Lessons Learned: part two

As the year and our journey come to a close, it's time for more reflection on the things I've gathered and learned along the way.  Here are some more of my thoughts and ideas.

1. Be prepared to modify your plan; it will be good for you.  I've referenced and joked about this many times (before leaving this was the fortune tucked away in my Chinese cookie) and it has rung clear and true many times!  When we set out we planned to travel for 1.5-2 years, maybe more.  Now, 11 months later, we are looking forward to heading back "home" for a while (location still TBD).  We planned to travel south through the Americas then to Africa working our way north and then east again, yet we find ourselves already in SE Asia, having not set foot on African or South American land.  So the reason for all of this, you ask?  Well, put simply, our plans changed.  Traveling long term was different than we expected.  We started to miss places and things I didn't expect us too.  Our money (not surprisingly) didn't last as long as we hoped. Our ideas about starting a family changed.  We got a little burnt out.  Maybe some people will think "Duh" or "I told you so" or "you were crazy from the start" but of course none of that is important.  This journey has been amazing and the things we have learned by experiencing this ourselves are nearly immeasurable. 

2. We won't be backpackers forever.  Although our trip now is coming to a close, our traveling is not!  Expect us to be trotting around the globe again before you know it.  But don't expect that the way we travel or the budget we set won't change.  Sticking to a $50/day budget has been a difficult but very rewarding goal.  It forced us to have a more local experience and allowed us to travel for a very significant period of time, but tested my patience and occasionally left me frustrated.  How incredible it was that we traveled for nearly a year this go around!  But in the future I expect our travels to be in the 2-4 month range and possibly include a higher or progressive budget.  You will feel more comfortable if the living standards of your trip go up over the course, especially if you are taking a long trip.

3. I miss working.  Taking a long term break from work is probably one of the best things you can do for your self and your career.  I never hated working, but this long break has given me a nice chance to really reflect about what kind of work I want to do and what is important to me in a career.  Also, if you don't like working, maybe you just don't like the work you are doing.  I'm grateful to find purpose, worth, and happiness from my work.  I'm happy to go good work in the world.

4. A little language goes a long way.  Sadly, my Spanish did not become nearly as fluent as I would have hoped after our time in Central America.  However, we did speak Spanish nearly exclusively when communicating with native speakers.  Throughout SE Asia we have learned at least a few phrases in the local language and it has really paid off.  Numerous times we were complimented on how good our Thai,Vietnamese, and even Laos languages were (very untrue by the way!).  It was so nice to see a huge smile cross someone's face when we attempted to say a greeting or order food in their native tongue.  We couldn't get far and the conversations quickly defaulted to English.  I constantly reminded myself how graciously I was being treated.  In my opinion, it is far to frequent that I hear (more than just) gripes from English-only speaking Americans regarding people in the US, citizens or not, that don't speak English fluently.  I can't imagine how difficult this trip would have been if I was blatantly treated without respect or just ignored because I was unable to communicate in the local language; it would have been awful!  So if you are one of those aforementioned jerks I just alluded to, my recommendation is to cut people some slack, think about how things might be different if roles were reversed, and to be gracious. I promise it won't hurt you. And charade-ing is always fun.  Or funny.  Always fun or funny. 

5.  The world has the best food!  Thankfully there is no one place that has the best food.  Mostly, everywhere has the best food and it is all the more reason to go everywhere and try all the food the world has to offer.  And that's coming from me, a somewhat very picky eater who didn't even try everything!  I didn't eat any bugs (intentionally), but I did eat chicken feet.  I thought about going for pig brain in my porridge, but didn't have the balls to do it.  Didn't eat any balls either.  But I had favorites everywhere we went!  My short lists includes:  street tacos, pupusas, chicken soup from everywhere, pho, fried noodles from everywhere, more pho, tamales, nacatamales (same same), pad thai, agua fresca, horchata, coffee coffee coffee (I drank coffee more ways than I ever even knew about), bun cha, gado gado, fresh spring rolls, baleadas, crushed black pepper encrusted burger, and more pho.

What we've been up to, in pictures

Walking around Kuala Lumpur (KL) neighborhoods

Whale watching in KL

Petronas Towers, KL

Visit to Batu Caves, Maylasia - Caves and Hindu temple

Experiencing local art

Admiring the view 

Having a very Merry Christmas

Visiting a mosque in KL