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Can Travel Really Change the Person You Become?
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Jun 19, 2025
Travel is more than just seeing new places—it can shift the way you think and who you are. It lets you step into someone else’s world and return with a broader, deeper perspective. During my college years, a trip to China changed my life in ways I never expected. Read more about The Power of Travel: How Seeing the World Changes Who You Are here: https://abusonadustyroad.com/the-power-of-travel-how-seeing-the-world-changes-who-you-are/ #ABusOnADustyRoad #TravelChangesYou #PowerOfTravel #SeeTheWorldDifferently #CulturalAwareness #GlobalPerspective #TravelTransformation #TravelWithPurpose We loved to hear from you! Check out our blog at ABusOnADustyRoad.com https://abusonadustyroad.com/ Find more great travel videos, recipes and food ideas, tips about ex-pat life, and ancestry travel.
View Video Transcript
0:06
hi this is Anita from the Dusty Roads
0:09
podcast Today I want to talk a little
0:11
bit about how travel or seeing the world
0:14
can really change you and change who you
0:17
are You know when I was in college I
0:21
took a trip through China And I'd have
0:23
to say that that trip was a pivotal
0:26
moment in my life and it changed me on
0:28
many levels You know I didn't go for
0:31
luxury or comfort I was very much down
0:34
in with the trenches I boarded trains
0:36
that rattled through endless countryides
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buses that bumped along dirt roads I
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rode in the back of trucks I you know
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met random people along the way And I
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just really had a great experience
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traveling and seeing the countryside of
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China like I'd never seen it before I
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saw it very much up close and personal
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You know one of the things I used to
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really love to do is you know sometimes
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I'd go to like a monument or some other
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place and I'd see the monument and it
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was great And then I just kind of sit
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and I'd people watch and kind of get to
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know some people and meet some new
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friends along the way I just love doing
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that I love talking to the people that I
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was there with and getting to know them
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and getting to know something about
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their lives and their experiences You
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know that trip changed my world view It
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deepened my empathy and gave me a new
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lens to understand not just China but
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the people in China in general And
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that's the real power of travel You know
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that travel is not just about the
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postcard moments or the Instagram
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moments And this is something that
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really is one of my beefs that bothers
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me a lot When people just travel and all
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they want to do is let's take a selfie
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We've been here and they take a selfie
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and they post it so everyone can say "Oh
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isn't that so wonderful you travel?" But
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they don't really really immerse
1:55
themselves in the travel and the
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experience themselves It becomes all
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about taking that picture getting that
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selfie next to that monument and then
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saying "Look at me I've been there."
2:07
That's not really what travel's about
2:09
Travel should be something that changes
2:11
you that makes you a different person
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You know it's not the postcard moments
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It's the unexpected count encounters
2:21
that quietly rearrange how you think
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feel and you see the world Travel should
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build empathy There's a growing body of
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research that shows that im immersive
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travel increases empathy A 2017 study
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from the Journal of Personality and
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Social Psychology found that people who
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spend extended time abroad scored higher
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in perceptive taking and emotional
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understanding measures So in other words
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if you're abroad or you've been spending
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time abroad or away from your own
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culture this is going to help your own
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sense of perspective and emotional But
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when you live among people whose lives
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look very different than your own it
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becomes harder to dehumanize them you
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know you start to see the nuances You
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you you stop lumping people into us and
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them You begin to see that there's a
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whole other world out there My
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experience in China taught me that there
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was no textbook you know ever could I
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remember riding a pack train where I sat
3:21
across from an older man who wore a mau
3:23
jacket and had hands you know worn from
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decades of work We shared sunflower
3:29
seeds and some watermelon and he told me
3:31
about his children you know the land
3:33
reforms and how it was affecting him and
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his family the changing times It wasn't
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a political debate It was a human
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exchange It was two people talking and
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exchanging our humanity You know I saw
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him as not as a representative of the of
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of China but I I saw him as a father a
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worker a human being with hopes and
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frustrations just like mine You know
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that's sort of like that stays with you
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when you when you meet people on a very
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personal level and you get to know about
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them and their lives You begin to
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realize that in many ways we have much
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more in common than what we might think
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we have That we are very much human
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beings that may have things more in
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common than we have our own differences
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Travel can also help you spark
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creativity You know travel doesn't make
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you more empathetic but travel can also
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make you more creative According to
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research that was published is people
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who live abroad not just visit but
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people actually live abroad tend to
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develop more excellent creative problem
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solving skills And I believe too that
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they begin to also understand other
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people This last weekend I was taking a
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yoga class My teacher's from Holland her
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husband's from Israel And after the
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class there was a um we went out to eat
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you know have um it was customary went
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out to a local coffee shop And you know
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there was somebody that was there from
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Australia and a guy that was there from
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the Ukraine And it was you know
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interesting We could all talk and had
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something in common something to talk
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about We all understood each other on on
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a on a very very sort of different level
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It wasn't like them and me It was us We
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were one And I think that's really like
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when you travel when you you know you
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live abroad and you know you don't just
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like live abroad for a short period of
