It is a big world out there with lots of different cultures, people and ways of doing things. This is one of the most exciting aspects of traveling abroad, but all of these differences can naturally be a source of stress and frustration. This is a normal reaction but, finding ways to deal with it better can take you a long way in getting the most out of your trip and not letting these hiccups ruin your good time. As someone who has done her fair share of traveling, I would like to share some insights that will hopefully help you deal with these inevitable bumps in the road.
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Keep Perspective
Perspective is everything in life; we always have a choice how to view the things that we are experiencing and while we may not always take the view most conducive to our well-being, we can at least try as best we can. Keeping perspective is a must when traveling in unfamiliar places and dealing with things you are not used to or may not understand in the least.
A perfect example involves matters of money. If you are a tourist traveling in an area where people have less money, they are going to try and get as much from you as they can—charging people more that have more to pay makes perfect sense to them. It is easy to get all mad about something like this; after all, no one likes being cheated and we may think it is unfair. But, most of the time, the inflated price is still a pittance so we should just relax. If getting charged twice the price means paying four dollars instead of two for taxi ride, we will survive.
Go with the Flow and Accept What Is
We naturally have preferences and want certain situations to go a certain way, but when you are traveling, you are going to encounter plenty of instances where this is not going to happen. The bus is running extremely late; the ‘’express’’ bus seems to be stopping at every corner; the hotel you booked was not as nice as described, not even close; you are hopelessly lost and cannot find anyone who can point you in the right direction. There have been countless times where I have gotten all riled up about something –and still do at times of course—but I have gotten a lot better at just accepting what is in the moment, as much as I may want it to be another way. You may still get annoyed but that extra layer of agitation that stems from being upset in the first place will be less intense, making the situation much easier to deal with.
Be Grateful for the Experience
Being truly grateful for the good things in our life is something we could all stand to work on. So many people I meet on my travels will probably never leave their country, or even the general area where they live. While I believe that anyone can achieve anything no matter where they are starting from in life, it cannot be ignored that some of us are starting off from a much more advantageous position. If you grew up in a place that afforded you to opportunity to make enough money to travel around the world and the freedom to do as you please, taking a moment to remember this will make it much easier to deal with the frustrations you may encounter on your journey. As bothersome as some of the things you experience may be, the overall experience is amazing and be grateful for all of it, the good and the
Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer with a passion for globetrotting; check out the Kanetix travel app for help with finding insurance and other aspects of planning your next trip abroad.
