Our Perspectives Changed Completely

Saving for two years, packing up our stuff and buying a one-way ticket to go travel the world was one of the best decisions we have made together!

It not only brought us closer together but taught us things about the world, people, and nature we would have never learned anywhere else. Here is a list of 12 things we learned during our travels around the world for the past 12 months. These are not listed in any specific order. We hope that you will be able to take something out of this post for yourself and be inspired in some way.

 

1. The World Isn’t As Scary As Media Makes It Out To Be 

When we were getting ready to leave on our trip we heard things like, “It’s not safe in ___ country”, “Aren’t you afraid?”, ” I heard that people got killed in that country!” (yes, that last one seems a bit much but someone did tell us that). Media always tends to show us the negative sides of things and if we feed ourselves on that, then we will start believing it.

One thing we stopped doing was reading the news. Instead, we focused on the positive. We read books about different countries, and blogs from people who have traveled to those places before. After traveling in countries that others might be hesitant to travel to we’ve learned that if we travel smart and are conscious of our surroundings we will experience the best of what the country has to offer. 

 

2. People Are People

We were reminded that people are people wherever we go. They are happy that we are traveling through their country, and they want to help. Yes, there are some that can rude and mean. Good and evil, it’s everywhere. To be honest, most of our experiences with people while traveling have been wonderful. Many stopped to help us find our way, others fed us, some gave us a ride, and all were so happy to meet us. Of course there are times where you feel like you are overpaying. We just laughed it off as the ‘foreigners tax’.

 

3. Travel Isn’t That Expensive

Travel can be expensive but it really doesn’t have to be. Saving about a year and a half, we saved up $30,000 for the two of us. That includes everything (lodging, transportation, food, and activities). We had a budget of $82 a day and $2,500 per month. What made travel affordable for us was when we stayed in a place longer, bought food from fresh outdoor markets, and cooked it ourselves. We also used public transport, and sometimes stayed with friends or family.

What we learned is that it really can be affordable when you set a budget, and look for deals on lodging. For example sometimes it can be great to stay in the center of the city and save on transportation. Other times we got places with a kitchen available and did our own cooking instead of eating out. We also did research on how to experience places without paying for a tour. By doing things ourselves we were able to have a more authentic experience, and save money.

 

4. Being Brave & Stepping Out Of Our Comfort Zones

This whole trip was a step out of our comfort zones. Out of what we were used to and comfortable with. There were times when we slept in freezing cold and stinky old rooms, traveled a full day on an uncomfortable bus, or went to bed hungry. We constantly had to figure out how to get around each new country. We learned (and will always be learning) to be brave. To do things we have never done before. To say yes to learning how to scuba dive and then dive with thresher sharks a month later. We learned to be brave by believing the best and moving forward without looking back. 

 

5. It’s Not A Checklist

During the first few months of travel we both had the mentality of seeing as many places as we could. Our days would be full and we quickly started feeling burned out. We started noticing that we wouldn’t be as excited to explore a new place or go into a beautiful church. It was just another place. It took a shift in mindset to stop checking things off the list and actually enjoy places.

Often the most amazing things happened when we didn’t go looking for them. When we were in Ecuador we visited a town hoping to see their big and colorful weekend market. The night before we both got sick and weren’t able to attend. At the moment it was quite devastating because we came just for the market. We discovered, however, that in the same area there was an amazing crater lake and waterfall we could visit. We did just that and enjoyed it more than we could have planned.

 

6. You’re The Same Person No matter Where You Go

This one is a little bit sad. We all have idealized versions of ourselves. If I had all the time in the world I would have an amazing morning every day, spend time journaling, write a book, learn new skills, exercise, and etc. In reality though we are who we are no matter where we are, or how much time we have. After, traveling in South America for a few months we spent time with friends and family back home for Christmas and New Years. Looking back over where we have been and what we have done, we realized we had actually failed to start doing a lot of the things we told ourselves we would do during our trip. We made a resolution to focus on those important but not urgent things.

