There are times when traveling throws you so far out of your comfort zone that it can become uncomfortable. I have experienced this most keenly as it relates to language barriers.

If you visit a country that first speaks the native language and English second or not at all, you will run directly into this issue and it can feel like a brick wall. My best piece of advice is to utilize the incredible technology at your disposal and allow your phone to help you communicate. Translation apps can now help you converse in real time and being understood will instantly make your life easier.

I would love to be able to wear a headpiece of some sort that translates on the fly for me and allows me to speak and be understood, but so far, I haven’t seen it. The attempts I have seen at this kind of technology are incredible but they remain on the fringe and are thus incredibly expensive.

Just know that you aren’t alone in these moments. It is an awkward stumbling block we all have to run across to see how we navigate it. It’s a teachable moment that will remind you to stay curious and willing to learn new things in the interest of understanding people from other places.

No matter where you may roam, it can be a powerful chance to reframe the aspects of your life that you’d like to improve upon or those that you’d like to leave behind. The beauty of being a stranger in a strange land is that your problems are completely unknown to these people and they aren’t tied to your dramas the way you are. You should feel free to use the time traveling to discard what doesn’t seem to be working in your life and look for novelty and growth in a favorable direction.

When we travel we are already experiencing the world as it should be, with wide-open amazement. Utilize the rose-colored glasses to view your life in an overwhelmingly positive light.

I have gone so far as to write a list of the things I wanted to discard from my life and did so literally by disposing of the list responsibly at my destination. It’s a symbolic gesture that has true staying power.

By their very nature, you can’t plan for unexpected delays. If you control things like the weather, you don’t need to worry about anything because you have power beyond measure and should feel beyond the financial concerns this may raise. For the rest of us mere mortals, delays are a bridge you’ll eventually have to cross.

If you want to minimize the chance that these delays implode your entire itinerary, be strategic about your travel times and make sure your layovers leave enough room for error. If a connecting flight will be leaving in under an hour in an airport you aren’t familiar with, maybe shop around for a different configuration that will give you more time to navigate. Jet lag doesn’t care about your plans and it can strike you at the exact worst moment in terms of your trip. Miss one flight and it can cause you to enter and stay in panic mode long enough to ruin your entire experience.

Most of these tips are about utilizing a little common sense and prudence during the planning stages of your travels, helping you avoid as much of the unexpected as can be, well, expected.

I see the irony of posting this as a precaution on a travel blog and as someone who intends to make a living talking about traveling and reaching as many people as possible. I am willing to be an out-loud hypocrite on this because I believe there are degrees of this type of behavior.

The kind I am specifically referencing and turning my nose up at is the kind where the person will push through a crowd with a phone attached to a selfie stick, ignoring everyone they brush out of the way while recording their most recent masterpiece. It is a complete disregard for everyone else who is there in person and interested in viewing the sight for themselves.

I believe that being a courteous person is more important than the bump you might get in metrics for the content you create by barging in and asserting yourself as the most important person on the scene. But I do get it as a person vying for attention from a faceless mass of people. You have to take some chances and be willing to have people look at you like you’re the asshole.

In general, do your best not to be an asshole, and if you are planning on making content, scout your locations ahead of time and make an educated guess when to shoot. Leave a window of time before and after your proposed filming times for the inevitable crowds because it allows you to show some grace and create in a way that doesn’t inconvenience others.