Tell me that smile doesn’t just make your day!

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Smiling Eyes, Oaxaca

I really think the key is the ironic hoodie. Make a mental note the next time you’re packing.

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Traveler’s Nightlife: How to Get Into Any Club [Video]

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Rush Hour, Siberia

File this under: Things You Don’t See Everyday.

The photographer preferred the title “Cowliday”. I opted for the more alliterative “Bovine Beachcombing”.

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Bovine Beachcombing, Madagascar

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Slot Canyon Sunbeam, Arizona

It’s only now that I’m home again that I realize going beyond my comfort zone while traveling wasn’t just great while I was traveling – it’s actually a habit that’s brought me lasting benefits. It’s one more argument for the doubters who think that traveling long-term is just a way to avoid taking life seriously! Here are just a few of the ways that traveling expanded my comfort zone, forever.

© notsogoodphotography

#1: Talking to People

I used to be quite shy; in certain situations, I probably still am. When I started traveling, I soon realized that shy just wasn’t going to cut it. If you’re lost, you can’t expect someone else to come up to you and offer to find your hostel for you. If you need to find out which minibus will take you out to that place they filmed Star Wars in Tunisia, you can’t stand on the side of the road and hope it’s all magically figured out for you. You have to talk to people.

Even for people who aren’t shy, getting to know people while you’re traveling also gives you the skill of talking to people whose first language is different than yours. Whether you’re trying to make yourself understood in their language, or working out how to modify your slangy English so that they can understand you, learning these communication skills is a really valuable asset.

#2: I’ll Eat (Nearly) Anything

Pushing the boundaries of what food you’ll eat becomes a necessity when you’re on the road. When I first moved to Japan, I was perfectly happy with the raw tuna or raw salmon kind of sushi, but, for example, raw octopus was something I just didn’t want to eat. I soon discovered that Japanese restaurants back home had only portrayed a very limited version of the real cuisine, and there were a number of very challenging moments where I simply had to put strangely-colored, half-wriggling and very chewy objects in my mouth. My Japanese friends or colleagues would have been too offended if I hadn’t, and this situation forced me to eat whatever was put in front of me.

From that starting point, I soon found that most fears of food are purely because of lack of experience, and if someone else can eat it, you can too. I draw the line at some things (especially because I’m a semi-vegetarian) but in general, I’ll have a go at whatever you serve me.

#3: Living Without Home Comforts

It’s easy to get caught in the materialistic trap of needing a comfortable bed and a hot shower every day in order to survive. Or of having your favorite computer game to play when you’re bored, or a refrigerator full of snacks. But long-term traveling often deprives you of all these home comforts, and that definitely taught me that you don’t actually need all these comforts to enjoy yourself.

Take a Trans-Siberian railway journey as an example. I didn’t get on one of those fancy tourist trains, but just the regular passenger train that plugs its way across Russia, taking an entire week to get from Vladivostok to Moscow. There were no showers or bathing facilities on this train, and no hot water in the toilet cubicle either – although there was a samovar of boiling water at the end of each carriage. I could give myself a quick sponge-down each day, but there was definitely no chance to wash my hair. All of that really didn’t matter, although I did enjoy a shower when I reached my homestay host’s bathroom in Moscow.

Same goes for regular meals, sit-down dinners, television and radio access, and all of those things we usually take for granted when we’re at home. You don’t need them. They’re nice to have, but you can step beyond that comfort zone and enjoy a completely new experience when you’re traveling.

© ximenatapia

#4: Dealing With Fear

When you’re at home, you can actually control your environment quite a lot. If you think your friend drives a car too dangerously, you can usually decide not to drive with them. You know which streets you shouldn’t walk down alone at night. And you are well aware of who to call or how to react if you perceive some danger.

In a foreign environment, all of this control is gone. In some ways, that’s really exciting, and I think that’s why people often find it easier to get involved in extreme activities like bungee-jumping or diving with sharks when they’re on the road. And in some ways, it’s also very freeing.

While I was traveling, I found myself in numerous situations where I expected to feel terrified. Hurtling along an Egyptian road at midnight with no headlights on, I was just waiting for a fatal collision, and couldn’t persuade the taxi driver to either slow down or turn his lights on. I was afraid, sure, but it was something I could get past. It seemed relatively easy to think that I’d either survive or I wouldn’t, and that was that. Similarly, if I think back to a midnight rendezvous with policemen in Taipei when we’d found strange packages of powder hidden in our hotel bathroom’s false ceiling, it’s a situation where I’d usually freak out, but the freedom of travel seems to put those moments in a clearer perspective.

Dealing with the Comfort Zone Back Home

Returning home after spending a long time away, you’ll probably arrive back to reverse culture shock and feel out of it for some time. Part of the process of returning home is working out how your new thoughts and feelings – sometimes even a whole new personality – fit in to your home environment. The most positive way to deal with it is to remember all the progress you’ve made with expanding your comfort zone and try to keep up the same attitudes at home.

