I think this is just merely the blog poster's world view articulated into 29 points, and incidentally he has travelled the world instead of living in one place.
I had already traveled a lot ( as a tourist ) before I left Greece to come and live in Japan, when I started to make a life here, I practically had to rediscover myself. It is not so much the big things, it's the small ones : habits that I took for granted, jokes that do not sound funny, if you can ask someone's phone number... Like a very thin safety net of supporting culture I never new was there just disappeared underneath me.
I also had a fresh view of Greece , and my life before
I think traveling gives you a change of perspective difficult to grasp at home
My current work as a system engineer implementing ERP systems for overseas affiliates, takes me often to work abroad (from Japan, that is) for a few weeks a time. Although I don't have time to do almost any sight-seeing at all, and although they will usually have me stay in more or less high grade hotels (that narrow one's vision, because they are the same, everywhere), it is working together with the local operators and managers, eating together, understanding their work ethic and habits, getting their feedback, pushing it together through the transition period, so when I go back I feel I understand a little bit more about the country from these interactions than from whatever I saw during my limited time off work.
It has to do with the change of perspective. When traveling you usually curry your original perspective with you so it is kind of difficult to see things from another angle while bound for back home.
I guess it depends on how you travel though (the OP sounds like a very serious traveler).
This group was initiated by Garr Raynolds of http://www.presentationzen.com/ but Garr became very busy, so since last year, together with another guy we run the show.
I'd also be interested in grabbing a coffee some time with others from HN; my e-mail is in my profile, please drop me a line :)
Thanks!
I am very sorry, the site is not updated yet (because I didn't have time to get to it yet :( Sorry, things are getting a little crazy with day job recently... )
I'm glad to read that you recommend it. I hope one day I'll give out the same advice, from another perspective.
However, to know them and to learn them are two different things. Since human, especially me, has a tendency of falling back into old habits (such as hoarding possessions), posts such as this now-and-again to serve as reminders should always be welcome.
On an another note, I have a feeling that the term "life lesson" is being thrown about way too much. Can you say you have learned a life lesson without living through most of your life (ie. < ~50)?
Very true. But I think they have everything to do with questioning your assumptions, breaking your routine, and experiencing something unfamiliar. One can do all of these things without leaving home. But showing up to a foreign country where you don't speak the language or know anybody seems like a particularly effective way to do all of this.
As for OP, I think he learned a lot more than what he articulated. He's obviously intelligent, thoughtful, and experienced. But the 29 points he gave are all observations that, while valuable, are hardly original. This isn't surprising; usually the things people say they learned aren't what they actually learned because the latter are too subtle and difficult to articulate.