Perspective: everyone needs some

You know what the funniest thing about this awesome bus ride I'm on is? Earlier today someone (another traveler) told me to prepare myself for a bad bus ride. I did prepare myself a little.

This bus ride is like heaven compared to the one I was on in Egypt. But this kind of thing has already happened multiple times on this trip. People telling me something was good or bad but when it came down for me to experience the same thing, I realized that the other person's account of the experience was skewed due to lack of experience.

So now I don't take other people's opinions very heavily. I have to find out for myself. Someone told me back in NZ that the Tongariro Crossing hike was super tough. It wasn't. Someone told me that seeing the pyramids was amazing, it wasn't *that* amazing. Someone told me the Nile cruise would be truly memorable. I met cool people on that cruise but the cruise itself was just mediocre. Same thing with the hot air balloon ride.

I probably do the same thing and don't realize it. There are probably lots of people out there with even more perspective than I have, but it's not common.

For example, if someone tells me not to pay to go into a museum I think about why they said that and whether I think their opinion has any validity. If I have the chance to do so I ask them why and ask them about other places they've been to to see if they have an idea of what they are talking about. I just can't take anyone's word for it anymore.