Last Updated: 3/19/21 | March 19th, 2021

I make a lot of mistakes. despite years of constant travel to over 100 countries, I can’t believe how often I still make rookie mistakes when I ought to know better.

For example, over the years years, I have:

Almost gone to the wrong airport – twice

Mistakenly booked two plane tickets for the wrong day (yay, cancelation fees!)

Overpaid for a taxi when I knew I was being ripped off

Forgot to haggle for market goods (thus overpaying)

Forgot to get travel insurance until three days into my trip

Didn’t pack shorts on a trip to a tropical destination

Forgot to pre-book accommodation during Christmas

Didn’t rent a car in Curaçao (despite knowing I should) because I am cheap, and I ended up missing a lot of the island because the bus didn’t go there

Messed up the bus times in Iceland and had to hitchhike because I was in a remote area.

Tried to step abroad to Sweden, only to have to change my plans when I couldn’t find a place to live.

Flashed my phone while walking in Colombia and got knifed.

Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. There are numerous other instances in which I break my 27 cardinal travel guidelines (hence why guideline #27 is the most important).

After all these years on the road, I still mess up.

Bardzo.

Every day, I receive a lot of emails from new travelers that are filled with worry, fear, and concern.

For example, I once had a woman email me was preparing to study abroad. She told me she thought she was making the most significant mistake of her young adult life. taking a look at her two suitcases filled her with dread. another person concerned that he wouldn’t ever really be “ready” to travel. and another reader was concerned about her lack of worldliness would only lead her to screw up.

And like many, lots of other people, they emailed me asking for help.

How can they avoid mistakes? how can they make sure that everything is going to go smoothly?

It’s easy to look around and see travel writers as “experts” and “gurus” who seem to travel through the world with seamless effort. We glide through airports, make instant pals with locals, and blend perfectly into new and unknown cultures. We’re like ninjas.

But I don’t know any individual like that. All my “expert” pals make plenty of mistakes. I’ve witnessed lots of first-hand, evident mistakes from people who ought to have known better.

But we are all human and humans make mistakes. Even the “superhuman travel experts.”

It’s natural to worry about problems that might happen on the road. It’s easy to let that worry and concern cripple you and cause panic.

Before I went traveling, the worst-case “what if” scenarios consumed my thoughts.

How would I deal with this or that situation?

What if I got on the wrong train, booked the wrong flight, or made the wrong hostel choice?

I have done all three of those things (and more). It’s easy to beat yourself up over silly mistakes. Hell, how could I have been so dumb as to leave my passport on a plane?!

But, with time, one concerns realize that if you don’t occasionally make mistakes on your travels, you aren’t pushing yourself enough. mistakes happen to confused people in unfamiliar places, people who don’t take preapproved trips and deviate from their guidebooks. going to unfamiliar places and getting a bit lost was exactly the elsewhere I was looking for, even if that implied taking on some risks.

Mistakes keep you growing.

So you can’t let them get to you.

All you can do is step past them.

I long ago stopped beating myself up over my travel mistakes. Humans make mistakes. experts make mistakes. I learn from them and hope I don’t make them again (but I probably will).

So the next time you book the wrong flight, catch the wrong bus, or screw something up, know that you are not alone and that others, even the experts, have made far worse mistakes…and we survived and continued on.

Just take a deep breath and step on.

Because you are going to make a lot of mistakes on the road.

But that’s ok — no one is a best traveler.

You’re only going to tension yourself out if you try to be one.

As they say, to err is human but to forgive divine.

Learn to forgive yourself.

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