9 Life-Changing Lessons I Learned from Traveling Abroad as a Kid

I was nine the first time I traveled outside the USA, where I grew up.

It was 1983, and until then the largest city I had ever visited was Portland, Oregon (population 1 million).

When my mom, my aunt, my sister and I flew into Buenos Aires, Argentina (population 10 million), the endless sea of humanity expanded the confines of my brain beyond all measure. And that was just the beginning.

9 Things I Learned from Traveling as a Kid:

• All realities are possible. And valid. Until I switched continents for the first time, everything in my home, my community, my culture defined what was possible. What was normal. What I could aspire to. (And I was glad for those happy things!) But after our trip to South America, I also knew:

• That so many buildings could house more than the 700 people that lived in the town I was born in. (How did that work?)

• That August could mean winter, not summer.

• "C" on the faucet could mean "Hot" (caliente), not "Cold". (Anything is possible!)

• That putting all the kids together at their own, separate table at big family meals was the most raucous, fun time ever.

• That lunch could be the main meal of the day, not dinner.

• That having a "Kids Day" (akin to Mother's Day or Father's Day) is a GREAT idea. Argentina has one every year in August. So awesome.

• That even if you don't speak the same language, you can communicate, and maybe even create life-long friendships.
  
  
• That something as simple as having a travel journal tossed in your bag at the last minute can make all the difference: those pages became my scrapbook, my safe place when I needed quiet, my notebook for learning Spanish and my bucket list for all the cultures I wanted to experience next.

”Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”
-Mark Twain