7 Lessons I Learnt from Travelling

It’s been a whole week since we’ve returned back to the UK. So, here comes the obvious ‘I’ve been travelling and now I’m just, like, so wise’ post. Before leaving, I never stopped to consider how the trip might impact me in the future. I certainly didn’t expect a major life lesson. Now, having spent some time reflecting, I’ve realised that being away from home and out of a routine did teach me a thing or two. The trip has had an impact and I want to ensure that the experience continues to positively affect my future. So without further ado, here are 7 life lessons, I learnt from travelling.

“It feels like you never really left” or “9 months really? It doesn’t seem that long”. Well, it did to us. When you’re doing the same thing every day and following a structured routine, life tends to blur around the edges. The same way a 1-week holiday spent sitting by the pool, can feel like it lasted 3 days. For us, moving to a new town or city every 3 or 4 days made the 9 months feel, well… like 9 months. Contrary to the popular saying, going on different adventures every day and having fun, did not make time fly. At all.

Before Travel: I was living for the weekend and the weeks were unmemorable and mundane.

After Travel: It’s unrealistic to think we can manage to do different fun things frequently due to money/time constraints. But, I am going to attempt to add some variety into my week. Whether it’s trying a new gym class, new sport or just cooking a new meal.

Before I even got home, I had a Christmas event, 2 weddings, a baby shower and a 30th in my calendar. This came as a shock after being left off of everybody’s invite list for a year. I’m ever grateful to be invited to these life events and love being a part of them… But I can’t deny that it was quite nice (or selfish, you decide) not having to consider anyone but ourselves for a while. Obviously, we all want to be there to witness our friends and family’s major life events. What I’m talking about, are the smaller things we all commit to now and again, and then wish we hadn’t. Whilst travelling, we frequently met new people and would get invited out with them. If we wanted to go, we did. But if we felt like Netflix and chill? We would politely decline and no one took it personally. It was a dream.

Before Travel: I would agree to plans before really thinking about it. Frequently finding myself going out when all I wanted to do was to stay in.

After Travel: I will think before I say yes and learn to say no. (Even as I type this I know that’s going to be a tough one).

December was my preparation month and I was all out of sorts. I was anxious AF and constantly running over the million things I had to do before we left. I had about 5 to do lists on the go at all times. For the record, I was not a chuck some stuff in a bag, grab a passport and go, person. I was self-indulgently worrying about every eventuality.

As an avid hypochondriac and Fitbit user, I would frequently be aware of my heart rate. I used to check my stats and be advised that I had done 2 hours’ worth of exercise. When I had done nothing but sit at my desk all day (because my heart rate was so high).

I would never have anticipated that my heart rate would drop so drastically when faced with new and different everything. Language barriers, transport bookings, transport itself, finding hotels and landmarks, driving scooters … Sometimes I would feel myself getting a little tense, glance down and be met with a heart rate of 58.

Before Travel: I let stress get the better of me. Whilst I practised a small level of self-care, my work and social life was my priority. I over-thought everything and felt anxious a lot.

After Travel: Experiencing the unexpected almost every day really taught me to let go of worrying about things I have no control over. “I wonder what [insert next location here] will be like” gets very monotonous after a couple of weeks. This was my absolute favourite side effect of travelling and I hope it’s a permanent change.

I wouldn’t say I had particularly low self-esteem but I wasn’t overly comfortable in my own skin either… I would generally avoid leaving the house without makeup, for fear of bumping into someone I knew. In 30 degree plus heat & humidity, however, make-up is just not an option. I got used to waking up, washing and walking out the door without feeling like I couldn’t look anyone in the eye because I was bare-faced. Which was liberating after years of having a daily makeup routine.

Carrying a 35l rucksack, my clothes were very limited. I got very used to wearing the same things all the time – and more importantly, not caring about it.

Everyone is on the same boat and when you’re not judging others, you stop thinking that people might be judging you.

Before Travel: I vastly underestimated the plethora of clothes I had. I shopped when I didn’t really need to. I spent too much time worrying about what other people thought of me. Because any time spent thinking about that is too much time.

After Travel: I don’t want to ever feel inadequate again. And even worst, ever believe that new clothes or make-up will change the way that I feel about myself.

Now I’m not going to pretend the whole time we were away I was thinking ‘I miss England’. I missed my family and friends but there were a lot of things I didn’t miss. Plus, I was surrounded by new scenery, people and experiences which kept me from thinking about home too much. There were a lot of things I did miss – but not the kind of things you base your living situation on… I wasn’t about to throw in the towel and fly home because I missed Monster Munch and good toilet paper. Every single place in the world has pros and cons. You might decide to live in Thailand, but choose to move when you start a family. You could move to US for an amazing lifestyle but decide you can’t deal with the tiny holiday allowance.

Whilst SE Asia undeniably has some of the most beautiful spots in the world, most of its countries are host to ridiculously humid weather, terrible road safety, shit pavements, a lot of mosquitos and no Monster Munch.

Before Travel: I was fixated on travelling and thought everything on the other side of the world was more exciting. England was a place I (unpatriotically) didn’t really like that much… Before you rush to its defence 90% of this decision was based on the weather.

After Travel: There are a lot of things about England that I love and definitely took for granted before. The quality of the food, the ability to buy something without negotiating the price, the healthcare, the stability (yes, I mean that) and after 9 months in 30 degrees plus heat? I’m actually enjoying a little chill in the air.

Whilst we don’t have an equivalent to Ha Long Bay in England, we do have some pretty cool stuff. Most of us choose to save money to get out of England rather than explore it. I had a revelation after travelling through Thailand. I thought it was just amazing that everywhere we went, there was something exciting, interesting or beautiful to see. Then I thought… I bet I would find the same thing if I did a road trip in England. You can’t deny England has heaps of history, world-class museums and some pretty amazing landmarks. Think Buckingham Palace & Stonehenge.

Before Travel: I didn’t appreciate the availability and significance of English points of interest.

After Travel: A lot of tourists in Cambodia will visit Kampot, just because it’s somewhere that grows peppercorns. How many of us cheese lovers have ever bothered to visit Cheddar? England has a lot of interesting activities and I want to make sure I continue to spend my free time learning and embracing new experiences.