Around The World in 17 Days and The 5 Lessons I Learned

Sunday May 14th, 2017 was no ordinary Sunday. It was 34 hours long and included time travel.

Here, let me explain…

I woke up at 3am in New Zealand and went to sleep at 10pm in Maine. Along the way I had a 12.5 hour flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles that took off at 10am on Sunday, travelled across the Pacific, and landed 12.5 hours later at 6am on… well, Sunday.

I understand how time zones work, really I do, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bit like Marty McFly. It was the 10th flight of an 11 flight journey around the world, and it gave me plenty of time to reflect on the trip. Somewhere between the haze of “dinner” at 1pm, and “breakfast” at 10pm, I took out my laptop and started to write.

Below you’ll find the results- the 5 business and life lessons I learned from circumnavigating the globe in 17 days.

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[30,000 Feet] When it’s all said and done I will have spent nearly 70 hours in a plane. That amounts to roughly 3 days of my 17 day trip. Forget about the mental and physical investment involved with traveling around the globe, there is a real and significant time investment as well.

If you include the cat nap in Norway, I slept in 4 different time zones, on 6 different beds, and stepped foot on 6 different countries. I packed and unpacked more times than I care to count, and walked (and on occasion, flat out sprinted) more miles in airports and city streets than my feet could handle. My wallet is currently the most colorful it’s ever been with Rupiah, Singapore and New Zealand dollars, and even a 10 spot of Euros because two lovely young ladies from Paris didn’t have any other currency to split the cab fare on the way to the Airport. Sprinkle in business meetings in Singapore and New Zealand and you have what was one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining 2.5 weeks of my life.

So was it worth it?

Without. A. Doubt.

I’m currently in seat 69B in a Qantas Boeing 747-400 writing this somewhere between Australia and the US. This trip, taken by myself and good friend and volunteer Flowfold photographer Adam Wilding, was bootstrapped like most everything else Flowfold does. In between business meetings with current accounts and prospective international distributors, we stayed in inexpensive hostels or Airbnbs whenever possible, ate donated meals from Good To-Go (thanks guys), and avoided the souvenir shops in favor of local street vendors that we could haggle with.

It all contributed to making this one of the most memorable trips of my life.

Travel has this magical way of reminding you how beautiful and expansive the world is, while simultaneously making you appreciate life back home. It’s one of my favorite life dichotomies. Standing atop Mt. Roy on the south Island of New Zealand and watching the sunset over Lake Wanaka was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I’ll never forget that moment. Just like I’ll never forget the two local boys in Bali I was able to surf with, or the traditional Hindu prayer I witnessed at the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple in Little India, Singapore. But I sit here, somewhere over the Pacific, missing my team back at the office, ready to go back home.

I’m revitalized and energized with a broadened scope and a full heart, and if you’ll allow me, I’ll share with you the 5 lessons I learned from circumnavigating the globe in 17 days.

Business Lessons:

Lesson #1- You get what you pay for

We booked our flights through a third party travel agency that neither of us had ever heard of before. They were 40-50% cheaper than any other flights we found online. We figured they were too good to be true. They were. Online check in wasn’t allowed, we never had enough layover time, we didn’t get to choose our seats, and we were barely fed on most of the flights. We got what we paid for, which, in this case, was a stressful and uncomfortable journey with minimal customer service.

Takeaway: Your price should reflect the quality of your product or service. If you are priced at a premium, your customer will expect a premium product. Conversely, if you are the cheapest option, your cost of customer acquisition may be lower, but expect your retention numbers to be equally as low (E.G. I won’t be using that travel service again. Ever.).

Lesson #2- When you have your customer's attention, take full advantage

I’ve been on 10 flights including this one, and watched 10 different safety instruction videos. When you first board you can’t take out any electronics because you’ll just have to put them away for takeoff anyway so you sit there, held hostage in your designated seat. What did I do? I watched the video and attentively at that. I can tell you everything about those videos and even tell you my favorite, (Air New Zealand) and least favorite (sorry Virgin America, I wasn’t a fan of the rap) versions. They had my attention, and they knew it. Better yet, they took full advantage by advertising and promoting their brand. It’s not just practical (in the sense that I should probably know where my emergency exits are), but it also just makes good business sense.

Takeaway: Pay attention to where your customers are paying attention. Not all businesses have their customers tied down to a seat with 12 inches of legroom and nowhere to go. But there are always opportunities where you have the attention of your customer. Find them and leverage them.

Lesson #3- Adapt and Overcome

This flight took off at noon local time (Australia) but they didn’t serve lunch or breakfast, they served dinner. They brought out drink service (wine, beer, spirits) right away and turned down the lights shortly thereafter. This was to try to get us to sleep of course, because they will be waking us back up 2 hours before we land for “breakfast” (It will feel like 10pm for us). Fortunately I am 10 flights in and a seasoned pro at this point. I’m not encouraging the consumption of alcohol, but I did have a drink when I first boarded, ate the mildly appetizing dinner, watched a movie, and tried to go to sleep (I’m up writing this so clearly I didn’t sleep much). Why? Because you can’t fight time change.

Takeaway: We needed to sleep. We needed it in the worst way. We were forced to adapt but you aren’t always that fortunate in business. No one is there to turn the lights off or wake you up for breakfast, metaphorically speaking. In our industry, we’ve seen a lot of retail businesses struggle to adapt to changing customer demands and they have often blamed diminishing investor returns and profits on the growth of ecommerce. But Amazon isn’t to blame. There will always be a place for retail, and you are starting to see brick and mortar adapt by creating customer experiences that they simply can’t get online. They are adapting while others are are failing to adjust to the time change.

