Why studying abroad made me a better traveller

If you are anything like me, your formative independent travel expeditions were in college - an epic study abroad experience (probably in Europe) where you ticked off countries like vodka shots at a frat party. We all have to start somewhere and Europe is soft, safe (and spectacular) landing. You 'do' Paris in a weekend. Hell, you 'do' Western Europe in a week and return home an insufferable Europhile, 'I actually prefer my water without ice' and 'siestas are a basic human right').

Athens, 2003

Let me be clear, I don't think there is anything wrong with this. Every twenty-year-old is an idiot, and a few Old World ass-kickings make most of us better people. Study abroad (or a gap year) is like an accelerated maturation processor; go if you can. And if you've already been, you probably look back on it as fondly as I do. I've never met anyone who said, 'I really wish I didn't study abroad.'

Needless to say, I saw and did a lot; ticking off museums, churches and castles mostly out of genuine interest but a few out of obligation too. Mark Twain famously said, 'a classic is something everyone wants to have read but nobody wants to read' - the same could be said for a lot of big ticket tourist attractions (insert Stonehenge here).

In retrospect, I realised that the highlights of my European Odyssey were rarely the big ticket sites themselves, but the offbeat moments like convincing your travel companion to perform Janis Joplin covers at a crowded bar in Kinsale or late night absinthe shots with the captain and crew (from an airline that shall remain anonymous) in Prague. This is not a ground-breaking statement, (experienced travellers reading this are probably rolling their eyes).  But my point is that, while most travellers eventually work this out, it's usually a lesson we need to learn on our own. I'm just glad that I was able to learn it early on.

Venice, 2003

So after studying abroad (despite having no money or plans to go anywhere) I revised my travel strategy - I was no longer going to rush or box-tick. The world isn't a checklist and I decided immediately to do away with the 'been there done that' approach to travel.

Instead, I was going to be open to returning to places. Saying you've 'seen' France by spending a weekend in Paris is like saying you 'know' Jamaica by spending a week at Sandals. I've been to France at least five times and have barely scratched the surface. I've never even been south of Paris; I still have a lot of work to do.

I learned lots of other practical stuff too, like:

• less really is more when packing
• you don't save money staying at a cheap hotel in suburbia if you end up in a late night taxi 
• international flights before 8am are a terrible idea
• grid systems are a navigational blessing
• shared bathrooms are for chumps
• Scandinavians speak better English than you do

There is also a lot of stuff about fulfilment, personal growth and fostering independence, but that stuff has been covered ad nauseam. Studying abroad is like an intensive training course, where years' worth of experience and learning is crammed into a single semester. You learn how to be a smarter, safer, savvier traveller and have the time of your life doing it.