance and inside:

Parks! Like mentioned above, Moscow is situated within the boreal forest (same as northern MN) and it is integrated into the city with many large and impressive parks. We walked around Tsaritsyno Palace, which was the palace of empress Cathrine the Great. I don't know if 'park' is really the right word because while there were several units of the palace with beautifully landscaped terrain, much of this place was a straight up forest of pine trees. We stumbled on an open area that was a free dance class for anyone that wanted to join. We also went to Gorky Park which is more of a place young people hang out- there was a ton of art and interesting activities going on.

Moscow Planetarium: The first half was spoken and all in Russian (so Onar understood but not I) but the second half I had headphones of Neil deGrasse Tyson narrating the film so it was all worth it.

And of course.....
The Red Square!

Not the stereotypical angle of the Red Square, I'm sure you agree with me the flowers are too beautiful not to show.

Red Square's night market, white intricate booths with (fake) flowers lined all over.

A few last extras:

Soviet Union era notebooks- also something people found funny I wanted to take photos of! They are all a different variant of robin's egg blue and very simple. Russian school kids these days find these sort of dorky/basic and prefer more exciting de… — Soviet Union era notebooks- also something people found funny I wanted to take photos of! They are all a different variant of robin's egg blue and very simple. Russian school kids these days find these sort of dorky/basic and prefer more exciting designs with swirls and cats and stuff, as kids do.

Most delicious Russian fast food, Teremok!!!

In conclusion

Moscow was a wonderful city to visit for the parks and museums, and most importantly the family we spent our time with. I would never want to try to summarize an entire place from one small experience, and I recognize that visiting a city for a few weeks in no way means I understand what it's like to live there or how their citizens feel, but I did enjoy how much nature was in the city in the form of free and quality public parks. We spent way more time in malls than I ever expected to with my wildly wrong assumptions about Russia's political stances, and left with a respect for the culture and the people particularly about their early adoption of gender equality that came from socialist belief systems.

When I was younger and felt a indistinct sense of fear about visiting Russia, I was doing what is unfortunate human instinct to mistakenly group the governmental relations of a country with the citizen relations, when in reality they are often separate. We're all people with the same desires and fears who happened to be born somewhere in the world. Despite what happens to be our ruling government's opinion about how best to serve their citizens, if any of us sat down for tea with a stranger from anywhere in the world we would find infinite more similarities than differences.

Hope you enjoyed a little peak into some time in Moscow, Russia!

Thanks for reading,
Danielle

Also:

RELATED: How Travel Actually DID Cure My Mind (and How it Didn't)

How Traveling Actually DID Cure My Mind (and how it didn't)

Above: Near the end of the 4 hour hike to Matka Canyon, Macedonia

"No matter where you go, there you are"

Backstory: from graduating college in 2010 to 2016 I held office jobs in agencies and lived in Minnesota (basically) my whole life. Since being a kid I felt compelled and curious to see the world and understand other cultures, but I never made it a priority so it never happened. When I was 27 and had only been out of the country a couple times, I made a huge leap to go on a round the world trip solo for 6 months. Since, it's been a complete lifestyle change working remote and living in Rome.

*****Disclosure: I’ m adding this years later after rereading this article. ‘Traveling’ especially solo relies on so many privileges, considering passport, race, nationality, family, being able bodied, and more. I was thinking of deleting this post now that I look back at it considering the level of blissful ignorance! But I guess I will leave it here as it captures a moment of time. Just know that if you are reading this, my mindset has changed!!!! Thanks!!!*******

Recently I read a lengthy visual article on Medium titled "Travel Is No Cure For the Mind" explaining the logic behind why travel cannot fix the mental barriers you must cross to achieve true happiness. If you don't have time to read all of it the general gist is: you might find monotony in your daily life working at an office, so decide to travel. It starts as a few trips, and ends up with actually moving to another country, then in time you inevitably need to find a job again and end up in the same dreadful monotony but with different scenery.

