Travel and Personal Growth: John Bentley Of International TEFL Academy On Why & How Traveling Can Help Us Become Better Human Beings

Thankfully, the world is open for travel once again. Traveling can broaden our horizons and make space for people to become more open-minded. How can travel give us the opportunity for personal growth? What are some ways that travel can help us become better human beings? As a part of our series about “How Traveling Can Help Us Become Better Human Beings”, I had the pleasure of interviewing John Bentley.

John Bentley is Co-Founder & Senior Writer for International TEFL Academy (ITA), the world leader in TEFL certification for teaching English abroad. A graduate of Harvard University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, John is a recognized expert in the field of TEFL. His articles have appeared across the field’s top websites, including GoAbroad.com, StudyAbroad.com, InterExchange, GoOverseas.com, Adventure Teaching, & many others. He has also spoken as an expert on Teaching English Abroad & TEFL certification at major conferences like MeetPlanGo and Lessons from Abroad (LFA) in Portland & San Diego.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

My parents are basically lifelong expats. They lived abroad in East Asia before I was born and then when I was 5 years old our family left a rather cushy existence in Malibu, California to move to Cairo, Egypt. So I was lucky enough to grow up in a fascinating and beautiful country in Egypt and was able to travel all over Africa, the Middle East, and Europe as a child. This has had a huge impact on my educational and professional pursuits. I studied Middle Eastern history at Harvard, got into travel writing guidebooks for the Let’s Go travel guide series, and have worked most of my career in the fields of travel writing, educational travel, and now TEFL — Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.

Growing up and later working in an international community abroad, I was lucky rough to cross paths with all sorts of interesting people who spent their lives living and traveling abroad, including diplomats, entrepreneurs, journalists, archaeologists, educators, and many others. All of them inspired me to pursue my own adventures and have inspired me to encourage those who may not have been able to travel in the past, to go into a field like teaching English abroad that provides people from all backgrounds with the ability to live and travel abroad for extended periods.

Once I got into the field of international education, one person who really inspires me is my colleague Bruce Jones, who is the President of International TEFL Academy. Unlike myself, Bruce never really had a chance to travel abroad growing up and in his mid-30s, he sold all of his belongings and left to journey around the world. He was so inspired by his experience that he made it his mission to provide others with the opportunity to live and travel overseas. That planted the seed for International TEFL Academy, which we founded in 2010 and has since enabled more than 40,000 people from all backgrounds to live and travel abroad as professional English teachers.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?

My parents introduced me to international travel and living abroad when we moved as a family from California to Cairo, Egypt, where I would grow up and go to high school. Growing up and as a young man in my 20s, they gave me every opportunity to travel abroad and see things and places that most people just wouldn’t think of, always encouraging me to push my boundaries. When I was 8, we went on a family vacation to the Soviet Union. I got to study abroad as a teenager in France and when I graduated from college, they gave me an around-the-world airline ticket. Now I’m inspired to help others expand their horizons by helping them access opportunities to live abroad as professional English teachers.

Also, even though they weren’t teachers, both of my parents worked in international education, which is the field where I’ve worked for the past 15 years and it’s something I’m passionate about.

It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or takeaway did you learn from that?

I’ve certainly done some dumb and funny things (at least in hindsight) over the course of my career, but nothing in particular that really affected my career per se. I’ve also had many traveling mishaps over the years, like taking the wrong train in India and ending up in a city I’d never heard of, or getting lost in Amsterdam and ending up in a rough neighborhood where I got mugged and pushed into a canal (the police showed up after about 5 minutes and fished me out with a rope ladder).

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?

There are so many great quotes from travelers going back to the Classical Age and beyond, but here are two of my favorites:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” ― Mark Twain

I love Twain’s quote because his message is that we will be rewarded when we take the initiative, especially when it comes to travel and taking on new challenges. Finding reasons to not take on a challenge is a sure way to get nowhere and to live a life of regrets.

“Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” — Ibn Battuta

As one who grew up in Egypt — even as an American — I became fascinated with medieval Islamic and Arabic history and culture. Ibn Battuta in particular is one of my heroes because he was the greatest world traveler of his age and he was a great storyteller as well. What rings true to me about this quote is that for myself anyway, the most interesting people are typically those who have traveled and have seen and done really interesting stuff.
If you want to be the person who has interesting stuff to say — whether it’s at a dinner party or even in a job interview — then you should travel as much as possible.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

For the past 12 years, we’ve concentrated on building the very best training courses for teaching English abroad and providing an unrivaled collection of resources and information about more than 80 job markets for teaching English worldwide in addition to teaching English online. These courses have helped more than 40,000 people from all backgrounds find opportunities to teach English across the globe.

Now we’re really excited to be offering new courses and better services. For example, we now offer the only TEFL courses available in Japan and South Korea. We also offer a new course in Hua Hin, Thailand, a beautiful city on the beach for teaching English abroad. We’re also excited to be launching new specialty courses to help English teachers further develop their skills in areas like private tutoring and teaching English online. We are also working on some exciting new job placement programs!

Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview about travel and personal growth. Let’s dive deeper into these together. Based on your research or personal experience, why do you think travel can lead to personal growth? Can you share a story?

Travel, especially international travel, directly contributes to personal growth by exposing one to new experiences and environments. Learning to adjust and navigate a different culture — even stuff like trying new foods and learning how to navigate public transportation forces us to adapt and adjust from our normal routines. Personally, I think that personal growth is exponential when a person engages in extended solo travel or actually lives abroad for at least several months because then you actually have to learn and adjust so much more than when you are just traveling abroad for a shorter vacation or work trip.

For myself, here at International TEFL Academy, we’ve helped 40,000 people move abroad as professional English teachers. I would say more than 40% had never left their home country prior to moving abroad to teach English. I know many of our graduates who moved abroad and learned not just one foreign language, but two or three. I know others who moved abroad to teach English, and went on to create their own businesses, or gain opportunities to move into other fields. We had one ITA graduate who moved abroad to teach English in Tunisia and Jordan who went on to become a journalist working in countries like Lebanon and Iraq.

I think more than anything, really, people who learn to travel, especially independently, gain great self-confidence in their abilities to handle and adjust to new situations and that is something that will serve anybody well, in any field or any endeavor that they may undertake in the future.

A recent survey from Psychology Today showed that over 80% of participants found that travel helped them with problem-solving or decision-making. Why do you think this is true for so many people?

I think part of the fun of travel in general, especially international travel, is that it is full of problem-solving and decision-making. Which sights do I need to see? What cities do I need to include on my itinerary? How do I figure out the local train system and how do I navigate a menu in a different language? Figuring out these sorts of puzzles and making these decisions is not only a big part of what makes travel fun and interesting, but it helps us develop those problem-solving skills and processes. For many of us, it’s even addictive.

And I think the depth of the challenges and rewards of these problem-solving and decision-making processes are even more profound when you actually move overseas, whether it’s to teach English abroad in some country like Spain, Costa Rica, or Japan, or to take on some other endeavor like doing business overseas or studying abroad.

Do you think travel enhances our mindfulness, optimism, or sense of gratitude? How? Can you please explain with an example or story?

For me, witnessing and learning how to bridge cultural gaps gives me optimism for mankind in general, despite the division and conflict we see in the world today. I also think that when you travel abroad, you become more mindful of some of the issues and problems that people face in other countries that you haven’t encountered before — even if they do exist in your own society. Traveling abroad I’ve become struck by the pride and self-respect that people can have even if they live in a worn-torn society, or in deep poverty.

I also think sometimes we learn to appreciate more what we may have in our home country, when we travel abroad. The flip side is that when we travel we can also see that not everything in our country is as great as we are led to believe. You can understand that sometimes other societies tackle certain issues or challenges with more success than our own and that we can learn from them. I think for Americans in particular — who are often told time and time again that we live in “the best country ever” — this can be eye-opening and even hard to accept.

