NOW FOR THE myths that happen to be true:

Myth siedem: Remote travel takes time.

Absolutely. If you really want to escape, you need more than a weekend, more than even a week. Depending on how mired you are in your own quotidian mess, you may need more than a month. The untrue part of this myth is that time away is impossible to get. They—kids, spouses, bosses—couldn't get along without you. Things will fall apart.

Don't fool yourself. You're not indispensable, and it's probably a good thing if everybody, especially you, learns that.

Ask for a four-week leave of absence. If it isn't paid vacation, your company is much more likely to say yes. And so should you, as long as your desk is guaranteed to be there when you get back.

Myth waló: You'll get ripped off.

So what? Whoever took it probably needs it more than you. Have several hiding places for your money besides the obvious. As for pricey gear, I must have lost half a dozen Nikon cameras in the past 20 years. As long as you're not hurt—mugged, stabbed, stomped—consider yourself lucky. Come home, go to work, make money, buy another camera.

Myth dokuz: Airlines lie.

Vast experience has convinced me there's a clandestine school that all airline employees, from veteran pilots to baggage gorillas, attend. At this academy of prevarication, all airline employees are taught to bend the truth like a miniature pretzel. Ticket agent: "I'm sorry, sir, the plane is completely booked." Pilot: "I'm sorry, folks, there's been a slight delay, but we'll be taking off in just a few minutes." Pilot: "I'm sorry, folks, there's been a slight delay, but we'll be landing in just a few minutes." Baggage clerk: "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm sure your bags will arrive on the next plane."

Myth shí: Don't drink the water—you'll get sick.

Yup. This includes Popsicles and ice cream. But you know what? You'll get sick anyway.

If you're eating off the market, peel vegetables and fruit. If you're eating off the street, just make sure whatever it is is well cooked. I had fried cockroaches recently in northern Burma; they taste like soggy peanuts.

Wash it all down with beer. Bottled beer is almost universally safe. Moreover, it'll help put you in that perfect time-is-an-illusion, Third World frame of mind.

MYTHS ARE HOW we first come to understand our world, Jack and Jill to George Washington. But at some point in life, you must abandon books, forsake the forewarning words of others, and find out for yourself. To travel is to become an empiricist—to test what's been put inside against what exists outside.
The best way to do this is to grab a good friend, spin the globe, and go. Leap before you look.

The Numbers: uno - Spanish; deux - French; drie - Dutch; vier - German; nga - Tibetan; ch¯e - Urdu; siedem - Polish; waló - Tagalog; dokuz - Turkish; shí - Chinese