I’ve been to 22 countries. That number sounds more impressive than it is — plenty of people have been to more, and the number alone doesn’t mean much. What matters is what you bring back.
Not souvenirs. Not passport stamps. The actual changes in how you think.
Here’s what 22 countries and however many years of doing this have actually taught me.
1. You Don’t Know a Place Until You’ve Eaten Where the Locals Eat
I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it because it keeps being true. The moment I started navigating away from tourist restaurants — the ones with photos on the menu and someone standing outside trying to wave you in — was the moment travel started feeling real.
The food is better. The price is lower. The experience is incomparable.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: One specific example of this — a place you found eating where locals eat that you’d never have found otherwise]
2. The Best Conversations Happen When You’re Lost
I’ve had more meaningful interactions with strangers while genuinely confused about where I was than in any planned situation. There’s something about being visibly lost that makes people want to help — and that help almost always turns into something more than directions.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: One specific story of being lost and the conversation or connection that came out of it]
3. Slow Down
Three days in a city is a visit. Two weeks is the beginning of understanding. Three months is when you start to get it.
I used to pack itineraries. Hit as many places as possible. Five cities in ten days. I thought that was travel. It was expensive tourism.
The trips that changed me were the slow ones. Albania for three months. [ADD YOUR DETAILS: Other extended stays — Scotland, Mexico, New York, Fargo]. You don’t know a place in 72 hours. You’re barely past the airport at that point.
4. Budget Travel Is Not About Being Cheap
It’s about priorities. I spend generously on experiences and I spend almost nothing on things I don’t care about. I’ll stay in a basic room to have money for a meal worth remembering. I’ll take the bus instead of the taxi to have money for a longer trip.
The goal isn’t to spend as little as possible. The goal is to spend on what matters and cut everything else.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: A specific example of this tradeoff — something you sacrificed and something you splurged on, and why]
5. Everyone Is Friendly Until Proven Otherwise
The fear people have about unfamiliar places is almost always inverse to the reality. The places that get labeled “dangerous” or “rough” in travel forums are usually just places that people who look like tourists have decided to fear without evidence.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: A specific destination or neighborhood that had a bad reputation and your actual experience there]
I’ve felt unsafe exactly [ADD YOUR DETAILS: how many times] in 22 countries. None of those times were where I expected.
6. Learn Ten Words in the Local Language
Not fluency. Ten words. Hello. Thank you. Please. Sorry. How much. Good. Do you speak English. Yes. No. One more.
Ten words and a willingness to look like an idiot trying will get you further with local people than any translation app. It’s not about communication. It’s about respect. It’s about showing up to someone’s country and making the smallest possible effort.
The response you get in return is almost always worth it.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: A language moment — when learning a few words changed an interaction]
7. Your Itinerary Is a Starting Point, Not a Contract
Some of the best days I’ve had while traveling started with me ignoring the plan. [ADD YOUR DETAILS: A specific example of abandoning the plan and what happened instead]
Keep the flights booked. Keep the accommodation reserved. Let everything else breathe.
8. Traveling Solo and Traveling With Others Are Two Different Activities
Both are worth doing. Neither is superior. Solo travel will teach you things about yourself that you can’t learn any other way. Group travel will take you to places and situations you’d never find alone.
I’ve done both extensively. The mistake is thinking one is “real” travel and the other isn’t.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: A trip that was better for being solo and a trip that was better for being with others]
9. Go Somewhere Inconvenient
The places that are hard to reach are usually the places that are still themselves. Accessible is often code for crowded and commercialized. The extra bus connection, the unpaved road, the ferry that only runs twice a week — that friction is the filter that keeps the place real.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: The most “inconvenient” place you’ve been and what made it worth it]
10. You Come Back Different and Nobody Notices But You
This one took me a while to reconcile.
You spend a month somewhere that completely changes how you see the world. You come back. People ask “how was your trip?” You say “amazing” and then life resumes and the moment passes and nobody around you had the experience you had, so nobody can quite receive what you’re trying to say.
That’s not a complaint. It’s just the reality of travel. The transformation is yours. You carry it forward in ways that are invisible to most people but completely real.
[ADD YOUR DETAILS: A specific way that travel has changed how you think or live that someone who hasn’t traveled extensively wouldn’t necessarily see]
Twenty-two countries. Still going. Still learning.
What did I miss? What would you add?
— Baldo
Follow along on Instagram and TikTok @whereisbaldo