Before I ever stepped foot in Haiti, I was told what to expect.

“Be careful.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“People get kidnapped there.”

Those were the warnings. The stories passed around like old folklore. You hear them enough times, from enough people, and you start to believe them—even if you've never been. Even if they haven’t either.

But when I got there, something unexpected happened: none of that felt real.

Not the fear.

Not the danger.

Instead, what I found was something vibrant, layered, soulful. The people welcomed me with warmth. The food, the music, the colors, the conversations—they all told a story that never made the headlines.

The danger of secondhand stories

We live in a world built on perception. And often, our perception of places is filtered through a screen—movies, news cycles, social media snippets. Take Colombia, for example. Say the name, and for most people, the first associations are Pablo Escobar, cartels, cocaine. That’s what pop culture gave us. That’s what media ran with.

But Colombia is also laughter in the streets of Cartagena, cumbia echoing through alleyways, grandmothers selling arepas with a smile that feels like home. It’s complex. It’s contradictory. It’s alive. And you don’t get that from Google.

As Julian said in the episode, “Some stereotypes exist for a reason—but they’re not the whole story. Once you actually go, you realize how different everything feels. You can’t know that until you’re there.”

Travel as a narrative reset

It’s the cab driver in Medellín who tells you how his city has changed. The teenager in Port-au-Prince who lets you freestyle with him on a street corner. The elder who tells you, "We are not our past headlines."

These are the moments that shape you. Not the ones curated by a five-star travel guide or some influencer's highlight reel—but the raw, unfiltered human moments that don’t show up on Yelp.

Escape the algorithm

There’s an algorithm to modern travel:

Fly in.

Stay at the trendy hotel.

Do the top 10 things TripAdvisor recommends.

Leave with the same photos everyone else has.

But real travel? It’s not about checking boxes. It’s about letting go of the plan. Wandering down the alley that smells like grilled corn. Accepting the invitation to sit and eat with a stranger. Saying yes to a story you didn’t expect.

It’s about curiosity over itinerary.

Craft your own narrative

When you travel with open eyes, you stop being a tourist and start becoming a witness. You collect stories. You begin to understand that no place is one-dimensional. That people are people—everywhere.

And maybe most importantly:

You learn to question the narratives you were handed.

You begin to build your own lens.

You stop believing everything you’ve been told.

That’s where growth lives. That’s what makes travel transformative.

So the next time you hear someone say, “Don’t go there, it’s dangerous”—ask them, “Have you been?” And then maybe, go see for yourself.

Because at the end of the day, the most powerful stories aren’t the ones you’re given. They’re the ones you live.