Traveling the world for a whole year, how can I use to grow the most as a person?

[Adventure seeker]

Hello everyone, I’m thinking next year of spending an entire year traveling the world. I have been saving up money for a whole and expect to have quite an amount by the end of the year. I have always wanted to travel and explore the world, especially right now when I’m young and can really learn from it early. I have an idea of how I could use it to grow as a person, but I’m curious for anyone who has traveled for a long time at how I can take advantage of this opportunity the most. I plan not just on visiting tourist sites and eating the food, but in learning about the cultures, talking to people and indulge in activities that will help me grow consciously (like doing yoga while in east Asia or doing 5 Meo while in Mexico).
I’m a little nervous and excited of this journey and I definitely want to get the most of it since many never get this opportunity. Leo said in one of his recent videos (expose yourself to more experience) that traveling is one of the ways to grow. So for anyone who had travelled, what are your tips to make the most of out of this trip? Any tips are welcome, especially when it comes to countries I should visit!

[Gili Trawangan]

I've done this before, I was going to go for one year and it ended up being 18 months.

Honestly, I have no tips for you, you will learn everything you need in the process. Just know that being nervous in the beginning is totally normal, I'll never forget the first flight (a one-way ticket to Thailand), I had all kinds of anxious thoughts, but within one week they were all gone and I was having the best time.

I would be careful though about the regulations of each country you plan on visiting, in Covid times there are countries that require long and expensive quarantines before they let you enter. Just do your research.

Good luck, it's going to be the journey of a lifetime

[SaltyMeatballs]

I am also planning on doing this soon. My intention will be to talk to as many people as I can, make friends, and learn about the culture. Which countries are you thinking of traveling to first?

[Beeflamb]

I did this for 6 years and traveled to 32+ countries in that time period. What I saw and learned was truly profound and life changing. My advice is to definitely not stick to the tourist activities and destinations. Immerse yourself in the culture as much as you can, perhaps volunteer or get a job in one of the countries you are traveling to, fall in love, try ceremonies with indigenous tribes, don't make a strict plan, just follow your feelings and intuition. 

 

I would argue that traveling even helps you along the path towards enlightenment. By putting yourself into a completely new culture you realize the conditioning that has been embedded into you from growing up with your own cultural background. You realize there are an infinite number of ways to live life and an infinite number of "truths" that can be created without actually having any grounding in Truth with a capital T.

 

but that's just me rambling. 

but anyway your journey will no doubt be amazing and make you a better person upon return. Just know there will be difficulties along the way, but face each obstacle as if you were water, flowing fearlessness and unfazed as to the outcome. Have curiosity, try new things, meet cool people, and be present.

[Adventure seeker]

9 minutes ago, Beeflamb said:

I did this for 6 years and traveled to 32+ countries in that time period. What I saw and learned was truly profound and life changing. My advice is to definitely not stick to the tourist activities and destinations. Immerse yourself in the culture as much as you can, perhaps volunteer or get a job in one of the countries you are traveling to, fall in love, try ceremonies with indigenous tribes, don't make a strict plan, just follow your feelings and intuition. 

 

I would argue that traveling even helps you along the path towards enlightenment. By putting yourself into a completely new culture you realize the conditioning that has been embedded into you from growing up with your own cultural background. You realize there are an infinite number of ways to live life and an infinite number of "truths" that can be created without actually having any grounding in Truth with a capital T.

 

but that's just me rambling. 

but anyway your journey will no doubt be amazing and make you a better person upon return. Just know there will be difficulties along the way, but face each obstacle as if you were water, flowing fearlessness and unfazed as to the outcome. Have curiosity, try new things, meet cool people, and be present.

I definitely agree that traveling can help towards enlightenment by exposing yourself to what’s out there in the world and see there are different “truths” from what your taught. That one main reason I want to travel, because I have started to realize how little I know of the world and how much I could really learn. Thank you for your advice!

18 hours ago, Gili Trawangan said:

I've done this before, I was going to go for one year and it ended up being 18 months.

Honestly, I have no tips for you, you will learn everything you need in the process. Just know that being nervous in the beginning is totally normal, I'll never forget the first flight (a one-way ticket to Thailand), I had all kinds of anxious thoughts, but within one week they were all gone and I was having the best time.

I would be careful though about the regulations of each country you plan on visiting, in Covid times there are countries that require long and expensive quarantines before they let you enter. Just do your research.

Good luck, it's going to be the journey of a lifetime

haha I definitely feel like 1 year is not enough time to travel for sure! I might end up traveling for longer than expected too. Thank you for sharing!

 

9 hours ago, SaltyMeatballs said:

I am also planning on doing this soon. My intention will be to talk to as many people as I can, make friends, and learn about the culture. Which countries are you thinking of traveling to first?

I still don’t have a concrete list of countries I want to travel, but most of the places I will spend time at will be east Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. I do plan on visiting some countries in Africa and Europe as well, but again I still don’t have a concrete list.