BootsnAll Travel Community

Once the travel bug bites you, you can pretty much kiss your "normal life" (whatever that is) goodbye....or so the saying goes.
At least for me, this saying is true, since I spent a good portion of the last 15 years on the road.

There were so many things I learned in this time. Especially lately, I've been trying to understand the question of "WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU LEARN FROM TRAVELING?"

One of the things I realized is that I learned to let go of some of my pre-conditioned ways of thinking and enjoy the infinite differences between cultures. I began to trust in myself and my instincts. This in turn gave me a new feeling of freedom and the strength and confidence to push my personal boundaries and do things I never would have thought possible before I went traveling (e.g. hitchhiking 3,000 kilometers, sleeping in caves, diving with sharks, climbing a 6,000-meter mountain, etc.). All of these travel experiences have had a profound effect on my views of myself and the world in which I live.

Have you done things “on the road” that surprised even yourself?
Were there key turning points in your travel experience, such as “humps” you need to get over or important realizations you had along the way (about yourself or the world in which we live)?