For years I was eager to go to Mali in west Africa. My uncle lived there for more than a decade, so I just had to go. When we finally went, we had a fantastic time. It is so interesting to dive into a completely different culture. While Mali is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, life isn't completely different. A lot of the life just happens on the streets, so you can just walk around and experience a whole different world.
One of my favorite stories was us walking into a cafe. We ordered a coke and water and had the coke in front of us within a minute. Then we saw the waiter riding his scooter to the closest store to buy the water.