For example, since I returned to Australia, I noticed I make much more of an effort to chat to strangers who I meet, perhaps at the bus stop or in a line at the bank – and especially to offer help to tourists or travelers. Just last week I heard some people speaking Portuguese on my train, and guessed they were Brazilian – then chatted until their stop about their experiences in my country and what they missed about theirs.

I also make a point of heading to restaurants offering cuisines I’ve never tried, and a big change is that I often find ways to entertain myself other than watching television. Above all, I still remember that striving to go beyond your comfort zone will always bring you something good.

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Inspired by Travel: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone and Staying There

There’s something both calming and eerily alien about this shot.

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Playa Pups, Black Rock Desert

This one’s for Louise …

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Sunrise Over Yellowknife, Canada

I’ve never traveled anywhere to have a medical procedure done. In fact, I think I’m probably something of a medical coward and try my best to avoid needing medical treatment in another country at all. But I can understand why some people choose to head to another country for medical treatment: it is usually cheaper, the quality can be as good or better than at home, there could be a very minimal waiting list and on top of it all – you can start off with a bit of a holiday first.

© Gaetan Lee

Why Medical Tourism is Booming

Obviously, it’s nearly always people from more affluent countries who head to a slightly less affluent country to get some medical procedure done. A number of otherwise wealthy Western nations have health care systems that are really starting to struggle, so patients from the United States or the United Kingdom are increasingly tempted to travel to Latin America, eastern Europe or Asia for elective surgery and other medical treatments.

This avoids problems of insurance not covering treatment in your home country, when it’s often cheaper to just pay the full cost in another country. It can also help speed up the time it takes to get treatment when your home country has long waiting lists for non-critical surgery or elective procedures.

What Op Where?

Particular countries are getting reputations for particular types of medical treatment. Here’s a sample of which destinations are targets for medical tourists:

• Colombia has highly skilled medical staff but low salaries, so it has been a popular destination for a long time for people wanting cosmetic surgery, eye operations, cardiovascular surgery and even transplants – because donated organs there are even available to foreigners.
• Hungary is a good place to go for dental treatment, where the dentists are extremely well trained and procedures would cost about 30% of what a British person would have to pay at home.
• India also has good training but low labor costs, and US citizens regularly fly there for heart surgery and other high-end operations.
• Thailand is so proficient at medical tourism that several hospitals have special wings for foreigners and numerous translators, and travelers from Asia, Australia and further afield flock there for pretty much any kind of medical treatment you can imagine.
• Costa Rica is a popular spot for Americans to get dental treatment (it’s 80% cheaper than in the US), and orthopedic surgery like getting a knee replacement, as well as cosmetic surgery, is also common.
• The Czech Republic is well-located for Western Europeans to visit for surgeries, and cosmetic surgeries including breast enlargements are popular here, as they’re still considerably cheaper than in the western neighbors.
• Mexico, being nice and close to the United States, is also popular for dental treatment, and was long a destination of choice for patients wanting lap band surgery to help them lose weight.

And this little piggy went to … the operating room. © Erik Charlton

But There Are Cons To Medical Tourism Too

If it was all such a great idea, we would all be adding some medical treatment on to the end of our regular overseas vacation. Obviously, not everyone believes it’s such a great idea.

As with any medical treatment or surgery, there are risks. When you’re in a foreign country, the risks become a little bit higher, because apart from anything else you’ll have to travel back to your own country, often shortly after surgery.

If you pick the wrong hospital or not the best doctor, things can go terribly wrong. There are horror tales around of people who’ve traveled to another country for cosmetic surgery – and probably paid a real “bargain” price for it – and have ended up having to have the surgery re-done in their home country, at a considerably higher price and often with lasting side effects or scars. Legally, you probably have little recourse to get any compensation from doctors who botch your surgery if it’s done in a country where the laws are less protective of patients.

On top of all that, there’s the risk of picking up a local infectious disease – one that regular locals have simply built up immunity for over time, but you as a foreigner are really susceptible to, especially if you’re getting medical treatment or having surgery.

Would You Be A Medical Tourist?

It depends, of course. For me, it’s definitely not something I’m keen on. The only aspect that attracts me is that it can be a good excuse to have a holiday in a foreign country; I just don’t want the operation or procedure that goes with it.

For anyone who’s seriously considering being a medical tourist, the experts all agree on one thing: do your research really well. Talk to people who’ve had procedures at the hospital or with the doctor you want, and check that everything goes as smoothly as it should. Don’t go for the absolute cheapest option – your health is worth more than money.

Anyone already done some medical tourism or considering it? Would you consider it if you needed a particular operation? Tell us about it in the comments.

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

The Rise of Medical Tourism: Shopping the World for Medical Procedure Bargains

Originally posted on Vagabondish.com.

Photo of the Moment: Vintage Scooters, Germany