Things I Stopped Doing After Visiting 50+ Countries

By the time you've been to 50+ countries, certain travel habits become embarrassing in retrospect. Things you used to do enthusiastically just stop making sense.

If you're early in your travel life and curious what experienced travelers actually do (and don't do), here's my list.

I stopped trying to see "everything"

My first big international trip was 6 weeks across 11 countries in Europe. I have photos from all of them. I remember almost nothing.

Now I do 2-3 places per trip. Sometimes just one. I'd rather spend 8 days in Lisbon than rush through Lisbon + Porto + Sintra + Coimbra in the same time. I'd rather live for a month in one city than visit four.

The pace of "see everything" is the worst way to actually see anywhere.

I stopped staying in hostels (mostly)

I'm in my late thirties now. I'm done with bunk beds, 20-person dorms, and roommates who come home at 4am drunk.

For about $20 more per night, I can get a private room at a guesthouse. The math is fine. The sleep is much better. The next day is much more productive.

The exception: I'll stay in a hostel for the social aspect if I'm in a city for just 2-3 nights and traveling solo. The common room is real. Some hostels (like Generator chain or hostel-hotels) offer private rooms with hostel social spaces, which is the best of both.

I stopped buying souvenirs

I have a box in storage with 14 years of souvenirs. Tiny statues. Magnets. Decorated boxes. A traditional Japanese fan. A leather wallet from Marrakech. A wooden mask from Bali.

I look at none of them. They live in a box. They are clutter.

Now I bring back two things: food (a specific spice, a specific cookie, a specific bottle of olive oil) and photos. The food gets used. The photos exist on my phone. Neither becomes clutter.

I stopped saving my photos to "see later"

I used to come back from trips with 1,000+ photos. I'd plan to organize them, edit the best ones, maybe make a photo book. I never did.

Now I take fewer photos. About 30-50 per trip total. I share the best 5-10 within a week of returning. The rest get deleted within a month. The good ones I print or actually look at.

Photos you never look at are just digital clutter consuming your phone storage.

I stopped going to "must-see" sites without research

The number of times I showed up at a famous landmark at 11am on a Saturday and got an hour-long line is too many to count.

Now I research opening times, busy hours, and skip-the-line options for every famous site I want to visit. I show up at opening or in the last hour before closing. I book tickets online. I never wait in a long line because the line was always avoidable with planning.

I stopped trying to find "authentic" everything

Some places are authentic. Some places are tourist constructs. Both can be enjoyable.

The performative search for "authentic" pho or "authentic" sushi or "authentic" tacos has produced more disappointment than satisfaction in my experience. The food at the touristy place can still be good. The authentic family restaurant can have an off night. Authenticity is not the only quality metric.

I just go to places that look good and are recommended by people whose taste I trust. Some are touristy. Some aren't. They're both fine.

I stopped negotiating hard at markets

I used to take pride in beating the asking price down 70%. I'd walk away from sales over a $2 difference.

Now I think about it differently. If the vendor in Marrakech is asking $15 for a leather wallet I'd pay $80 for in the US, what am I really negotiating for? The $5 I'd save by haggling won't change my financial situation. It will significantly affect the vendor's day.

I still negotiate (it's expected and overpaying is its own problem) but I aim for "fair price" instead of "cheapest possible." It feels more dignified.

I stopped trying to look like a local

For a few years I tried to dress like locals in each place. I learned cultural greetings. I made deliberate effort to "blend in."

This was both impossible and pointless. I'm 6'1, white, American. I look like a tourist in any country except a handful in Northern Europe. Trying to "blend in" was usually trying to perform belonging that I hadn't earned.

Now I'm respectful of local norms (modest dress at religious sites, removing shoes when expected, basic politeness) but I don't try to convince anyone I'm not a foreigner. I am. That's okay.

I stopped feeling pressure to "find myself"

I went to India for the first time at 28 with explicit "find yourself" energy. I did yoga. I visited an ashram. I sat with a meditation teacher.

I didn't find myself. I found nice yoga classes and decent vegetarian food.

The "find yourself" framing puts unfair pressure on a trip. Travel can be transformative. It often isn't. Both are okay. Now I travel because I enjoy traveling, not because I'm hoping to undergo a personal renaissance.

I stopped skipping travel insurance

For my first 8 years of travel I almost never bought insurance. I figured I was healthy, careful, and lucky.

Then I got dengue fever in Bali. Then I needed an emergency root canal in Mexico. Then I sprained my ankle on a hike in Vietnam. Then a fellow traveler I knew had a $50,000 emergency evacuation from rural Cambodia.

$45 per month from SafetyWing covers all of this. Get insurance. Always.

I stopped pretending I'm a different person when I travel

For years I thought I'd discover a "true self" who was more adventurous, more social, more spontaneous than I was at home.

I'm the same person abroad as I am at home. I still prefer reading to clubbing. I still don't like loud crowded restaurants. I still go to bed early.

The mistake was thinking travel would transform my personality. It just relocates it. If you're introverted at home, you'll be introverted abroad. If you don't drink at home, the bar crawl in Bangkok won't suddenly suit you.

Plan trips that match who you actually are, not who you wish you were.