I recently spent two months backpacking by myself through Southeast Asia.
Once the jet lag wore off—and the food poisoning had subsided—I realized that traveling alone was the greatest thing I could have done for my career. It shook up my worldview, put my priorities in perspective and gave me the confidence that comes from learning I can navigate the world on my own.
So how, exactly, did traveling solo make me a better PR professional?
Sharper decision-making skills. Public relations professionals often make decisions with long-term impact for clients, so we must evaluate our options carefully and consider our clients’ overall objectives.
When traveling by yourself, you must make thousands of decisions that affect your safety and the overall outcome of your trip.
Sometimes it’s a quick choice: Do I argue with the taxi driver trying to rip me off, or should I let him keep my money? In other situations, there is more time to evaluate your decision. For example, I spent days deciding whether to go to Vietnam, as planned, or stay in Cambodia an extra week.
Ultimately, I stayed in Cambodia, and based on time constraints and my travel style, I’m confident that was the right choice. I learned the importance of making and sticking with decisions; trust your judgment.
Cognizance of cultural differences. In today’s global economy, you’re bound to work with clients or partners based in other parts of the world. The more aware you are of cultural differences, the smoother that partnership will be.
Travel immerses you in another culture, pushing you outside your comfort zone. The first week of my trip, I volunteered in a village in eastern Thailand, and trying to learn the local customs was humbling. The volunteer coordinators reminded me, for example, to take my shoes off inside, and it hit me how seemingly small habits make a big difference in how people live.
To that point, if someone in another culture doesn’t respond to your email quickly, it might be because they have different expectations about timeliness.
Language barriers can hamper international partnerships. Most people worldwide speak at least some English. Most Americans don’t learn a second language, let alone several others. Be patient—and appreciative—when communicating with people who aren’t native English speakers.
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Adaptability to changing circumstances. If you’ve ever traveled to a faraway nation, you’ve probably experienced questionable accommodations and confusing streets signs, perhaps even a three-hour bus ride that turned into a seven-hour journey. Unexpected things happen when you travel, and you learn to cope. Humor helps. (Arriving at your “hostel” to discover it’s essentially a barn painted blue is nothing short of hilarious.)
In the PR world, things can change quickly. Your client might have a crisis that needs immediate attention, or a journalist might leak news that you’ve been carefully preparing for weeks to announce on a specific day. When these things happen, it helps to be highly adaptable. I feel more prepared to deal with these situations knowing I’ve experienced far more unexpected scenarios abroad.
More confidence. You never know what you can do until you do it. Traveling by yourself can be challenging, lonely, overwhelming and, at times, scary, but all those lows make the highs more satisfying.
Knowing that I can handle the challenges of solo travel has given me a new sense of confidence that will help me in all aspects of my life and career. Having the self-assurance to stand behind my ideas, speak up in meetings and push back against clients will go a long way as I climb the corporate ladder.
Sarah Elson is a senior account executive at Communiqué PR. A version of this article originally appeared on the agency’s blog.
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