What have you learned from travelling?

[MadMAGA]

I've been very fortunate in visiting lots of different places for work, study and holidays. I was idly thinking about what I've learned from it, other than generally expanding horizons, and came up with:

• British fruit and puddings are really, really sweet compared to the equivalents in Asia.
• Scotland's got a point when they complain about their infrastructure compared to England. The motorways are like 1980s England.
• Luton Airport has the best cabin baggage and passenger screening security machines anywhere in the world.
• I'm incredibly fortunate to have been born in this country.

It's shocking how poor a lot of the food we eat is, but at least it's not as bad as the USA.

That things we think of every day, worry about and prioritise as concerns and objectives in life, may not even register as a blip in another culture / society / corner of the planet. So much of what we take for granted as being real, important, and universal, is just a cultural construct specific to us.

that I can respect the culture and laws of where I am visiting.

I will preface this by saying that I don’t and never have really enjoyed travelling but for whatever shit karma I gathered in my previous existence I have travelled an awful lot! Almost permanently for work - I’ve lived overseas for years at a time and for leisure (other peoples). What I have learned is that there is nowhere like my own bed. Getting from A to B no matter how short the flight is exhausting. Jet lag like hangovers gets worse with age. Compressions socks are horrible but essential. Seeing other cultures is not all it’s cracked up to be … and will never be mine. I sound so grumpy! This week I will be in three different countries and I know that I didn’t have to take a job that involves almost permanent travel … but I love the job. I just wish I could do it from home 🫤 oh and travelling with DC is shit x10!

That most people in any country are kind, decent human beings

Great question - I’ve visited about 40 countries and it definitely makes me feel fortunate to live in the West/UK.

I’ve learned though, that many other cultures have a lot more respect for the elderly and disabled than we do here. I’m grateful that I don’t live in the US particularly where there’s different laws from state to state. You can be minding the law on an issue in one state, drive over a state line and then find yourself breaking one. That feels really weird to me.

Finally, for all its failings, I’m very grateful for the NHS and for access to healthcare without payment.

That it's worth wrapping a scarf round your head before you go out if you're in a Muslim country - particularly if you're young and blonde. I was so desperate to escape the endless hassle in Istanbul when I visited in my 20s that I took out a sarong I had in my luggage and wore it on my head - and voila! Like magic the creeps left me alone

That most people appreciate it if you try to speak a few words of their language, even if it's only please and thank you

That it's nice to go travelling, but it's nicer, so much nicer to come home 🎶

That nothing makes me feel like more of a loser in life than traipsing through first class to get to my economy seat and skeleton leaf blanket!

Yes. East west home's best

That the world does not begin and end in England.
That places like Russia, China, Georgia, Japan, Thailand, India, etc. produce huge, wildly famous, music, art, sport, theatre, literature, film, etc. and we know absolutely nothing about it. Bands like BTS and movies like K-Pop Demon Hunters are the very tiny tip of an absolutely enormous iceberg. House of the Dancing Water in Macau makes Cirque du Soleil look like a Saturday morning kids gymnastics club.

That the majority of people in the UK have no idea what poverty is.

Thank goodness we are lucky enough to have the NHS, safe drinking water and a stable government!

As a Woman I feel privileged to be protected by equality law, have access to contraception, and bodily autonomy which covers sexuality and marital status!

When travelling I always try to find female led businesses, whether it be in markets, crafts or tour guides, they a usually friendly and helpful, and a source of much needed income. I also refuse to bargain too hard on things… pay a fair price, so that there is still profit for them, and never be rude to anyone!

iI personally recoil at people clicking their fingers at staff!

Take as many photo as you can, be open to trying new things!

Buying a packet of Haribo sweets at WHSmiths airside (and other sweeties) will cost you at least 4 times their normal price!

I’ve been to 67 countries and every single day I feel so lucky to live in this country.

That I'm incredibly glad I live in a country with clean tap water. Even for teeth brushing.
Not having to add stupid sales tax to purchases (USA I'm looking at you).
Footpaths going to places. (USA again, no one walks anywhere).

Kerbs. I ended up with a weird fondness for kerbs and a nicely defined road after being in India and China.

It’s always worth reading the guidebook - to stay safe, to understand more about whatever marvels are in front of your eyes, to understand practicalities and local habits, manners and culture.

Are you Karl Pilkington? 🤣

We are currently in a rural area of Austria. The village have a free swimming lake with a playpark and volleyball/ tennis courts. There is a restaurant and bar on-site and after work/school the locals come down to swim, play and drink beer whilst sitting on the grass and enjoying the mountain views. It is idyllic and not something I could ever imagine working in the uk...

Middle Eastern sweets were too sweet for me as well

... and decent, cleanish toilets!

That the majority of people are good people even in countries that aren't considered safe.

That there's more than one way to live a good life and the things we want in the UK aren't the same everywhere else.

That we really shouldn't complain so much about our political system, it's not that bad. Bad governments ruin countries.

I’ve learned that travel is the best education you can ever get and it really broadens your mind.
I can’t believe some countries like America a huge percentage of the population never even had a passport.

This 👆 and the following;
the US is a very foreign, slightly deranged land (religion, guns, women’s right to choose).
All the horn blowing on India’s roads isn’t aggression, or impatience, it’s just drivers and riders letting each other know they are there!

This - I have spent a lot of time travelling in East Asia, specifically Japan and Korea, for work, and I am always blown away by the kindness of strangers.

I now speak reasonably tolerable A2/B1 Japanese and Korean, but on my first trips when I was essentially illiterate, I was genuinely thrown upon the mercies of others and it is astonishing just how kind people can be.