hey guys it's Theodore here and in this video we're gonna be doing something a
little bit different first of all as you've probably already noticed it's
gonna be animated in a different style Yussef is my animator and he's been
animating a ton of past videos on the channel and he's learning a new style so
let me know at the end of this video what you think of it
secondly the title of this video is what you learn traveling around the world
however I haven't traveled the world yet one of my writers Megan has though Megan
is an absolutely great writer and has been on the team for about a year
she's been freelancing online while being a digital nomad all over the world
and well I'll just let her tell you hey my name is Megan Watzke a traveller
writer and yoga teacher from Philadelphia I just got back home from
over a year abroad and wanted to share a few insights for people who might be
thinking about long-term travel here's a quick background for you after a
three-month backpacking trip through Europe I decided that I would save up
some cash and take the plunge with the digital Nomad lifestyle after six weeks
of backpacking through Asia with my best friend I began freelancing and decided
to move to Australia for a year on a working holiday visa between the time
that I left home and the time that I got back I spent 16 months in eight
different countries working in retail freelancing and exploring the world my
journeys are far from over but I thought it would be a good time to reflect on
what I learned after a year of traveling so without further ado here's a sneak
peak of the knowledge and skills you might gain after a year of traveling the
world lesson number one just getting around sure there are a lot of
wanderlust e elements to traveling the world but unless you have quite a bit of
cash I did not you will have to do a lot of travel on your own and when it comes
down to it travel requires a lot of life skills that you have to sometimes
develop on the fly pun very much intended one of the most daunting parts
of traveling is physically getting from point A to point B so you've flown into
the Kuala Lumpur Airport now how do you get to your hostel you're ready to move
on from Kuala Lumpur and you've heard about a cool island called langkawi what
do you need to do to get there Google Maps has become my best friend
abroad whether I want to walk the night market or take a metro to my hotel other
travelers and locals are also great resources for the best ferry companies
to book with or whether the train or the bus is the easier option nowadays we
also have a lot of online resources including blogs they
give you all the information you need to get where you need to go public
transportation can be daunting but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than taking
ubers or taxis everywhere again learning how to figure out train schedules or
where to buy a bus pass are pretty crucial life skills and when you get
home everything else seems less scary if you can navigate the city of Vienna with
a metro system that is entirely in German
you'll feel pretty confident that you can do just about anything lesson number
two there are so many wonderful people on our planet when I think about my
favorite cities I think about unburrow Brisbane and Penang and Edinboro I was
able to check out the Fringe Festival and the beautiful architecture but my
favorite memory from that city was running into friends that I had met in
Ireland and taking a spontaneous trip to an art museum with them Brisbane doesn't
have the top tourist attractions in Australia but I was able to form very
close relationships with friends and musicians that I met at shows I visited
nying three times with three different groups of people every time I had Wi-Fi
problems and I had trouble working but every time I could always count on going
to Love Lane and introducing my new friends to my favorite bartender who
always greeted me with a big smile bucket list items and beautiful sights
certainly give you a reason to visit a new country or study but often it's the
people that you meet that will help you create warm and fuzzy memories of your
travels and night in with hostel roommates laughing over a cheap box of
wine maybe just as special as seeing ancient temples in Thailand or holding a
koala lesson number three you don't have to travel solo let's go back to talking
about life skills for a minute I spent a majority of my 16 months
abroad quote-on-quote alone I say like that because although
there were many moments where I was alone on different tours or traveling
different cities there were also many times when I spontaneously traveled with
people that I met on my journey I bought a car in New Zealand with a girl that I
met in Malaysia the two of us traveled from the north island to the South
Island with a crew boys that we met along the way
after that I arrived in Melbourne by myself but I left with three of my
roommates as we took a road trip up to Byron Bay back in Europe I went to a
music festival with a friend from college and a guy that she met on reddit
I'm not kidding and we all traveled through Poland together you'll be
surprised so how easy it is to meet and become
friends with travelers while you're traveling solo when I arrived in a
hostel in the Cameron Highlands I walked a true group of guests and asked them
what they were doing for dinner a few days later I took a bus to Penang with
three of the guys from the hostel and then continued on my travels to Lyon
Cali with one of them are you nervous about traveling solo don't worry you'll
find that before long you'll be begging to get some alone time lesson number
four you'll be surprised at what you're capable of I remember sitting in a
hostel in Bristol trying to build up the courage to go downstairs and meet new
people fast forward to my time in Byron Bay when I departed for my friends and
craved some time by myself I walked into the lobby of the Byron hostel and told
myself with full confidence I'll just make some friends when I feel like it in
a year of travelling planning trips navigating the world meeting new people
and crossing items off of your bucket list you come a long way it worked and
lived in a working hostel in Melbourne where many travelers began a year-long
journey through Australia I watched travelers who were 18 or 19
apply for and get jobs travel a new country and figure out taxes in a
foreign place my road trip buddy in New Zealand hadn't owned a car before a trip
much less knew how to jumpstart said car when she discovered the battery died
don't worry we figured it out when you travel for a year you have a lot of
opportunities to face your fears and challenge what you believe you are
capable of and now that I'm home I can reflect on those opportunities and
ask myself what's next so as we in this video let me know what you think of this
new animation style and also check out some imagines adventures on her
instagram below I hope you guys enjoyed this video