You always hear us saying “_______ is fantastic” and “_______ is the best part of travelling”, but what about the other side of being on the road? If you’ve read our blog, you know that we absolutely love our lifestyle and we wouldn’t trade it for all the money in the world, but it’s not all sandy beaches and sunsets. travel can be exhausting and being a goat on the road has it’s downsides. here are a few of the things that I really don’t like about travelling.
1. feeling like A walking dollar Sign:
After our first trip to Southeast Asia, Dariece and I both thought that being checked out as a walking dollar sign was just a part of travel. We’ve considering that discovered that it really depends upon where you are in the world. In places like Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of the Caribbean, we found it hard to fully connect with the local people. sure we made some great friends and had great experiences along the way, but lots of people in the tourism service in these regions see travellers as earning potential, rather than potential friends. After checking out places like China, Iran, Egypt and Turkey, we realized that this isn’t the case everywhere. There are places in the world (even poor places) where people don’t just see you for your money and really want to learn a lot more about you. but these places are becoming fewer and fewer. feeling like a walking dollar sign is the primary thing I don’t like about travel, but we feel so grateful to be able to live this life that it’s really a small price to pay. We help where we can and where it feels proper and try to connect with the people the best way we know how… with smiles!
2. Being away from Family:
This one is probably connected with primary actually. It’s not easy being away from our families for such long periods of time. things happen at home and we wish we could be there. friends have been married, children have been born and grandparents passed on, all while we were away travelling. It’s not always practical to fly home for the occasion. aside from missing major events, we both miss just being close to family. We’ve met other long-term travellers who have had their families visit them overseas on many occasions, but this just hasn’t been possible for our families. This indicates that we are minimized to Skype calls and text messages until we return home, about once ever year and a half. Being away from family is a hard one, but we’re very lucky to have a family that supports our travels and our dreams.
Me With My Brother, Uncle and Cousins
3. long travel Days:
I know what you’re thinking, “If you don’t like days of travel, why are you travelling?!” Well we do like days of travel but some of them are longer and a lot more tough than others – like the ones that span 24 hours and take us on 3 different buses, a ferry and a taxi ride, in a country where nobody speaks English. When we first started travelling, we loved these kinds of days, but slowly (and probably because of age) they’ve started to wear on us and now we actually like to spend the extra money to either fly, or take the “VIP” bus. We find that if we have enough food for the journey, it’s normally fine, but if we end up hungry… I get grumpy and Dariece doesn’t get to take pleasure in the trip as much!
4. getting Ripped Off:
This pretty much goes hand in hand with #1 on this list and if you’re a long time traveller, getting ripped off isn’t a matter of if… it’s WHEN! We were actually pretty lucky up until our trip through the Pamir highway in Tajikistan. After 4 years on the road we had only an iPod, cheap sandals and a snorkel mask stolen. but then, high in the mountains, we were taken for $1500 cash and it hurt. It’s always a lot more the principle than the actual cash itself, but getting ripped off is a guaranteed con of travel. Whether you fall for the “free tuk-tuk ride” in Thailand, or have your bags stolen from a bus in Africa, it’s always a piss off to know that someone out there has your stuff. Theft can range from vacationer pricing to all out hijackings and no matter how it goes down, it ends with an upset traveller with mixed memories about the country. We’ve discovered (the hard way), to not let it spoil the trip. These things are bound to happen and if you’re smart… they’ll happen less often.
5. getting Sick:
When your travelling the world on a long trip, it’s not a question of if you’ll get sick… it’s when! We absolutely dislike being sick but over the years, we’ve contracted some pretty nasty bugs on the road. Luckily, the a lot more we travel, the a lot more we build up an immunity to foreign illnesses, but we still fall ill every once in a while. We recently had a pretty nasty tropical fever after vender tilbage fra vores tur gennem St.Vincent & Grenadinerne. Det var ikke første gang, vi har været syg på vejen, og desværre vil det ikke være den sidste!
6. