Living Abroad

One lesson that many people learn is that everywhere has idiots and jerks.  Everywhere has things some people like and those same people don't like.  While thinking of escaping, it is often easy to ignore (or be ignorant of) the things you won't like about the place you are going to.  It isn't as easy to ignore the things you don't like about where you are now.

Characteristics that has a huge bearing on whether someone enjoys being abroad or not is tolerance for what they don't enjoy and excitement at exploring new and different things.  Also it is helpful if you are not looking for someone that is missing annoyances and instead looking for somewhere to enjoy for a while.

A few people do find the perfect place for them, where all the common annoyances of that place happen to line up with stuff that person doesn't care about and all the things they most enjoy are present and abundant.  But most of the time you will find places that are possible to enjoy but that also have plenty of flaws.

I am living in Malaysia and it has many advantages for me but it is not perfect.  I find it a huge advantage to be in a new place.  I like a break from some of the annoyances of home.

I really like being able to travel around SE Asia (though I have been doing much too little of that - my plan is to do more in 2013).  Of course my plan was to do more traveling in 2012 than I did.  I think the prospects for 2013 are better, but we will see.


 Related: More tolerant not more considerate - Travel to Cambodia: Angkor Wat... - Travel to Indonesia: Borobudur... - Travel to Thailand: Khao Lak... - I Want Out subreddit