I grew up on a farm and the majority of my family has never even left Texas.
I went to the UK when i was 19 and got hooked on traveling.
Meeting people and learning about different cultures is an amazing experience.
I hate flying too, but just deal with it because it's part of the process.
Every place i go i try to blend in and learn some of their customs.
I see myself like Jeremy Wade, but without the fishing. 
I go to some of the most secluded places and do a lot of backpacking, but not like a hipster.
I've only had a handful of bad experiences and it was more due to being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Got robbed in Mexico twice.
Yeah, you're very similar to me in a lot of ways, man. I hike, drive bangers, don't want kids, etc. You've just got way more money than me, haha.
Part of my previous job required me to live with locals and embrace their usual customs, so I enjoy it, but I'll never do their national dress crap just because I look and feel stupid. (I carried a Burka to wear years ago - but that was for security).
I like trying to speak their languages and cook together, but I've never claimed to be anything other than atheist when asked, I've never ate something I didn't want to, and I've never tolerated animal cruelty if I've seen it. I don't care how poor someone is, if he's trying to kick a dog, or he's whipping the fuck out of his donkey or cow, he's getting bollocked at minimum, lol.
I've fortunately never been mugged (been raped though

), but as I get older I think it just comes down to luck. I've walked all around Rio by myself both day and night, and went to a favela with a girl. I've walked around Belize at night and went to the casino with the crazy locals. Lots of things like that. Maybe people picked up on the arrogance of youth and looked for easier targets, but then when I'd walk around some council estates in the UK, you'd have kids wanting to fight you for no reason, haha. Probably just luck.
The only time I thought maybe I was going to get robbed was in a rough area in the UK really late at night. I was around 20-years-old and walking back by myself when two guys came around the corner and shoulder barged into me. The three of us stood there for a second until one put his hand in his pocket and I assumed it was a knife.
Unbelievably, I ended up being charged and had to do community service in a charity shop afterwards. The laws in the UK are pretty shocking regarding self-defense. Because I did not 'make every effort to escape' or use proportional force, I was the one who got shafted.