The article concludes with how you must appreciate your current surroundings to be truly free and happy in the mind, that traveling essentially has no affect on this.

However, I believe the experience of travel cultivates momental life changing skills if you let it. Maybe the author of this article found themselves in a similar monotonous pattern after moving somewhere else, but each situation is unique. Leaving your routine all together in one form or another allows a reevaluation and consideration like no other. You are more comfortable taking those right risks. When there’s no path ahead, you are in full control of your destiny with all your usable attention energy to create something meaningful. Isn't meaning one step above happiness?

Actually it was the common phrase you see written across sunsets shared on FB, "No matter where you go, there you are" that I tried to force myself to believe when feeling stuck being broke and also with only literally 5 days of vacation a year while my best friends were living/having meaningful experiences in other countries across the world.

The issue I see now with this phrase is that it can be interpreted suggesting it's not worth traveling (or trying a lifestyle change) because there's a cap to who you can be, there's a limit to your personality and you cannot work through inner struggles with outer circumstances, similar to what the author of the Medium article was writing. This interpretation is encouragement for mediocrity and simplifies the human experience as something linear and doesn't recognize our ability to grow into completely different lifestyles that in the long run benefits society. Certainly, you will be everywhere you are, that's a good thing. The more present you can be in the now, the more understanding you have of who you are and your place in the world. The world needs more people that think for themselves and have the energy and time to consider how the world might be improved.

No matter what logical reason, graphical explanations or number of times we tell ourselves a phrase over and over, mental barriers sometimes need to be crossed with physical manifestations too.

Let's be honest, isn't it a way more convenient solution to suggest all our problems can be fixed solely in our minds?

Can travel cure a mind? or wherever you go, there you are?

For me, the cliche of leaving my office job for a round the world trip wasn't some external temporary period of time that I returned from and resumed the same day to day as before as was the plan. Instead, it was a physical action that propelled the next chapter in my life I was meant to live. The next chapter didn't include allegiance to an ineffective 9-5 lifestyle devoting my time and energy to another company with the carrot of security and retirement funds. The next chapter included owning my own content, taking risks, creating things, and living in a never-ending state of curiosity. I can soon enter my 30's location independent building meaningful things with potential to generate income for my retirement. That's a risk I wouldn't have taken before my trip, but it's a risk I can't imagine not taking now and my days have an unprecedented sense of meaning and adventure.

As we are all connected, as one person’s revelation is connected to another’s, my story sounds cliche because it is. The reason I’m writing this is because I think many others can relate. Just as someone else’e cheesy story is what made me feel confident to take that risk, maybe someone stumbling on this one day will be confident in themselves too.

So in list form...

How traveling actually DID cure my mind:

