[mburney]

Most of these life lessons have nothing to do with travelling. Most people I know (especially in their late 20's) would come up with a similar list even if they've barely travelled.

I think this is just merely the blog poster's world view articulated into 29 points, and incidentally he has travelled the world instead of living in one place.

[stayjin]

However it is amazing what an impact does living at a place away from were one grew up in have in the perception of the world.

I had already traveled a lot ( as a tourist ) before I left Greece to come and live in Japan, when I started to make a life here, I practically had to rediscover myself. It is not so much the big things, it's the small ones : habits that I took for granted, jokes that do not sound funny, if you can ask someone's phone number... Like a very thin safety net of supporting culture I never new was there just disappeared underneath me.

I also had a fresh view of Greece , and my life before

I think traveling gives you a change of perspective difficult to grasp at home

[darklajid]

Thanks for sharing. I just (a month ago) did a relocation and while I'm not as far away from my former home as you (we are talking about 3.000km here) I certainly notice the first free-fall encounters.

I'm glad to read that you recommend it. I hope one day I'll give out the same advice, from another perspective.

[bemmu]

Where in Japan are you located? I'm in Tokushima.

[stayjin]

Hi thanks for replying, I am in Kobe, close to Osaka. Do you ever come to Osaka, by any chance?

[jason_tko]

Hey Stayjin, I'm coming to Osaka next week actually on Friday. Let me know if you have time for a coffee! My email address is in my profile. Cheers,

[stayjin]

I guess it is not a coincidence, but just in case that you don't know it already, patio11 is giving a talk at a presentation group we have here called "Design Matters", at the Osaka Shinsaibashi Apple Store. It will be great. Check out http://designmatters.jp/

This group was initiated by Garr Raynolds of http://www.presentationzen.com/ but Garr became very busy, so since last year, together with another guy we run the show.

[styrmis]

Sorry to barge in but I'd love to go to this; the website just mentions something for April 5th though; can I assume that patio11's talk is on from 7pm at the Apple Store in Shinsaibashi this Friday?

I'd also be interested in grabbing a coffee some time with others from HN; my e-mail is in my profile, please drop me a line :)

Thanks!

[bemmu]

Could you send me an email (in my profile) / put your contact info in your profile so I can find you if I go there.

[Xixi]

I see that there are some people living in Kansai here ! I'm living in Kobe too, let's catch up some time.

[ristretto]

Travelling is different than living abroad though, right?

[Tomek_]

Depends how your travels looks like, you can travel living in luxury hotels, spend most of the time with people from your country either by the hotel swimming pool or guided tours or in the museums - or you can be less savy and go a bit "guerilla" with your travels: go a bit off from the typical tourists' paths, see the real local culture (not the one from museums) and real local people - this should be enough to "open up your mind" for different cultures (of course living abroad adds more of that but you can get some essence even if you stay somewhere for only a couple of days.

[stayjin]

This is so true.

My current work as a system engineer implementing ERP systems for overseas affiliates, takes me often to work abroad (from Japan, that is) for a few weeks a time. Although I don't have time to do almost any sight-seeing at all, and although they will usually have me stay in more or less high grade hotels (that narrow one's vision, because they are the same, everywhere), it is working together with the local operators and managers, eating together, understanding their work ethic and habits, getting their feedback, pushing it together through the transition period, so when I go back I feel I understand a little bit more about the country from these interactions than from whatever I saw during my limited time off work.

[stayjin]

Yes it is (at least for me it was).

It has to do with the change of perspective. When traveling you usually curry your original perspective with you so it is kind of difficult to see things from another angle while bound for back home.

I guess it depends on how you travel though (the OP sounds like a very serious traveler).

[whosKen]

I do agree that majority of these lessons have also been mentioned by other blogs.

However, to know them and to learn them are two different things. Since human, especially me, has a tendency of falling back into old habits (such as hoarding possessions), posts such as this now-and-again to serve as reminders should always be welcome.

On an another note, I have a feeling that the term "life lesson" is being thrown about way too much. Can you say you have learned a life lesson without living through most of your life (ie. < ~50)?

[impendia]

> Most of these life lessons have nothing to do with travelling.

Very true. But I think they have everything to do with questioning your assumptions, breaking your routine, and experiencing something unfamiliar. One can do all of these things without leaving home. But showing up to a foreign country where you don't speak the language or know anybody seems like a particularly effective way to do all of this.

[alexro]

A lot of it is common sense, but I rarely meet people truly living that way. So, the take-away from the article is that it's really possible to have it all at once.

[michaelochurch]

There's also a difference between vacationing and living abroad. You don't need to spend a lot of time abroad to gain that knowledge and perspective, but you're not going to learn it in one- and two-week vacations entirely surrounded by middle-class comfort.

As for OP, I think he learned a lot more than what he articulated. He's obviously intelligent, thoughtful, and experienced. But the 29 points he gave are all observations that, while valuable, are hardly original. This isn't surprising; usually the things people say they learned aren't what they actually learned because the latter are too subtle and difficult to articulate.

[yason]

While the lessons aren't travel-related themselves, he probably has learned most of them while travelling. It would be my guess that if he had been sitting in an office and pushing for a career for those eight years then it's likely his world view just might be a bit more naive.

[dimmuborgir]

Absolutely. On top of that, not all 29 points are life lessons. Many of them are just general conclusions about the world.

[ristretto]

It also makes it seem like there's not that much to learn by spending large amounts of time travelling. That's because people on average are similar, so it's equally probable you will meet the people who will make a difference in your life, travelling or no-travelling. Maybe in the end you will be wiser using the internet, which can actually help you find people with common aspirations/interests etc.

[georgieporgie]

The advantage of traveling is that it forces you out of your comfort zone. You'll meet types of people that you otherwise wouldn't ever bump into.

[napierzaza]

I'm pretty sure this is 29 lessons learned from Fight Club. Though I didn't get to the soap recipe.