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time an extended period of time you
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begin to see the world in a very
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different view Kind of like what I've
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talked here in my podcasts a lot about
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you begin to really live your life as a
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global citizen
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you know and part of the reason is
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because when you adapt to a new culture
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it pushes your brain to think
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differently You're constantly decoding
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unfamiliar cues adjusting your behavior
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and finding new communication methods In
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China when I traveled China so many
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years ago I had to figure out things
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with you know with my limited language
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skills and you know limited guide book
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for world regions I had to learn to read
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read the room pay attention to
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non-verbal signals and adjust quickly I
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had to learn to be able to do all of
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that to be able to see things and
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understand things in order to survive
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You that's the kind of cognitive
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flexibility that sticks with you You
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know it's helped me in my work today in
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the work that I do It's helped me in
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relationships It's helped me you with
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life's unpredictable terms um turns and
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twists that you have Travel can also
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reconnect you with a purpose You know
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one of the most surprising benefits of
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immersive travel is how you can
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reconnect you with a sense of purpose
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When you you know you're taken out of
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your daily routine and you've exposed
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the vastly different ways of living you
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you question your assumption about what
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matters You re-evaluate your goals and
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ask more significant questions Traveling
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through China in such a formative age
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you know did precisely that for me I saw
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people making do with little communities
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pulling together and a rhythm of life
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that proprietized you know family and
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endurance over consumerism I saw a
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different part of China I saw how
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important the family was to many of the
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Chinese how important community was to
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them You know it forced me to you know
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ask myself what kind of life do I want
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what do I value what's important to me
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what's important to my life you know my
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story is just one among many stories
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about people who've um traveled You hear
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similar stories of transformational here
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Similar stories of how travel has you
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know changed people There's all
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different ways that travel can change
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you and change your perspective and
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essentially change who you are You know
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travel can also bring with it a lot of
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discomfort There can be times where it's
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frustrating where it's hard where you
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just cry out and it it can be lonely It
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can be it can be difficult You can miss
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out on things that are going on at home
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You know there can be many types of diff
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discomforts that can make you off
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balance but travel can help you to be
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able to you know understand
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I believe that those those discomforts
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are far outweighed by the benefits that
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you gain I remember getting lost cycling
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in a small city Guing China and unsure
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how to ask for directions a local family
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saw me They invited me in for lunch and
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tea You know we couldn't speak the same
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language fluently but they offered
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warmth and hospitality They gave me what
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little they had and they fed me some
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rice and some a little bit of vegetables
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from their garden You know discomfort
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isn't the enemy It's a teacher It's it's
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about teaches you humility It teaches
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you to listen more judge less and adapt
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constantly When I thought of that little
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family and their little hut that they
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had there at the time and I thought
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about them working off of the land it
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really really made me see what they
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valued They they loved their children
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They loved each other They loved their
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home you know and they really were very
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kind and generous people maybe more kind
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and generous than I am um sometimes in
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my own life So one thing you can do when
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we talk about living life as a global
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citizen is you can believe be a lifelong
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believer in the transformation of travel
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Believe that travel can change you and
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can make you a different person That
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travel can help to change your life in
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positive and great ways if you let it
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Travel can and will challenge you But it
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will also teach you and it will change
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you and you will not be the same person
9:38
after you've traveled
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We hope that you will read our blog that
9:43
we have on this which is entitled power
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of travel How seeing the world changes
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who you are and that you will you know
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that you'll read it and that'll give you
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some ideas as to why travel continues to
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be such an important part of I believe
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anyone's life If you have the
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opportunity take it Go out and travel
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explore and see the world But remember
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don't just be a tourist Be someone who
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travels with a purpose and with with
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cultural literacy in place If you want
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to understand cultural lit literacy we
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have done a podcast also on that We
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could put a link to that podcast also in
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the description where you can be able to
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learn what it means to travel with
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cultural literacy in mind Thank you so
10:25
much for listening We certainly do
10:26
appreciate you and we hope that you'll
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join with us and living your life as a
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global citizen being part of this great
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beautiful global world that we're part
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of Thank you and we look forward to
10:37
having you join with us and subscribe to
10:41
our community