no such thing as a bad trip

Any trip can be fraught with disappointment: Expectations are always high, and anything can go wrong. Here are a few suggestions for both first-time and inveterate travelers: More important than packing a bag full of money, pack a bag full of patience and curiosity; allow yourself--encourage yourself--to be sidetracked and to get lost. There's no such thing as a bad trip, just good travel stories to tell back home. Always travel with a smile and remember that you're the one with the strange customs visiting someone else's country. Relying on the kindness of strangers isn't naive--there are good people wherever you go. And, finally, the more time you spend coming to understand the way of others, the more you'll understand yourself. The journey abroad reflects the one within--the most unknown and foreign and unmapped landscape of them all, the ulitma terra incognita. As Mr. Twain said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

--Patricia Schultz, 1,000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List