For me.... travel has shown me how much we are all alike. We have more in common than we do differences. We all basically want the same thing. Basic comforts and love.

Hi

Travel has taught me to be patient.

It taught me how to be tolerant toward different cultures, to respect other people customs,to be a gracious guest and most of all to have an Open Mind...

There is an old Italian proverb that says;
"Tutto il mondo e un Paese"
It meant that all the world is just a country..We are humans , therefore we experience pain, sufferings, happiness not matter what race we are, or what part of the world we come from..

Among other lessons, that there are kind, good-hearted people everywhere in the world.

In addition to the above replies it has taught me to expect the unexpected. The best planned travel can be changed or interrupted by events like 9/11, the great Italian power failure, wildcat railroad strikes; to name a few.

Patience
Tolerance
A sense of Adventure
An Appreciation for what I have here at home.

Ditto to Janda & Marilyn - people are basically the same everywhere and I have found kind, good-hearted folks everywhere I've been.

But the most important lesson I've learned from traveling since I was a kid, is how damned lucky I am to be an American.

Wow, Ira, you stole my line. I am much more patient when I'm in Europe, which I try to practice more here when I return.

It also has told me to prejudge no one. I often hear people say they won't go to Paris because the French are rude. I have traveled to France on ten occasions, and have encountered very few people who I would consider rude.

And lastly, it reaffirms my belief that "attitude is everything" or as a friend of mine has on her business card "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." Either way, I think one's attitude can make, or unfortunately for some, break your journey.

ooooh, Ira, I agree! one vivid memory I have of my first solo trip is arriving in Munich after a night train from Paris, disheveled, carrying a too-heavy backpack, no reservations (no plans - footloose and fancy free, didn't even know I'd be going to Munich til I jumped on the train), and wouldn't you know it, it was a big conference or something, so I had to spend close to 45 minutes in a phone booth calling everywhere I could for a room. no sleep, hot, sweaty, and in desperate need of a shower and nap. in that order...

so patience was learned quickly.

and yep, I've met many many many kind hearted folks along the way. I can only hope I've passed that forward for the people who've met ME.

Travel has taught me to have confidence in myself. Overcoming obstacles large and small when traveling alone have left me feeling triumphant.
I have also learned that we pay way too much for wine at restaurants in this country!

Hi Maitai,

>I often hear people say they won't go to Paris because the French are rude.<

My first trip to Paris was in 1971. I found the folks there to be polite, but formal.

On my last trip, 2001, I found the folks to be outgoing and friendly.

I have never found them to be rude.

That I'd rather live in Europe.

" have also learned that we pay way too much for wine at restaurants in this country!"

McBetsy, right on the mark. Sometimes corkage here is more than a good wine at a European restaurant.

1. Forget travellers cheques.

2. The cheese tastes better at McD's in Europe.

3. Bring twice as many pairs of socks as you think you'll need.

4. You can be just as obnoxious as you want, just tell 'em you are from California.

5. If you are a militant non-smoker, you might want to re-think a trip to Europe.

6. There are "rude" people everywhere. It's just some kind of strange illusion that they seem concentrated in Paris.

7. Attitude is everything; maitaitom is right.

8. If you are stuck at Heathrow and you get something to eat, DONT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF IT. There are people there who will snatch it right off your plate.

1. To see
2. To listen
3. To speak
4. How many different toilet bowls and flushers there are in the world. 20 years ago, I would have also said how many different kinds of toilet paper there exist, but time has seemed to solve that issue.

Travel has taught me that I am so very rich in some things, and so very poor in others.

And not necessarily in the things I thought I was (richer or poorer).

One of the first things I learned, as simple as it sounds, was that many of the character and personality traits that I had assumed were "human nature" were actually cultural. For example, that if you can do something more efficiently, you should, or if there is a relatively easy way to earn more money, you should take it (the classic example of this is the Italian restaurants in Tuscan villages that close during the summer months for their own vacations but stay open the rest of the year . . . if they were open during the tourist season, they'd likely make enough money to last them throughout the whole year, but their priority is on taking their vacation when they want to and they're perfectly happy making less money the way that they do it).

And I second the others, particularly gualalalisa, who said that one of the biggest lessons was how lucky I am to have been born a relatively (in the global sense) well-off American. This hit me more in Asia than in Europe, obviously (I also distinctly remember the first night I arrived in Paris, wondering if the stylish girl next to me on the bus realized how lucky SHE was to be Parisian), but there are SO many people in the world who don't have anything remotely approaching the comforts, freedoms, and opportunities that we do.

It's hard for me to describe the last lesson without sounding trite, but I've appreciated, through travel, learning how many different viewpoints there are in the world, how many things that many people take as fact or obvious are not so to many people in the world.

what have I learned?

That we, by which I mean the Americans and mostly Western Europeans who post here, are extremely fortunate to have the funds to travel the way we do.

That the vast majority of the people in the world are (thankfully) oblivious to what those in Washington and London think.

That you might know where to eat in Barcelona or Prague, but you really don't know anything if you don't take the time to speak with people wherever you are.


<b>That we owe an awful lot to those who made this way of life possible, and that for the most part the heroic sacrifices of so many are so stupidly ignored.</b>

Travel has taught me:

That friendships are most important. It's important to keep your word with your friends and make sure you make plans to see them. The laundry, the job, all those things that MUST get done, can wait.

It has taught me to slow down here in the US and not feel guilty about about not working every second of the day( I own my own business so this is not always easy!)

It has taught me that some of the most helpful and kind people come from other countries.

That there is more to life than celebrity worship and so much materialism, especially when you get out to some of the more rural areas of Europe where the people are so content without a million trappings.

And that as you travel to places other than the US, you are guest of the place you are visiting. You learn humility, patience and how to have a sense of humor.

To be ready for the unexpected and to meet all challenges with the most moxie possible.

And to relax and enjoy whatever you have found, even if you didn't mean to find it.