As a lone motorcycle traveller on occasion I have found that the people that have the least are the ones who offer most.

And that the people our media tell us are our enemies are often the friendliest.

I learned that a lot of the freedoms we take for granted in the US are simply unheard of in other parts of the world. There is no First Amendment in Eastern Europe. Reporters are often jailed and just accept it as a part of their job. The idea of freedom of religion, not mention freedom FROM religion, is so alien in Bosnia-Herzigova that ads were run on TV explain in it to people before the NATO forces came so they wouldn't be shocked by their diversity.

In Mexico don't eat the salad outside of the resort complex, and why can't you flush the toilet paper?

That even though we are from different parts of the globe we are still the same.

I love the European take vacation to leave their country not to go home and rest. It is a very Fucking Big World to Visit and have fun. I surprised myself of going out and explore and created adventures everywhere I had been. I will keep to myself what women treated me better... just say... I will need a passport. My life experience and no one else.

I lived and worked in Sweden for 5 months and like how they seem to be able to balance work and home much more efficiently then us. Home/family life isn't sacrificed like we do here and men participate in the childcare more (staying home when the kid is sick, maternity/paternity leave). Plus they also take and appreciate more time off (vacation) from work, without negative consequences from employers. I think most of the Scandinavian countries are similar in this regard. Even some of the European countries as well.

I've learned that the good ole USA doesn't have all the best ideas, and there are other places that do some things better than we do.
I also learned I have the ability to adapt.
Mark Twain put it best, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

I havent travlled but I have gotten in to other coutures- and thats the best thing you can do learn something about a people you never knew- there are so many surprises as well as so many common things between us- and I don't speak their language- its beautiful go explore!

That I'm a city woman. I grew up in the city, different ones. I don't enjoy country living, or the thought of it.

Holy Moses! I was an atheist when I went to Italy. The Sistine chapel has been the perfect inspiration for some scary stories that I tell my great grandchildren. But those kids know that it is made up and they LOVE scary stories.

Oh, yes. Living in Berlin, completely immersed in the German culture, gave me the opportunity to see my own beliefs and culture without blinders on. It showed me that I still held elements of the racist, and blindly conservative culture of the southern USA in my belief system, and enabled me to get rid of them and stop being an apologist for them.