Before Travel I Never Would Have…

In the car the other day I had a travel thought. Five of them actually. Before travel I never would have...

Met someone online and stayed with them

We grow up in a world of fear. I remember being a teenage girl and one of the exciting things to do in Perth, Australia was head to Fremantle to meet the American sailors coming in.

I met this one guy online and he came to Perth to visit. There was so much fear out of me meeting him, I had to take several friends and meet in a public place.

Since we have started travelling fear is no longer our friend and strangers are.

The first time we met a whole bunch of strangers was in Penang and we threw a party for them - a bunch of like-minded family nomads all visiting our region.

Most recently we had a reader email us. She lived in Northern Israel in a kibbutz and asked if we could meet. She asked us to stay with them at the kibbutz. It’s still nerve racking, but it’s also liberating. And our intuition in this lady and her family was completely right. We had the most marvelous weekend discovering Northern Israel and enjoying life in a kibbutz despite minor language barriers. 

We would never have done this before travel.

Stayed in a hostel

I’ve always been a fairly posh traveller. Even in my 20’s when I travelled Europe and lived in London it was hotels all the way for me. It wasn’t until we got to Israel that we stayed in our very first hostel in Jerusalem. And we loved it. Yes, the rooms are basic, but the people are great. We enjoyed meeting new folks every morning from different corners of the world over a communal breakfast and talking with them late into the night.

We would never have done this before travel.

Cut a rockmelon with a plastic knife

How resourceful we have become because of travel. Just the other day I had nothing but a plastic knife and my son wanted a slice of rockmelon (cantaloupe for the US folks). Boy did I hack that thing, but he was so happy digging in. To think back home I had knife sets worth hundreds of dollars and now I move from house to house never knowing if I will get a sharp knife or a plastic one.

We would never have done this before travel.

Given my kids the freedom to fly

Living at home in your safety net of friends and secure home we can often put our kids in a bubble. Our kids have jumped off cliffs, learnt 5 different languages, ridden Elephants bareback and so much more.

The risk is great but so is the reward. We are growing global citizens who will not be confined to a “normal” life, but will be able to take on the world.

We would never have had this before travel.

Used a toilet where I couldn’t flush toilet paper

We are living in a small Druze village presently in Israel where the sewerage line has not been to the rest of the village so there is no flushing of toilet paper. Before travel it would never of occurred to me people live like this and if they did I wouldn’t be one of them. Now I am one of them and guess what? It isn’t as bad as I thought… Although I still forget sometimes, shhhhhhh!

We would never have had this before travel.

What is it you would of never have done before travel? I would love to know!