“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Mark Twain

To travel is to live. To travel is to leave.

The first statement refers to the noble feeling of Saudade. The second shows the importance of non-attachment. To feel nostalgia, but not get attached at the same time is one of the skills that we learn from every journey.

A wandering of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Traveling taught me the most powerful life lessons and revealed to me the true value of freedom.

These are the top 5 lessons I learned from visiting 5 countries in one month:

• All people ARE the same

Humans are beautiful. Humans are disgusting. We all have this love-hate relationship with people. We live in a polar world where beauty and chaos are everywhere. Perceiving only beauty can make you an optimist (see why Voltaire considered too much optimism to be dangerous).

Perceiving only the chaos makes you a pessimist. Finally, seeing both makes you realistic. Once you accept this, you are free.

The ancient Roman concept of Divide and conquer can successfully be applied when people forget they’re all the same. No matter how different our languages, cultures, and beliefs are, at the end of the day we all laugh, cry, and dream the same way.

The more you travel, the more you accept different cultures. The more you encounter other people from different countries, the more you let them influence you, sometimes without even realizing it. I am not the same person I used to be before meeting all these people on my way and I know that this could never happen if I didn’t get out of my comfort zone.

• Beautiful things happen once you’re out of your comfort zone

Be spontaneous.

Make plans, but don’t be too obsessed.

Have good expectations, but don’t let yourself be disappointed. Enjoy experiences over things.

Once you have the chance to take that plane, bus, or train, just go for it and don’t look back. Beautiful things happen outside of your comfort zone.

• Trust your intuition

Beautiful things indeed happen, but you must believe in them. You must be convinced that your journey will bring you value. You must trust the people you meet and appreciate the moments you share. You need to leave all your fears and insecurities behind and start with that single step that will slowly but surely lead you to beautiful paths. Finally, be thankful for the obstacles that will only strengthen your intuition and sharpen your confidence.

• The world is not that big after all

One lifetime is not enough to travel everywhere, learn all the languages, or discover all cultures. However, when you travel, you feel that the world is not that big after all. You meet people whose mindsets and beliefs are completely different, yet you connect with them perfectly.

Accept that different mindsets exist. Accept that you’re not always right. Understand that you’ve been taught how to think, act, and believe. Realize that everything you’ve been taught might be wrong. Learn to unlearn. Start trusting people and learning from them.

The world is not that big because when you travel, you live in harmony with others. And that is when the whole world feels like home.

• There is so much more to see

There is so much more to see, so much to discover, experience, and feel. Traveling teaches you the most precious life lessons because traveling is life. When one journey is over, you only look forward to the next one. Once you take the first step, you realize one thing: the journey is never over.

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