Surely not everyone who travels automatically becomes an exemplar of human decency. What are a few reasons why some people completely miss out on the growth opportunities that travel can offer?

People travel for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, it’s not for education or self-growth, and that’s fine. Many folks simply see travel as a way to escape the pressures and mundane routines of their daily life, not as a mission to focus on personal growth. Personally, I think people do lose out if they just go to a foreign country and just sit by the pool or hang out in the nightclubs, without making any effort to get out and meet some local folks and try some local food at the very least.

Thank you for that. Now for our main question; What are your “5 Habits You Should Develop In Order Make Travel Into An Opportunity For Personal Growth?”

1. Make it a habit to get off the beaten path and break from the crowd. This may sound like a cliche, but for many travelers — especially first-time travelers — it’s easy to stick with the obvious highlights, which means less interaction with the local population and fewer opportunities for actual exploration and getting out of your comfort zone.

For me personally, many of my most rewarding travel experiences have come when I’ve just made a bit of effort to wander a few blocks from a major tourist attraction into a local “regular” neighborhood. In Cairo for example, the main Khan El Khalili tourist bazaar is located in one of the most historic neighborhoods in the Arab world, but it’s also kind of a tourist trap. One evening while showing around some friends from out of town, we decided to wander half a mile through the streets of medieval Cairo only to stumble upon a “Mulid” festival commemorating the birth of a Sufi saint. Complete with hundreds of Sufis dancing and chanting to traditional religious music, carnival rides for children, and crowds of thousands of local residents and pilgrims — but not a tourist in sight — myself and my group were able to experience a truly authentic cultural event that 99% of tourists in Egypt would not even be aware existed.

2. Get in the habit of going at it alone. It’s undoubtedly fun and easier to travel with friends and family, but nothing beats traveling solo when it comes to fostering personal growth. For one thing, you learn to look after yourself in a hurry. Also, traveling alone forces you to make choices from where you go each day to what you eat to when you go to sleep. It also forces you to confront your fears alone, which can be fantastic for building self-confidence.

One of the best aspects of traveling as an individual is that it really forces you to meet and interact with people you don’t know. In many cases, these are people that you would probably never meet if you were hanging out primarily with friends and family in your own traveling party.

From my personal experience, traveling in India by myself in my early 20s was truly an adventure that was challenging but also extremely rewarding. Even for experienced western travelers, India can be an intimidating destination to navigate. Because I was traveling alone, I had to take the initiative to reach out to locals and foreigners to get travel assistance and enjoy some social interaction.

Through such contacts, a local New Dehli resident took me on a tour of his neighborhood and invited me into his house for a meal. In addition, I ended up traveling with an Israeli couple and, later a couple of Australian guys. These were all great bonding experiences forged by travel that would never have developed had I not traveled solo.

3. Learn at least some of the local language, when you travel abroad. Even if it’s just a few words, learning some of the local language where you plan to travel is great for personal development. For one thing, learning a new language is a great way to exercise and challenge your brain. It forces you to flex your memory abilities and consider new ways of phrasing and expressing how you think.

In addition, learning even just a few words of any language will make it easier for you to get around and communicate with locals, who typically appreciate and embrace your efforts to speak their language.

For me, studying French in Normandy as a 16-year-old, one of the biggest obstacles to my efforts to learn French was my fear of mistakes and embarrassing myself while speaking with locals. This held me back from using and practicing my French. It also produced massive self-doubt because I knew I was chickening out and that I was missing out on golden opportunities to use and improve my French. As I gathered the courage to actually begin to use my French as much as possible, I was rewarded with encouragement from local folks and I was emboldened by how much more I improved my French skills and also how much more I enjoyed my time in France.

