38 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling

38 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling

I recently celebrated my 38th birthday, so I thought I’d list down a random sampling of the things I’ve picked up from my travels thus far.  Many of these are my personal opinions, musings and insights.  Some of them are practical tips.  A couple are bits and pieces of history about the destination I visited  (I’m still waiting to use these to clinch the grand prize in a trivia contest).

1.  Pretend that you’re an investigative reporter or travel show host when traveling – it makes you pay more attention to the details, because you have to report it to your imaginary audience.

2.  During my first ever plane journey, one thought struck me: people on the plane from Detroit to Atlanta are just like the people on the metro train from Cubao to Makati.  Watching Hollywood movies and TV shows while growing up in the Philippines, I had an idealized impression of how Americans were like.  It was comforting to see that past the looks, they were just like the Filipinos that I rode the MRT with just a week prior to my departure.

3.  Having visited a place prior to a devastation due to natural calamity like pre-Katrina Biloxi or social unrest like Egypt’s Arab Spring gives you a deep connection to it while you listen to the news.  It fosters compassion for the people affected by it, as if they were friends that you knew well (sometimes they are).

4.   When your hotel in New Orleans is a stop on the Ghost Tours, you sleep with the lights on.

5.  Taking your parent to go to see Disneyworld for the first time is just as special as taking a kid.

6.  Vegas is a place where you could be a different version of yourself: including going to a topless revue, getting married in an Elvis wedding chapel and dangling yourself off a giant mechanical arm 900 feet high over the Strip.

7.  If you’re starving, freezing and wiped-out tired as you climb Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night, US$10 is a pretty good price for a Snickers bar at a mountainside rest stop.

8.  The underground vaults in Edinburgh are extra creepy on Halloween, with wicca practitioners doing spells and tour guides who go to extra mile to scare you out of your wits in pitch dark haunted room.

9.   I tend to be more talkative and quite bossy when I’m in stressful situations, like trekking into an ice cave with a gushing river.

10.  As glamorous as it seems in James Bond movies, driving along the Amalfi Coast, with its hairpin turns and skilled but crazy Italian drivers, is part bravado, part death wish.   If you really want to enjoy the scenery, hire a driver or take the bus.  If you insist on checking this off your bucket list, go all the way and get a convertible.

11.  People got a lot of amazing work done when they didn’t have the internet to distract them, like the ancient city of Petra.

12.   Plan to have at least one memorable meal during your trip.  It doesn’t have to be expensive.

13.  Going to Washington DC with lifelong friends with whom you studied history back in elementary and high school is such a treat.

14.  If you’re on low on funds but want to experience walking inside a pyramid in Giza, go to the “Budget” Pyramids (Menkaure and Khafre) at 40 Egyptian pounds vs. the Big Daddy Pyramid of Khufu at 200 Egyptian pounds.

15.  A road trip with the family to Tagaytay with a filling lunch at the Highlands is always a great idea.

16.  Wherever you go in the world, you will most likely going to bump into a Filipino.

17.   Japan has the cutest street and safety signs.

18.  In Iceland, drivers honk before crossing a bridge to warn the Hidden People to steer clear.

19.   I’ve found myself drawn to places where life and hope persisted and pushed back despite unspeakable horror and tremendous suffering.  One such place is the Sarajevo Tunnel or the Tunnel of Hope – constructed during the Bosnian War of the 1990s.  It was built to provide a passage way for food, supplies, weapons and humanitarian aid as well as Bosnians trying to get to safety during the Siege of Sarajevo.

20. Berlin takes my emotions and sensibilities on a rollercoaster ride – going from a high with all the vibrant art and culture scene and robust economy to the stark reminders of grim parts of their history.

21.  If you squint your eyes, driving through Lima feels like you’re driving through Quezon City.

22.   Roughing it up and staying in unique places sound cool and exciting, but bed bugs are never fun.

23.  Framing your travel photos provides a different perspective and makes your photos visually engaging.

24.  Bring zip lock bags for your trip.  You can use them to keep receipts, wet swimsuits, and pastries from the hotel breakfast bar.

25.  Misunderstood and too fabulous for his time, Ludwig II built my favorite castle, Linderhof.

26. Be at least 15 minutes early for scheduled group tours, and make sure you’re at the right meeting location.

27.  Open your mind and take the opportunity to experience things that you thought you would never do.

28.   You do not have to stand for hours to buy a ticket to the Colosseum. Buy the Roma Pass at Tourist Information, or at the tobacco shop by the Colosseo Metro station.

29.  Boone Plantation is well known for its picturesque driveway the Avenue of the Oaks.  But the thing that left an indelible mark on me was seeing actual slave cabins on the property.  It made the saga of slavery in the South real to me.

30.  Even with a GPS, you will still get lost in the maze of streets and alleyways of the Medina in Marrakech.

31.  There is a small cottage tucked away in a corner of the parking of the historic Grove Park Inn that housed the exiled Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon during World War II.   There he established the headquarters of a government-in-exile for the Philippines at the inn.

32.  Baguio will always be always be the standard that I will compare a place’s temperature to.

33.   I hope I never lose the sense of awe that I get when I’m flying up among the clouds.

34.  Use a selfie stick responsibly.

35.  New York City’s Central Park never disappoints.

36.  You don’t have to travel far to experience exotic cultural discoveries.

37.  God is the best artist in the history of the universe.

38.  I’ve barely scratched the surface of the world has to offer.

What are the things you’ve learned from your travels?