I’ve been traveling for years domestically and internationally. Every time I travel, I discover something new. Whether it is good or bad, it feels great! So I’d like to share my own thoughts, experiences, and things I’ve learned from traveling. You might also consider these things when you start to pack up your bags and begin your journey on the road. Here are the things that you might consider when traveling:
Table of Contents
Awesome Things You Can During Your Travel
Always try to be on time.
Being punctual is one of the most important things to consider when we are traveling. First off, we have to appreciate the importance of punctuality. No one wants to miss their flight because it costs a lot more money if you get late for your flight.
If you have booked some of your activities from some agencies which require scheduled time, you must be very conscious of it. They aren’t going to wait for you just because you are late or something. You have to be more aware of your schedule. Be responsible. Being early or on time is one of the best traits that we can attribute as a good and responsible traveler.
Don’t pressure yourself.
If you can’t follow your itinerary as to how it is planned, it doesn’t matter. You’re just going to stress yourself out if you want everything to be perfect.
There are really times that things aren’t made to happen and sometimes things don’t really happen even if we hoped for them. When things don’t turn out the way we planned or expected, we feel depressed or down tremendously.
Struggles are always there. They are inevitable. Yet, it can’t be the reason for you to get sad when are you supposed to be enjoying your vacation. Circumstances along your way will always be part of your journey.
What really matters is you enjoy your journey and cherish every moment that you see along the way. Remember, the reason why you travel is to relax not to stress yourself.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions.
It’s not a problem to ask questions from the locals or some strangers that you meet along your journey. I believe that it is also one way of learning. You can learn by just talking to them. How will you know the answer if you do not ask? It is actually fun when you ask random people on the streets for directions
Be patient.
This is somewhat related to the previous one. When asking questions from the locals, there are people whom you meet can’t understand your language, are too reluctant and tend to avoid communicating with foreigners.
The language barrier is one of the difficult things that you’ll encounter once you visit a foreign country. So whenever you ask someone, make sure you are nice and patient enough to wait for their answer as they try to contemplate and respond to your question
Be practical.
Many people tend to think that you are rich or wealthy whenever you visit another place especially when it is a foreign country. They tend to think that you have tons of money in your pocket.
But the fact is, you have don’t really have to be rich when you are traveling. It isn’t necessary to bring millions of bucks. You have to be practical. You can travel practically. There are a lot of ways to save money. You can always choose the cheapest way.
Do your research.
If you are traveling to another place, make sure that you are somehow familiar with the place. Get to know about the place by reading some articles about it. It will help you make your itinerary and give you ideas on how you can save your time and money as well. Familiarize yourself with the place that you are visiting
Be prepared.
This is one of the things that you should not forget when traveling. You have to be prepared. It’s essential that you have set your mind on the things that you are going to do. But on that note, you don’t have to expect too much that everything is going to be perfect even if you have planned your trip ahead of time. You must also prepare yourself for the circumstances that might happen along the way. Make sure that you are able to react positively. Always
Be optimistic.
We have to be positive at all times. Bad things or situations are undeniably inevitable. But if you let these things empower us, our entire trip will be ruined. So no matter what happens, just have fun and be positive. Think of every bad situation as an adventure. As a matter of fact, it is really part of it!
Embrace other people’s culture.
You need to understand and respect their culture. Respect is what everybody needs. As much as possible, don’t judge because that is how you see it. Accept and learn from it
Step out of your comfort zone.
Things will be forever the same if you don’t get out of your comfort zone. If you keep doing the same things as what you normally do, it sounds pretty monotonous. It doesn’t and won’t ever challenge you in some ways. Explore and try to be different. Do things that you don’t normally do. You can be whoever you want to be. Accept challenges. Sometimes, we need to challenge ourselves in order to learn and discover new things.
In addition, if you step out of your comfort zone, you’ll certainly create and make unforgettable and hilarious memories that you can turn into stories and share with other people. I believe that’s one of the things that might help us become the best version of ourselves.
From those experiences, I grow and become a better person. I believe traveling is one of the best teachers in the world. It makes us grow and helps us step out of our comfort zone.
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Hey, my name is Ara Patria—a solo female traveler who is in her quest of traveling the world. I write and learn about life through the lenses of my camera, personal experiences, and adventures. Join me as I unravel the mystery of life through exploring the wanders of the world.
Great tips! I love the tip to don’t pressure yourself. I don’t think we have ever followed our carefully planned itineraries perfectly. Things never go exactly as planned, and it’s good to be flexible so you aren’t too disappointed!
OMG that crazy photo of stepping out of your comfort zone. LOL that is one thing I would not do. I am always early, probably too early and it annoys my husband when we travel. What he does not realise is that if we are late he is the one that gets so stressed out that it is better to be early than late. Definitely I agree with do your research, especially on arrival at airports and cities that you have not visited before. We always make sure that we make safety a priority on arrival and understanding all the transport options to your hotel.
Yes, travelling teaches us all these things. One thing that travelling sure made me do is to ask questions to strangers. Earlier, I was too shy to ask questions, but now I just ask them, be it sound stupid or not. And it definitely taught my husband to be punctual! Nice post, Ara.
PREACH! I love these points – and I’m especially identifying with the Be Punctual one. It must be the German in me, but I despise tardiness and am always early. I would definitely hate to be traveling and miss out on great opportunities to step out of my comfort zone…all because I was 10 minutes late. Plus, arriving early to a place usually means I have time to wander around and check a few things out first!
This are some great tips for people that start to travel. Getting out of one’s comfort zone and accepting and respecting other people’s cultures is key to having a good trip. I agree with all of your tips and I really enjoyed reading this article. Keep up the great work!
I have really enjoyed your tips, as I am beginning to travel internationally at the end of this year.
I think you hit the nail on the head with these tips, especially asking questions (because locals always know best!), and being prepared as well as doing your research.
I don’t like to make a ton of plans when I travel, I thinks being flexible is important so you are able to live in the moment as much as possible.
Appearing as a tourist is often a negative stigma that we all try to avoid. Your post sufficiently articulates why it is pretty acceptable to be a tourist and we should encourage it. By asking questions and getting to know the area we are visiting makes for me impressionable travel memories. It’s also magical to look back and remember all the minor details we learned by asking questions. Furthermore, the most important point that you make is to be patient with yourself. It’s definitely important to not exhaust yourself so you no longer enjoy your vacation.
We do a lot of research before we left. It’s not only helping us to find out about the places we wanted to visit, but it helped a lot to learn about the locals life (tradition/culture), the food, the time, and so much more. I agree that we don’t put pressure on ourselves. If we can’t do everything in our list, then just let it go. We can always go back in the future.
Probably the best to do list I’ve ever seen on what to do when traveling! SO SO SO true. Sometimes we need the reminder to be punctual and realistic. It’s important to be practical, patient and embrace the culture!
I couldn’t agree with you more! I am a big planner so I do tons of research about the places we visit beforehand. Sometimes I get very impatient and sad when things do go as planned though – something I need to work on!
I totally agree with your post. As a traveler, it is very important that we do our research. I see to it that I read not just about the beautiful places to visit but also the culture, laws, and rules that we have to keep in mind.
Another thing that I love from your list is that traveling means going out of our comfort zone. 🙂