Travel took me out of routine— I was able to see my life choices from more of an objective birds eye view, and pay attention to what felt natural and what didn't (for example, waking up to an alarm 71% of my life with an immediate necessity to physically go to a different place never felt natural, and I never miss it. Unless I have something new and exciting to wake up for, I'm now able to wake up naturally after a complete sleep cycle and take sometimes hours to process and meditate on my intent for the day. Sleep is so important to health and happiness!)
Travel made me excited to learn again— I didn't realize how numb and simple my brain was starting to mush to until I had opportunity to challenge it again. In high school and college I was so focused on self-guided learning. I'd watch countless documentaries and switch captions and voices on movies between english/spanish/french simply for fun. Curiosity and excitement to learn was inherently a part of me, but after working in the routine of office life without many challenges or threat to comfort in my day made my learning processes dulled. After work I just wanted to have a half glass of wine and zone out to the latest Netflix obsession. I just wanted to be entertained, but I never really felt like I was using my skills toward moving my life forward too. Now, I'm so CURIOUS and am so aware of all that I don't know. I'm learning Italian and Azeri, and am generally interested in other languages too just because it's fun. I still enjoy a few episodes of a show at the end of the night, but now it feels like a truly satisfying rest from living my day with intention.
Travel made me closer to my family— I know this doesn't make much sense, but I used to live a 20 minute drive to my sister's family, and 1.2 hr drive to my parents. Sometimes, we'd go months without even talking on the phone. On the contrary, while traveling and also now while living in Rome we make it a point to videochat at least once a month, and when we do talk there's more meaning and significance. We listen more, we care more. Of course, there are also downsides which I'll mention in the next section.
Travel taught me how to take risks— I used to take sort of ‘pretend’ risks, for example dye my hair a color a zany color, or try a new medium when painting. But it always felt these these took the place of the ‘real’ risks a truly wanted to take. Who knows, maybe little risks can slowly build confidence. But I would repeatedly get really close to making a big lifestyle switch then back out. I've since learned with risk can come great reward, and it has brought be much confidence in my decisions and abilities to try for things I might be scared of.
Travel let me strengthen friendships with people from my past— When you are hyper aware of your physical location in the world, life looks different. Anyone you mildly know in that same physical location as you are so special. The BEST part of my trip was truly all the people I spent it with. I am blessed to have known people from all over and rarely had to feel like a complete outsider staying at a hostel. It was so meaningful to have opportunity to get to know these people more, and go from acquaintance to friends.
Travel helped my fear of flying, plus my anxiety and depression was absent. Before leaving I was legit afraid of flying. It was something that built as I got older, and more worrisome. Now, while it’s still something I can’t say I love, there is the ability to see a flight as relaxing, almost meditative. It's the one time you can rest your brain without any responsibility.
Travel helped me learn humility. While this article is pretty heavy on the confident and arrogant side, my experiences making mistakes and being utterly embarrassed were really healthy. (This point I added in 2021 because reading this article is a bit cringey, ha!)

I'm sure there's more, but those are the big ones.

It would be highly one sided and dishonest if I wrote all the ways travel cured my mind if I didn't mention the ways it didn't. So...

How traveling discouraged my mind:

Traveling means you miss out on important events with family and friends— Thought I'd get the obvious one out of the way. It was kind of heartbreaking to have to Skype with my niece on her birthday like some digital talking avatar. It's hard to see your family and friends on social media experiencing things together and feeling left out, like traditions or seasons you used to celebrate.
Traveling means you'll loose friends— Before I left, I felt like I had several fun networks of friends I could comfortable meet up with at a bar or party and legit feel welcome. However when you're gone for so long and are busy that whole time, it's hard to reach out to people and no one reaches out to you, and soon a lot of friends start to seem like acquaintances, and by the time you're back in town you feel kind of shy to reach out to them. Despite everyone’s good intentions, sometimes it just doesn’t work out unfortunately. It’s very common for people that travel long term to suffer from loneliness, despite maybe their happy instagram photos on the beach.
Traveling means you learn how no one really cares— I know this sounds incredibly negative, but hear me out. While going to new exciting places and meeting new people, I rarely felt lonely. I only felt this when I returned and assumed family and friends were curious about my time, but no one expressed interest to see any photos! I had been anticipating maybe hooking up my laptop to the tv and explain things in detail, and maybe that would have happened if all the variables lined up just right, but the reality is no one can really care that much. But how could they? You can't imagine or relate to these experiences, how does it benefit you? And wouldn't that take F O R E V E R to go through the hundreds of photos?! That doesn't sounds fun at all.

Despite these challenges from travel, I still think the benefits (in personal development) outweigh.

Contrary to the Medium article, I would argue that travel can in fact 'Cure the Mind' because it takes you out of the day to day routine of giving your usable attention energy to someone else, reveals the great reward in taking meaningful risks, and teaches invaluable skills and perspectives that can propel you into the life you're supposed to be living.

No matter where you go, there you are learning and creating and carving a new life path.

Thanks for reading,
Danielle