5 Awesome Things I did because of Travelling

(This post contains affiliate links, for more information read this privacy policy)

Today I’m just feeling like sharing a little travel appreciation post and talk about all these amazing things that I did because I went traveling at some point.

Going traveling introduces you to so many new experiences. Even after coming home from your travels it can still impact your life in the best possible way. But anyway, here are five awesome things I did because of travelling.

1. I became a Certified Scuba Diver

I have always loved everything related to water, but before going travelling I had never really been to a place where scuba diving was a thing. Like yes, I had been to the ocean but only to lay at the beach and go for a swim. I wasn’t really travelling then but only on vacation.

Anyway, the idea of being under water for such a long time always did kind of scare me (and it still does sometimes). But I was in a new country at the time and I was doing all these crazy amazing things for the first time, so why not try out scuba diving.

A lot of people had told me that they either totally loved or hated it and I was curious. Now hands down I didn’t even like it the first time I tried. It was this discovery dive that I went on and I didn’t really feel comfortable breathing out of a regulator and yes it was pretty scary as well.

But a couple of months later I was traveling to Bali and for some reason I had it stuck in my head that I wanted to become a certified scuba diver. Apparently I had forgotten that I actually did not even like it as much and signed up for an entire course. And suddenly I loved it! I felt like I never wanted to do anything else apart from scuba diving.

I completed my Open Water course and then at later travels completed my Advanced Open Water Course. And also became a Rescue Diver at some point. Now going to a place near the ocean I am always checking for scuba diving prices and if there are diving schools around. So thanks to traveling I have found something that I love to do and never actually knew I ever wanted to try out.

2. I jumped out of a plane

If you have read any of my previous posts then you know that I have done a bunch of really cool stuff while traveling that I would have never ever thought I would do. I went to surf camp, cuddled a koala or got to take a mud bath with elephants. And I skydived! And while cuddling a koala is bloody amazing, it’s not really a thing that I had to get out of my comfort zone for. While skydiving definitely is! Or that’s what I thought, it was nothing I would have ever seen myself doing!

And I guess that is why I have chosen to put this on my little list. I always thought skydiving would be a cool experience but did not ever consider actually booking a trip that would include jumping out of a flying plane.

Like, never ever! But for some reason it was a really common thing to do for backpackers in Australia. Visiting the rain forest, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and then jumping out of a plane. Why not? And then being in this amazing country all by myself and still managing, I really felt like I could do anything I wanted at that time.

So I jumped out of a plane and it was amazing so yay to traveling! (loads of people also went bungee jumping but I couldn’t get myself to sign up for that. It’s still on my bucket list though).

3. I studied abroad (And then did a study abroad from my study abroad)

And now with studying abroad I do not mean having the courage to actually move to another country. Because I have done that before and it might have been scary when I was 15 and decided to move to the States for a year, but the second/third and fourth time not so much. I did my whole study in the Netherlands, and I have been living in Germany for most of my life so that wasn’t really a big change.

But before travelling to Australia for a year and then being pretty close to having to return back to Europe and starting University I never knew I actually could study anywhere else but in Germany.

I just thought it would all be too expensive (and most countries were for sure). But I also had never actually looked into studying abroad. I had always known that I never wanted to stay in Germany but I also didn’t know that I had the option to leave.

The more time I had spent Down Under I realised that there was no way I would do a whole study in German. And Germany doesn’t really have a lot of international study options. But being abroad I heard that a lot of people were studying in the Netherlands for that reason. And that is where I began my research. So two days after I came back from Australia I started my study in the Netherlands.

As part of my study programme I did an exchange to South Korea, which my younger self would have never even considered possible. So if I would have not started traveling in the first place I would have never moved to the Netherlands and then never done an exchange at that exact same partner university in Busan, South Korea. So you see, all these amazing things started because of traveling.

4. I started learning new languages

And with starting I mean it is not really going successfully but I did had the motivation to try to learn other languages which I never really had before traveling. I’m not going to say that before I went traveling that I did not think that it would be nice to speak other languages.

But I did believe that I would never actually use them anyway, so what’s the point? Travelling, however, has made me so much more interested in other countries and cultures and learning a new language (or at least trying) is the best way to feel connected to a new country. And isn’t that what traveling is all about?

Now I actually try to spend a couple of minutes everyday learning Spanish because I really loved travelling Central America last year. I would also love to go to South America at some point in my life and this time be actually able to communicate with the locals a little bit.

5. I started my Travel Blog

Last but not least, if it wasn’t for traveling I would have never started this blog. It’s not like I started it straight away after I came back home after long-term travel. But before traveling I never found anything that I would want to write about. Or share with other people.

I don’t know exactly how this whole idea came along in the first place but without traveling what would I be writing about. I guess meeting all these people from all around the world, some of them being digital nomads and living life on the road, just opened my eyes to so many new possibilities that are out there.

I’m definitely not living or working remotely and this is only a hobby but even while having a normal job (or right now still studying) I can feel connected to traveling by sharing my adventures with all of you.

So let’s just say travelling and coming home from travelling has opened so many new doors in my life that I am forever grateful for. There is loads more that I actually learned from traveling. But I believe that should be a whole post by itself so I will get into that another time.

And these were just five out of many awesome things I did because of traveling! Is there anything that you have done that you would not have ever imagined doing before you went travelling?

Let me know in the comments!

Do you want to go traveling as well? Then check out Hostelworld, for the cheapest accommodation all around the world. 

See you x