 

7. Gratitude

There were times where we had to pinch ourselves to realize where we were and what we were doing. It wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows everyday, we had days that were disappointing and where it felt like it would be better at home. In those moments we would take a step back and look at everything from the side and count our blessings. It helped us stay positive.

It made us realize just how blessed and grateful we were that we had our health, we had the little stuff that we had on our backs, we were safe, we had family back home encouraging and supporting us, and most of all we had each other. Moreover, after seeing and meeting people who have way less than us or who have experienced tremendous loss we have come home with a new perspective, a greater appreciation for life and the family and friends we have.

 

8. Appreciating Home & The Mundane

You know how there’s that saying “You want what you don’t have” well it’s even true when you are traveling. Long term travel really made us realize the beauty of the mundane in our lives. It really made me miss cooking homemade meals, grocery shopping, doing laundry, going to the pumpkin patch and all the other mundane, “ordinary” things that we really take for granted. I know you’re probably thinking “This girl is CRAZY!” but honestly life is beautiful even in the mundane, the routine type of stuff.

If you were to ask us what our favorite country was we would be at a loss because every country was special and unique. Travel us gave us an appreciation for home, for the USA! We love where we are from, the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  

 

9. Home Is Wherever We ARE

We are basically homeless. Wanderers. A couple of kids with backpacks trying to see the world. At first it really felt weird to have no place to call our own but we quickly came to appreciate it and realized that home is really wherever we are together. We are home. 

Spending a whole year with each other 24/7 was the best thing ever! Sure, there were times where we had to both do our own thing to recharge but being together made us grow in our relationship in ways that we haven’t imagined before! It really showed us that when we are together we are better. We don’t need much to live a happy life. 

 

10. Dreams Are Dreams If They Don’t Become Goals 

This trip seriously wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t sit down on January 1st 2016 and taken the first step in writing down our goal of taking a year off to travel. Our dream would only be a dream if we didn’t break it up into smaller achievable goals that we could work on throughout the two years we were saving.

We learned if you have a dream and you really want it then you have to go after it HARD! Start taking the necessary baby steps that will lead you closer to where you want to be in the future. A lot of times its scary, there are many unknowns and along the way there will be bumps. Don’t give up. Keep your eyes and your mind focused. Learn to take the fear and make it propel you forward. Learn to not let the negativity from others affect you. You can do it!

 

11. We Have So Many Choices

One really great thing about quitting our jobs and living a nomadic/location independent travel lifestyle is that you quickly realize that you have so many choices and they all are good. It’s just up to you to pick. You are in charge now. You get to create the lifestyle that you want. Coming back home from our world trip, this is the biggest thing we realized for ourselves. We aren’t tied down to a house, a certain location, or even a job.

Sure, we can go back to work if we want to, but that is our choice. It feels good. It feels right. Our dream is to live a lifestyle that allows us to travel, work from home, be together, have a family and bless others! We are not there yet, but it’s somewhere in the distance, we see it. We are taking small steps every day towards that dream, so that one day it will become reality just like traveling for a whole year was reality to us.

 

12. There’s More To Life

There’s more to life than just sleeping, eating and working day in and day out or living for the weekends. We were all created uniquely, gifted with different abilities and skills. We are all valuable and the world needs YOU. You have a unique story to share with others. I think it’s so beautiful to see people doing what they are passionate about. There’s more to life than just ourselves. There is an incredible world with amazing people that we can all learn from, different cultures that we can experience, and nature that we can enjoy. We were meant for so much more. So why not live that way?

If you read this far, thank you! These are just a few of the lessons that we learned, there are way more. A year isn’t all that much but you can sure learn a lot in one year!

What do you think of some of these lessons? Have you had an experience that taught you something valuable? We would love to hear about it! Let us know in the comments below.

Be BRAVE,

Katie + Alex