Lessons to Make You a Better Traveler

We have been fortunate to have had many great mentors throughout our lives who have imparted words of wisdom to us that have molded our thoughts and actions.  Most of the best advice that we’ve received apply to all parts of our lives, whether with family, work, or traveling.  Usually they are amazingly simple and yet very powerful when applied consistently.  Hopefully you’ll find them to be as useful over time as we have found them to be.

  1. Treat others as you want to be treated (the golden rule) – Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we treated EVERYONE that we met in the same manner that we hope and expect to be treated.  Sure, we learned this rule as children, but it is probably the most important piece of advice that hopefully all people can learn.  Whenever we travel someplace, anyplace, we want to learn about the customs and traditions of the locals.  We respect their religions, beliefs, and social expectations.  Having an understanding and respect does not mean that you have agree with or do things that conflict with your own personal beliefs, but you must have empathy and understand where they are coming from.  You would be surprised how much better your experience will be if you are friendly and honestly express your desire to understand the culture of the place that you are visiting.

    Talking to an Old Woman in Bolivia
  2. Make decisions quickly and act upon them – This doesn’t mean that you don’t do your due diligence and get as many facts as possible before making a decision, but too often people become paralyzed by fear of making a mistake or spend so much time thinking about the decision that the opportunity passes them by.  We have a lot of military in our family and the motto for an officer on the battlefield is that the only bad decision is no decision, this is surprisingly true of life in general.  Will this lead to some mistakes?  Sure, but you don’t grow and learn without making a few mistakes.  More often than not, just deciding to go someplace and making it happen has led to some of our best experiences.  If you wait for all of the stars to align and the moment to be perfect, you’re likely to miss out on some of the best experiences of your life.

    Our First Trip to Europe was Planned in a Few Weeks
  3. Never stop learning – Learning is growth and the moment that you stop learning new and interesting things is the moment that you stop truly living.  Obviously it is hard to go through life and not continue to learn new things, but don’t just learn through osmosis, actively seek out and find new things to learn that might interest you.  Pick a country that you’ve never heard about and learn as much as you can and then go visit there.  Understand the history of a place, what has influenced its culture, the leaders of the past and the regional forces that shape their current beliefs and society.  Learn as much of the language as possible and use it when you visit.

    We’ve Learned to be Better Travelers
  4. Strive for continuous improvement – None of us are perfect and those people who think that they are should be avoided like the plague.  In all aspects of life, we periodically seriously reflect on our current state and consider how we can improve in our relationships, work positions, health (mental and physical), as well as our travel goals and expectations.  Even during our travels, we will ask ourselves if we’re seeing the most relevant and interesting sights that mean the most to us or are we just following a list from a guidebook?  Are we talking to the locals and getting the best advice on places to see and food to eat?  We’ll come home from a trip and talk about our experiences and what things we could have done better and use that information on our next trip.

    Lunch at a Moroccan Restaurant
  5. Step out of your comfort zone – It is easy to get complacent and accept the normal routine, whether at work or in your personal life, but some of the most rewarding opportunities come from pushing your limits.  That might mean doing an activity that makes you uncomfortable, like zip-lining, parachuting, or just spending the night in a forest.  We’re not suggesting that you pursue dangerous activities, but just that you try something that perhaps you’ve never previously considered.  It might be going to a country that makes you uncomfortable, but it could be as simple as trying food that you’ve never heard of.  Growth comes from new experiences that most likely reset your image of what you’re capable of doing or achieving.

    India Definitely Stretched Our Boundaries

There isn’t anything earth shattering here, just simple concepts that, when followed consistently, will improve your life and our case, our travels as well.

Trips That Have Pushed Us Out of Our Comfort Zone

We enjoy travel of all kinds, but some of our favorite trips have been ones that have pushed us out of our comfort zone. There can be many different factors that make a certain trip create a little more tension than other trips. It isn’t that we get nervous about the trip, it is more that we are more anxious prior to our arrival and typically we settle in as soon as we arrive and start our adventure. It could be due to the language barriers, differences in culture, or even safety concerns. Oddly enough, we probably seek out these trips more now than visiting some other traditional travel destinations that people go to, especially from the United States. In no particular order, these are some of the places that we have visited that caused us to be a little apprehensive.

Kapaleeshwarar Temple entrance in Chennai, India
Choosing a Sari in Kanchipuram
Temples at Mahabalipuram, India

Chennai in Southeast India – We have talked about this trip many times as it was the trip that changed the way that we wanted to explore the world. The experience was truly amazing and we saw so many different temples and learned as much as we could about the local culture. Whether buying silk in Kanchipuram or heading to the coast to visit the ancient temples of Mahabalipuram, the trip was very different than anything that we had done previously.

