Some time off aka. What you can learn from travelling

You might have noticed that this blog has been awfully quiet lately. After I handed in my Masters Thesis in autumn I just needed some time off, away from everything. That's why I spent a couple of weeks in Australia (which is pretty far away from everything else).

My latest love: Sydney

Many people say that you mustn't have 'gaps' in your CV, that you have to have an proper, structural Curriculum Vitae. This suggests that you better start working right after you finish your degree or your previous job.

Let me tell you something: Life doesn't consist of consecutive jobs or your career. And just because you didn't work doesn't mean you didn't learn or weren't productive. This is why I want to give you a couple of examples about what you can learn from backpacking.

1. Flexibility

Something doesn't turn out like you expected? You can cry over it or you can work around it! During the MA programme Catherine didn't get tired of telling us to have a Plan B for everything, but sitting in a sh***y hostel in Rainbow Beach and realising that the trip to Uluru will be much more expensive than expected will make you want to challenge this contingency planning. After all, there's just one Uluru in Australia! Anyways, too expensive is too expensive, so let it go and familiarise yourself with the thought of scubadiving at the Great Barrier Reef instead (as if this was that bad...). Uluru will still be there at your next trip.

2. Work with what you have

As a backpacker, you usually travel wallet-friendly. That means you don't want to chuck away that lovely Spagetthi Bolognese you just made just because you're leaving town the next day (and of course, you don't have a nice Tupperware to store it in). There's where you have to get creative. See our solution here:

Not only did we get into a long conversation with some lovely people, you can also apply this idea to your professional life.

3. Humility

This especially applies if you travel to poorer countries such as in South-East-Asia. When she got back from South America, my sister told me that she was 'disgusted' by all this consumerism. You realise that you probably don't need these 20th blue jeans when in other countries people are dressed in rags and would be over the moon if they had ONE pair of trousers.

Although Australia is a developed country (where the people are probably richer than me), you do  realise that, in fact, it is not that much you really need to be happy (for me, it was but a couple of clothes and my cameras).

So think of the less unfortunate and be happy that you were lucky enough to be born in a rich country.

4. Tolerance

To be precise: being around other cultures or nationalities (hopefully) makes you more tolerant. I've spent 1.5 years in England and learned to be patient at the supermarket cashier (because you're just not as fast as we are). In another culture, you have to adapt, everything else will make you unhappy. Imagine standing at a zebra crossing in Thailand and being mad that people won't stop.


So these are my top 4 take-aways from travelling (apart from about 2500 photos and 20 hours film). How does travelling change you? Let me know in the comments!