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62 lessons learned after one year of full-time travel

Article Table of Contents

Kristi and I put together a non-comprehensive list of things we’ve learned while traveling full-time last year

Samples:

Kristi #

1. Josh and I are such a good team, and we balance each other.  We’ve figured out our strengths and how to contribute to our successes together. It’s very difficult to imagine doing the work and planning this lifestyle requires alone.

2. Basic tasks are so hard in a new place.  Finding a grocery store? Checking out at the grocery store? Buying a bus ticket? Filling up the gas tank? (Okay, that’s hard for this Jersey girl just about everywhere.) All such little, simple tasks at home. All can be completely overwhelming in a foreign country.

3. It is important and polite to speak enough of a language to be able to ask a local if they speak English in their native language.

4. Traveling light makes everything so much simpler.

 

Josh #

41. Try to write down one nice thing per day on your travels.  Easy to forget the minutia otherwise. For example, in Austria I didn’t write anything down for a whole month. But in Costa Rica, I wrote something down every day. I can remember so much more from Costa Rica than from Austria.

42. If you want to learn a language, it’s best to get the basics down BEFORE you arrive in-country

43. Learn to cook a basic, simple meal with ingredients you can get anywhere. That way, you can always have something that is familiar, and you don’t have to eat out as much as you might otherwise. We make tacos, spaghetti, chili, and chicken or pork chops with rice everywhere we go.