Iconic View from Isla del Sol with Isla de la Luna in the Background and a Ruin in the Foreground
Getting Into Carrasco National Park in Bolivia
View of La Paz, Bolivia

Cochabamba and La Paz in Bolivia – There were several things that made this one of the best trips we’ve ever taken to a destination that many people don’t consider. It was our first opportunity to stay at an ecolodge and explore part of the Amazon Rainforest, which we did from Cochabamba. After a week of memories in the heart of Bolivia, we then went to La Paz where we able to take a tour that took us to Tiwanaku and then off to Copacabana to see Sun and Moon Islands. The different things that we were able to see combined with the people that we met really made this trip stand out.

Two Reclining Buddhas in Laos (They are Farther Apart then It Looks)
Boats Going One After Another Through the Caves of Ninh Binh Province
Halong Bay in Vietnam

Vietnam and Laos – Although many people travel to Vietnam, going to Laos was certainly a unique experience. Just traveling half way around the world can make a trip a little nerve-racking even if we’d read a lot about the culture before arriving. Seeing Halong Bay and taking a couple of tours into the countryside of the Ninh Binh Province were definitely highlights. Going to Vientiane in Laos, though, was a completely different experience. Even though the two countries border each other, there is no denying that they are worlds apart in many ways.

Sitting in a Historic Ottoman House
Empty Tomb in the Valley of the Kings
The Giza Plateau in Egypt

Egypt – Although it is definitely a destination that has attracted many tourists throughout the past hundred years, but we went shortly after the political unrest that caused Western tourists to be a risk. Other than having to have a police escort to visit Cairo’s Old Town area, we certainly never experienced anything that would have caused us concerns. Whether touring Cairo or taking a cruise down the Nile River to visit Luxor and Aswan, it was certainly an incredible trip. As amazing as the pyramids are to see, we were certainly glad that we took the time to explore even more of the country.

Turkey and Rooster on Death Road in Bolivia
Rowing with Their Feet in Vietnam
Chennai, India

Regardless whether you travel to a place that feels completely natural or to one that makes you see the world in a new light, all travel is rewarding. There have been other trips that have pushed us either culturally or in other ways, but these are some of our favorite travel memories.

Exploring Ancient Temples and Ruins in Bolivia

During our trip to Bolivia, we had the opportunity to visit several different ancient Incan sites. Unlike some locations that restore the ancient ruins in an attempt to show what they would have looked like, most of the ruins in Bolivia are in the same state that they were when they were discovered. We actually enjoyed seeing them without the modifications so that we could appreciate how well they have withstood the elements over thousands of years. Unfortunately, when we visited Tiwanaku, there was actually damage to the ancient statues and walls as the local army had used them for target practice. These locations made for some of our favorite memories during our trip to Bolivia.

Main Wall of Kallanka
View of the Ruins from Above
Inner Wall of the Temple

Incallajta – One of the tours that took while we were in Cochabamba, Bolivia, was to the ruins at Incallajta. They are some of the most well-preserved ruins in Bolivia and it really gives you a sense of how great the Incan civilization was.  Sadly, not a lot is known for sure about the site and it seems that it is not often visited by tourists.  The main temple building is massive and is probably an indication as to how important the site was to the Incan empire.  In addition to being a ceremonial site, it was also the easternmost defensive fortification for the Inca, with a large wall to protect them from the rival tribes in the Amazon.

Temple Stairs
Possible Calendar on the Gate of the Sun
Statue at Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku – Walking through the ruins of Tiwanaku brings both a sense of fascination and yearning for more. This once great capital fills you with a sense of mystery, both because of the seemingly impossible building methods used by the inhabitants over two-thousand years ago as well as the lack of knowledge that we’ll ever have because of the condition of the ruins.  Unfortunately, many of the stones that originally made up Tiwanaku are now used in the walls of the homes in the surrounding villages.  It has also suffered from a lack of preservation by the Bolivian government despite the fact that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Impressive Ruins on the Island of the Moon
Iconic View from Isla del Sol with Isla de la Luna in the Background and a Ruin in the Foreground
Grass Growing on Top of the Ruin on Island of the Sun

Island of the Sun and Moon – Taking a boat out to visit Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) and Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia is truly fascinating. The islands have many interesting ruins that pre-date the Inca empire and have been dated back to as far as 300 BC. The ruins are mostly of temples, but people lived on the islands as well. Island of the Sun is the larger of the two islands and there are even hotels where you can spend the night if you would like. If you just want to tour the islands and return to the town of Copacabana on the same day, it will take you about four to six hours.

The Ruins of Incallajta
Ruins on Isla del Sol
Ancient Wall at Tiwanaku

We saw many other fascinating things during our trip to Bolivia, including the cities of La Paz and Cochabamba, our first exploration into the Amazon Jungle and a stay in an ecolodge, as well as a treacherous trip down Death Road. Even with all of those adventures, visiting these temples and ruins were still among the highlights of our trip.