Let’s talk travel. And when I say travel I don’t mean the stereotypical backpacking through Europe, I mean traveling to where your lifestyle will be extremely altered. You will learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible, and probably impart no wisdom in your travels as you will be constantly learning.

Pick a non-first world country and buy a ticket. Any country works, as long are you are going with an open mind.

Get there and don't stay in a hotel. Stay with a family or organization, but be in the community.

Go out into the community, meet people, taste new foods, try new things, do something you never would have thought you would do. For example, I caught termites and cooked them in Uganda - and I actually liked them.

Try to live like the surrounding community does. If they don't have running water, neither do you. Learning how to take a bucket bath is a good skill. So is learning how to pump drinking water from a well. Learn how to wash clothes with only a bucket and a bar of sap -- yes, it will give you a horrible backache, but you'll appreciate the strength of the people who wash clothes this way for hours on end.

Ask to be taught. Many people go on mission trips or to impoverished places thinking they can impart wisdom. I used to think that too, until I went to Uganda, and I realized I can never teach until I understand, and I can't understand until I learn. So go and learn. Try to speak the language if it's different than your own. Learn a customary dance, even if you fall on your face, because you'll never forget the smiles when you do. Just spend time with people, hear their life stories, and take their advice to heart. You will learn more than you can ever hope to repay.

Write. This is the most important thing. Write down everything, every moment of every day, because you won't remember it all. The advice the old woman gave to you will be a memory you cannot reach, so write it down. I thought that was crazy too, until a year after I came back from Uganda and I couldn't remember how to say thank you in Luganda. Write everything down, let children draw on the pages and sign their names. You will treasure it forever - I know I do.

Don't make it a picture. This was the most important advice I have ever received. Weiswa, the gardener at the orphanage I lived at told me this:

"People come, they take pictures, they hold our hands, and they leave. The picture in their hands to show their friends. Do not make me a picture, I am more than a picture, Uganda is not a picture. We are alive and hopeful, we are not a photograph."

I promised to never make Uganda a picture, and I never will. Tell your friends and family, show them pictures. But don't make yourself a martyr, show them what you learned, tell them how the neighbor girl's laughter sounded like bells. Describe what the food tasted like. Bring the souls and personalities of the pictures into the room. Make your pictures come alive, because those people cared enough to tell you their story, to laugh at your camera, to share their home or tables with you. They accepted you into their lives for the time you were here. That alone makes them so much more than a picture.

We travel to see the world and to satisfy the wanderlust in us all. For some it is a small urge. For others, like me, it is an uncontrollable desire to meet new people and learn about new cultures. Traveling isn't about seeing new places, it's about learning new things, eating that weird staple food, dancing a tribal dance, laughing over a shared meal. Traveling is constantly learning.

So go. Learn. Take a trip. And come back with more than a picture.