Lesson #4- Street vendors are better at sales than you

We stayed in Chinatown in Singapore and visited Little India, each of which had vibrant street markets. There’s nothing like walking around a street market in cities like this. I marveled at how assumptive, positive, and persistent they were. They would see you, wave you in, and if you weren’t careful you’d be leaving 35 minutes later with a bag of tchotchkes and their entire family history. They were charming and charismatic while also being completely ambivalent to rejection.

So many times I would walk by, politely say no thank you just to hear the same pitch 5 seconds behind me to another unsuspecting tourist.

Takeaway: Virtually everything you need to know about sales you can get from a street market. Spend just 20 minutes there and you’ll learn more about perseverance, negotiation, and merchandising than you’d learn in any sales class. Street Market Sales School 101: be welcoming, be assumptive, solve problems, negotiate fairly, close the deal, and have a short memory.

Lesson #5- Talk to everyone, not just your customers

I stayed in 6 different hostels, hotels, or Airbnbs. Each time I met new and interesting people from all over the world. Likewise, I’ve met people out at bars, at restaurants, in the airport and on public transportation. I have met more people in the last 17 days than I have met in 3 months at home. Each occasion I was eventually (more on that later) asked what I did for work.Each time I honed in my messaging in a way I had never done before.

It’s hard enough to describe a wallet made out of recycled sailcloth to someone in the U.S., never mind explaining it to someone who’s 3rd or 4th language is English.

Takeaway: Get outside of your fishbowl. Tell as many people as you can about your product or service and see how it resonates with them. Read their body language; listen to their follow up questions. What’s clear and what isn’t? It’s important to listen to your customers, don’t neglect that, but listen to the people that know nothing about you as well. After all, there’s a heck of a lot more of them.

5 Quick Bonus Life Lessons

1) The rest of the world doesn’t care what you do for work

This is perhaps one of the most interesting things I’ve learned from travel. No matter where I was, no matter what the setting, strangers couldn't care less about my job. They did however, care about me. They would ask me about my travels, my experiences, the things that I loved, the moments I regret, and about my family and friends. Even my business meetings had significantly more time built in for pleasantries than I was used to. This was surprisingly refreshing.

2) You’re smaller than you think you are

The world is a massive and beautiful place filled with people from all walks of life. If you travel far enough and meet enough people you learn that there’s always someone out there who has traveled more, seen more, done more, made more money, drives a nicer car, has had better luck, worse luck...etc.

To me, it’s a reminder to check my ego at the door. I want, more than anything, to contribute to a successful business in Maine. I’d like to hire people and I want them to enjoy working at Flowfold. I’d like to volunteer my time to worthwhile efforts and fight for equality and environmental protection. But most importantly, I hope I remember to stay humble along the way knowing that I can always do more.

3) People are generally more kind than you give them credit for

There are a lot of benefits from “unplugging”, the most significant of which is a deeper connection to the people around you. I hardly had wifi for the 17 days. I responded to email at the bare minimum, and logged into social media to share moments or update my friends and family on my whereabouts. But most of the time was spent offline. When we needed directions, we asked. When we didn’t know where to eat, we looked for suggestions. We didn’t just pull up Google maps or Yelp, we talked to the people around us. I know I will land at LAX, turn on my cell data, and “re-connect”. Whether it’s news notifications, or melancholy social media posts, so much of our daily routine is filled with negativity. It’s unfortunate that I even need a reminder for this but grateful nonetheless that traveling always reaffirms just how nice people actually are.

4) Expect the unexpected and embrace it

Our flight was delayed 5 hours on our way out of Singapore and we were going to miss our connecting flight from Australia to New Zealand. We only had 4 days in New Zealand so this was going to ultimately ruin the end of our trip and potentially force a missed business meeting. We started, like most people, by throwing a bit of a hissy fit. We regained our composure, evaluated our options, quickly weighed the pros and cons, booked a 1 way flight straight to Auckland, and bypassed the two impacted flights entirely. It cost more money, but our trip wasn’t ruined. If traveling teaches you one thing, it’s that nothing ever goes as expected.

You’re bound to have good luck and you’re bound to have bad luck. Embrace both because ignoring either of them does you no good.

5) Listen to your emotions

This one just happened. Adam and I caused a scene after dinner, but not how you might expect. We both rented Patriots Day and watched it at the same time on our respective 8 inch monitors. The movie, which recounts the bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013, is admittedly a sad movie, but not ‘two-grown-men-balling-their-eyes-out’ sad. I’ve never seen anything like it. Nor had the people around us. Here we are, two near 30 year old men in rugged hiking clothes and in need of a shave, sitting there 17 days of travel in, crying like babies. We looked at each other, looked around, and then started to laugh, uncontrollably. Some of the people around us joined it. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

We were drained. Emotionally, physically, and mentally drained. We needed to recharge. We needed a clean bed, a warm meal, and hot shower but we never really realized that until the movie drew it out of us. It made me wonder how many times I ignore my emotions in my normal day to day life.

It’s not always easy to admit or to talk about your feelings and emotions, but it’s important to remember that if you ignore them for too long you may end up in the back of a 747 ringing the call bell and asking the flight attendant for napkins to wipe your tears away.

Final Takeaway:  Travel, live a life of everyday adventure, and push the boundaries of your comfort zone. It’s the best education you’ll ever receive.