things you learn traveling

Gary Arndt has been traveling around the world and blogging since 2007:

On March 13, 2007, I handed over the keys to my house, put my possessions in storage and headed out to travel around the world with nothing but a backpack, my laptop and a camera.

Three and a half years and 70 countries later, I’ve gotten the equivalent of a Ph.D in general knowledge about the people and places of Planet Earth.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned…

via 20 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling Around the World for Three Years.

Some points Arndt makes that stand out for me:

• culture matters
• everyone is proud of where they're from
• we view other nations by a different set of criteria than we view ourselves