5 Habits I Stole from These 5 Countries

Try them out?

I love long travels, and one reason I work so hard is so I can continue to afford them and travel more often.

I did a 3-week-long solo travel at 21 and a 4-week-long trip last month. Both to Europe.

Each time, there’s a habit I’ve got home.

When I travel, I want to experience what it’s like to be a local in that city. To live there, commute like them, and eat what they eat at home.

It also helps me break away from my reality and live a different life. That gives a kick of what would life maybe be like to live in that city, hypothetically.

Here are five habits I’ve picked up because of my travels.

1. France: Fresh Bread

In India, we eat bread in sandwiches or for breakfast.

In France, you eat bread as… just bread. And the taste of that bread is something else. It tastes fresh, a bit rough in texture, wholesome, and light. You don’t even feel guilty about the ‘carbs’ because it’s so fresh.

You don’t need to purchase a specific kind from a fancy shop, the local boulangerie works.

Use some butter, or have it alone.

Since Paris was the first city we visited on our recent month-long trip, I made sure to try different bread everywhere and I wasn’t disappointed. Most European cities have lots of fresh bread available.

I recommend you ditch packaged breakfasts and loaves of bread — just pick up fresh bread and call it a meal.

2. Copenhagen: Less Is More

You don’t need a lot to feel warm and invited.

I visited Copenhagen four years ago and not just Copenhagen, but Scandinavia has an entirely different vibe from Western and Eastern Europe below it.

Copenhagen has cute bars, beautiful cafes, and pretty streets.

When I entered the Airbnb, I saw how it was decorated with plants and a few wooden showpieces.

Back at home, those of us into decorating our houses use ceramics, crystals, glass, wooden furniture, etc. But just plants and wooden showpieces – that sounds rather ‘less’.

It gave a warm and cosy vibe. It showed me how you don’t need a lot to feel warm and invited. That applies to everything and not just houses, right?

3. Spain: Smiling and Grooving

We can transfer our energy to others when we’re feeling joyful.

Have you ever visited a cafe with nobody smiling at you? Yes — that’s most cities.

But not Spain and even Portugal.

In India, we’re big on hospitality and pleasing people. We do our best to welcome you, whether it’s to our house, meeting outside, or restaurants welcoming you with smiles and finding an opportunity to assist you.

In Spain, it’s a different level. You can feel their energy. They look happy, are grooving to music, and are smiling and laughing. The entire vibe is so uplifting.

It shows how we can transfer our energy to others when we’re feeling joyful. And how we should feel joyful more often, because why not?

4. Switzerland: Observing and Absorbing

There, I’ll say it — Switzerland is for the scenery, not for its cities.

Cities like Bern and Geneva are beautiful, but the scenery of what this country offers is even better. You’d sit on the train and look at the lake outside, and minutes will pass by.

We crossed the massive Thun lake every day and each time, I’d stare and be in awe.

Sometimes, beauty isn’t spending $500 to go to the top of a mountain or doing things. It could be just being.

Observing the cute wooden houses outside, the lake, the mountains, the snow-capped alps, the flowers outside people’s houses, and the canal with clear dark green water, the architecture.

5. Prague: Walking

Even though you tend to walk a lot more in Europe because of cobbled streets, narrow lanes, hidden gems, and everything is a walk away — in Prague we walked at least 15,000 steps every day. We trekked up to beer gardens and didn’t take public transport even once.

And that felt so, so good.

Crossing 15,000 steps was a better dopamine rush than any notification in the world.

My favourite part about travelling is the experiences I can’t gather anywhere else and bringing a part of them back home.

Experience teaches you better than anything else because you include a habit or an opinion after experiencing it unknowingly.

Next time you travel, I encourage you to be more local and come home feeling more global with so many experiences under your belt.

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