Before my term ended, a local radio show even invited me on for a quick interview to ask my impressions of the area where I studied (Lisieux). I totally fumbled and bumbled my way through the short interview, but I had a blast and just let myself enjoy speaking French despite whatever mistakes I made in the process. I think this is an illustration of how learning a new language and traveling abroad can enhance one’s development in areas like self-confidence.

4. Getting into the habit of being prepared is definitely a skill that travel can enhance. Sometimes the magic of travel is seeking out experiences you do not plan or expect, but even in such circumstances, you will typically get the most out of your travel adventures when you’ve prepared and done your homework in terms of basic research. What’s more, building and practicing your planning skills will serve you well in other aspects of your life.

Planning for travel forces you to look at the big picture — where are you going and for how long? You also need to think about details like do you have the right luggage and clothing? What about electrical adapters and plugs, or maps and guidebooks? For the vast majority of us, travel involves financial planning, including figuring out how and where to save to make sure you can afford everything you want to accomplish on your journey. That means considering matters like exchange rates, credit cards, and how to save for big-ticket items like airfare.

I’ve certainly learned the hard way many times over how lack of preparation can bite you in the ass while traveling. I’ve been stranded in airports because I didn’t have the right visa; I’ve literally burned through laptops because I didn’t have the right adapter; and I’ve wasted massive amounts of time because I didn’t engage in basic planning and research. Like that time I was in Germany with two days to kill so I decided to zip up to Copenhagen. Only I had no place to stay (and this was before cell phones) and I didn’t realize there was a massive music festival in town so every hostel in the city was already fully booked. I ended up sleeping on a train bench and going back with nothing to show for my efforts. Womp. Womp.

5. Plan to live abroad at least once in your life. Travel is great. It’s fun. It provides opportunities to meet new people and see new stuff. You will view new buildings and eat different foods (hopefully). And it provides so many opportunities for personal growth.

So do you know what’s even better? For me, it’s living abroad. It may not be a habit per se, but I think it’s a worthwhile goal. The opportunities for personal growth, building your skill sets, and challenging your comfort zones are that much great when you live abroad compared to traveling abroad. There’s so much to learn and adjust to just from the process of moving in terms of opening a bank account and finding a place to live. But the real growth comes from becoming part of a new community and making yourself a new home in the country and a culture where you may have little or no experience. It also comes from learning to live away from your family and friends and building a whole new social life. If you can make it happen, you will not only enjoy enormous personal growth, but you will be rewarded with a wealth of memories, friends, and adventures that most of your friends back home could only dream about.

For many, the challenge of realizing their goal is often financial: how do I move abroad and afford it? For most expats who aren’t retired, the answer comes in finding viable employment opportunities. For some people, they can find opportunities abroad in their current profession. For others, there are opportunities in areas like teaching English abroad that provide opportunities for people from all backgrounds to live and work abroad because the demand for native English speakers is so high with nearly two billion people learning English worldwide.

1. From your experience, does travel have a negative impact on personal growth too? Is there a downside to travel?

We all face challenges when we travel, especially when we push ourselves beyond our own comfort zones. That could mean traveling alone, or traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language or are unfamiliar with the local culture. Personally, I don’t see any of that as negative, even if it isn’t always “fun” or even exciting.

I do think travel can have a negative impact on a person’s growth when it impacts their health or safety in a negative fashion, especially when it’s avoidable. Too often people don’t plan or prepare properly for their travels and it can lead to disaster, whether it’s not bringing proper equipment on a camping or hiking expedition, or losing your wits and wandering into a bad part of town in a city with which you are unfamiliar.

1. We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

So many great choices out there, but I would love to sit down and break bread with Rick Bayless, the great Chicago chef who has become a great entrepreneur and also a great evangelist for Mexican cuisine and Mexican culture. Like myself, Rick spent a lot of time living and traveling abroad — in Mexico — and developed a true passion for the people, culture, and cuisine of that country. I would love to just eat and talk food and travel with Rick, and maybe get a secret tip or two for how to make the best green mole.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

www.internationalteflacademy.com

Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.

About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.