As I sit on my last plane ride of my around-the-world adventure—a journey that has kept me away from home the entire year of 2011—many thoughts are going through my mind. My emotions are conflicted. I know I can’t keep this pace up forever and I long for home, but will I also long for the open road once I’ve settled back into my old life? Only time will tell. That’s where the travel-writing assignments will keep my wanderlust in check, so hopefully work will be plentiful.

But back to the present. As you well know, I’ve been recording a lesson a day while living abroad, so this is my last entry at number 366 (remember how I gained one extra day this year by crossing the international date line?). So I thought it would be fitting to sum up, to the best of my abilities, the overall lessons that have stuck out in my mind. Let me know your thoughts on this list, and feel free to add to it as you see fit.

—Before judging other cultures, consider whether you’re holding them to a higher standard than your own culture.

—Open your eyes as widely back home as you do abroad, and you’ll observe just how beautiful your country really is.

—Try to remain objective when you talk to others about your nation’s politics, stereotypes, and cons. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

—Be happy with the possessions you have. I’ve observed a West African boy playing happier with a homemade stick car than I’ve seen most other kids playing with their expensive gadgets.

—Take time for good friends and family. Work will wait. Life won’t. Take a siesta as needed.

—There is some good and bad in each country. Try to adopt the positive traits, and try to forget the negative.

—Enjoy a good meal. I mean really enjoy a good meal. Close your eyes. Chew slower. Savor the exotic flavors. Then purchase the same ingredients to recreate the experience back home.

—Try to not get offended if you think that you’ve been slighted abroad. You’ll never know how many times a good intention was lost in translation.

—Take a trip to your country’s natural wonders and famous attractions as much as you do abroad, and you’ll find that you’ll see your home in a much different light.

—Appreciate the conveniences back home rather than taking them for granted. Don’t assume that your way is the right way of doing things. Someone somewhere on earth has been sitting on a woven basket all day on the side of a jungle road and hoping to hitch a ride to civilization. You might find that this person is you someday.

—You’ll become equally inspired and equally disappointed by the people that you meet abroad. Pay heed to the inspiring ones, and learn from the mistakes of the disappointing ones. Be sure that the disappointing person doesn’t turn out to be you.

—When you head back to your own nation, try to not fall back into the same habits that you broke while traveling. Don’t forget how much you can live without, and how happy the simple life might actually make you.

—Adapt to how other people live. This has led me to eat meat as a vegetarian, use a pit for a toilet, a bucket for a shower, and dress completely covered from head to toe in searing heat. It wasn’t comfortable, but if I had wanted comfort, I would have stayed home.

—No matter how difficult the transportation, how aggressive the market vendors, how tainted the food, or how unhygienic the living conditions, you’ll discover something awe-inspiring each time you persevere and open yourself up to new experiences.

—If you don’t like being stereotyped, be careful not to make the same mistake yourself.

—Be respectful while photographing others. Locals may seem exotic to you, but to them, you might be intruding on their home and their life by pointing your lens in their direction. They’re not a souvenir to capture, they’re human beings.

—Whether you like it or not, you’ll act as an ambassador for your country each time you interact with others abroad. Make your country proud. Better yet, make yourself proud.

These are just a few of the countless lessons that I’ve learned from my around-the-world journey this year, and I look forward to the many more lessons I’ll learn in my lifetime. There’s never a better education than the one you can receive from travel. Thank you for coming along for the ride! I’ve appreciated all your comments and support, and I look forward to hitting the open road again so I can share more adventures with you in the future.

But I’ll leave you for now with a simple, “See you later,” because this definitely isn’t goodbye! Here’s to accomplishing our bucket lists, and checking off every single last item...