The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

I thoroughly believe travelling is one of the most worthwhile things you could ever possibly do in your life. 

It changes your whole belief system, it opens your mind to just how small the world is and just how disconnected from each other we really are.  If it doesn't change you in some way, in some small way you’re doing it wrong. 

Ok so I haven’t exactly gone out and dug wells in some poor village with starving children in Africa. 

I have been to several different places across four of the seven continents.  There are many places I haven’t been, many places I wish to go, and many places I don’t wish to go. 

Let me run down the list here.  Let’s start in Europe.  Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Portugal and the Netherlands if you count just a stopover in the airport (which by the way I don’t really).  Asia; Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Abu Dhabi but again sadly just the airport.  Australia, New Zealand, Fiji. Finally New York City USA.  So the list doesn't seem like an awful lot granted, but I've been many of these places more than once and many for longer than a month, meaning I've visited more than just one place within the country. 

I’m not going to pretend I’m some know-it-all traveler.  I hate know-it-alls.  I am not one of those travelers who like to put a backpack on and hike up mountains or sleep around campfires.  I like a good bed, I like a working shower, I don’t like to hike anywhere.  So I’m not going to sit here and preach to you how you should be doing that, how that is travelling as many people might do.  

Travelling by definition is this - to make a journey usually over a long distance.  

For me travelling is about discovering a culture.  Seeing how life works in these other places.  Tasting the food.  Befriending the locals, seeing what’s out there to see. 

Aldous Huxley said: 'To Travel is to discover everyone is wrong about other countries.'
I couldn't agree more.  

I have spent holidays in these places, I've visited for day trips, I've spent months living there, visiting friends and family, living for years even. 

I've seen how people live in many of these places.  I've seen firsthand and I've seen second hand.  I've see my money drain away and I've seen how cheap it can be to live there.  I have tasted the food from ribs and steaks in New York to Babi Guling in Bali to steamed lemon chicken and sticky rice in Thailand.  Experienced the climates from monsoons to scorching heat.  Seen the temples and the churches, the beaches and the mountains.  I gone by plane, over night train, sky train, underground, bus, coach, mini bus, local bus, boat, taxi, truck, car and motorbike.  I've even ridden on an elephant’s neck.  I've stayed in hostels, hotels, motels, huts on sticks, apartments, houses, friends houses and there was once I actually camped in a field.  I've been to the top of sky scrapers and I've wandered through jungles. 

Travelling is a test of who you are, and although this might sound very corny, it is a journey of self discovery.  You find out who you are, what you like and just how strong you are. 
Travelling is more fun when things don’t go to plan, however you need to be prepared not just for things not to go to plan, but to go completely wrong. 

When I traveled with Sarah we changed every single flight we booked.  Added extra flights.  I've been robbed, I've been cheated.  I've been without money and without a place to stay.  I've crashed a car and a motorbike (although not to seriously thankfully).  I've had food poisoning and been very sick.  I've had bikes and cars break down, I've been stranded in airports for hours.  I've been hungry and tired and dirty.  

In Australia we hired a car, twice.  The first time was fine, although we did have problems with my card and paying for it.  The second time we hired the car from Mackay to Cairns.  We drove for a week, and in one town, Townsville I was backing out of a parking space in a multi story car park and right into a post.  Scratched the whole car on the drivers side.  Utter nightmare, which we then spent three days rushing around trying to get it fixed and finding quotes for how much it cost.  That little accident cost me $800 and I can never use Europe car again, I think they're still after me for more money.  

I had money stolen from my bank account when we were in Thailand.  Three weeks in, and we went down to Koh Samui from Bangkok.  I had booked the hotel using the WiFi in Bangkok.  We think it must have been watched or something because by the time I checked my bank account in Koh Samui I was 800 pounds short.  Thankfully me and Sarah each had a bank account, in fact I had two, and we had a joint bank account which we fed money into so we didn't have money all in one place.  

However at this time we had no money in our joint account, and Sarah managed somehow to put her pin number in wrong three times at an ATM machine so we lost her card too.  We had some cash on us which we changed, and since I got in touch with my bank I got my money back  but we were without our cards until our parents sent them to us once we reached Australia.  

This leads me onto our next problem in Bali.  My fault, I didn't do my research and didn't realise I would need to pay for the visa to enter Indonesia.  We had barely no money from our stop over in Singapore and although we had transferred money to our joint account, the only one we could still use, it hadn't transferred yet.  We arrived in Bali around 10pm, with no money at all. Panic! 

There was one guy who spoke English in immigration who helped us.  He paid our visas and took us to our hotel (I stupidly thought we'd get a taxi) and I gave him my phone as kind of guarantee we would pay him back.  He took us to dinner as we hadn't eaten either.  When we got to the hotel what happened, it was full and I had booked the dates wrong by one night.  He told us we could stay in his house with his mother and father which we did.  Talk about a crazy arrival in Bali.  My sister panicked the whole time and I don't blame her.  A number of things could have gone wrong and we were so lucky.  The next day our money was there we could stay in the hotel and I had my phone back.  But talk about life lesson to make sure you have enough money, do your research and be careful! 

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. - Miriam Beard

I like this quote because this is what I see travel doing to people.  Whether you have visited a place for a week, a month or a year this can happen to you.  Seeing new things can change you.  Your perspective.  Your goals and dreams.  Your ignorance's.  Like the quote above, to travel is to see you are wrong about other countries. 

We have our own ideas about countries, about a culture, a race and we cannot learn about it from a book, from a teacher or from a TV documentary.  You cannot take the word of one person, what you love they might hate.  You must go and see for yourself. 

Be smart. 

Be aware. 

Be brave. 

You might discover more than just a culture, you might find yourself.