This morning a great friend boarded a plane for a far away land. She is the type of traveler my sister and I had in mind when we began building 30 Words guides seven months ago. She is blessed with an infectious lust for adventure and an eagerness to learn that epitomizes the type of traveler for whom we design our language guides.
Last night my traveling friend and I stayed up late debating language guides, discussing the best ways to meet locals, and laughing over a host of our favorite travel stories (some of which may appear in the blog at a later date…). Watching my friend prepare for departure reminded me of some of the nuances of traveling and the preparations that go into an adventurous, inspiring, and fulfilling journey.
1. Pack Smart: Emphasis is often placed on ‘packing light’ but packing in a conscious manner, so that you can pull anything from your bag at a moment’s notice, is equally important for travelers. Packing smart means being able to tell a fellow traveler where in your pack he can find your airplane ticket, even as you are rushing off to deal with a last minute errand. Knowing where items are equates to knowing what you have, and knowing what you have (your tools for adventure) is the first step in becoming a resourceful traveler.
2. Bring Language Guides that you know and love: My friend is taking two Mandarin guides on her adventure. I have traveled with one of the books before and I loved it. However, my experience with is also inspired me to develop a better guide. Undoubtedly, there are many good language guides on the market, but there is no perfect guide book out there, not even our own. Therefore, find one that you enjoy and take the time familiarize yourself with the organization of the guide. Travelers that become intimate with a language guide (or better yet, the language) gain a set of tools more valuable than anything they can carry in their pack.
3. Travel with an open schedule: If you conciously decide to not buy a ticket home, you are both fortunate and courageous. If you do not know where you will be sleeping on the second night of your adventure, you may be a master of traveling. Open traveling requires patience, a smile, and optimism – a willingness to recognize that at some point your most frightening misadventure will become a valuable learning experience, or at least a slightly entertaining blog post
4. Seek local knowledge. Any adventure is more fun when you open yourself to learning. Be it a new language, knife throwing, or harvesting rice, showing a willingness to learn leads to new friends, invitations to dinner, and ultimately, a more fulfilling travel experience. Who knows? It may even launch your career. In traveling, as in many other arenas, if one arrives prepared to be a student, he or she may leave prepared to be a teacher.
My best to all who are reading this but especially to my friends on the road. Feel free to peruse the links on this page, they encompass the beliefs of 30 Words but more importantly are posts that are good for the soul!
Finally: Here is my promise: not ALL blog posts will be oriented toward language guides. I know there is a danger in writing about traveling and coming across as a blogging salesman. That is simply not what this blog is about. (Feel free to visit 30words.net if you want a REAL sales pitch.)
Cheers!
Andrew Kitchell
Co-founder of 30 Words
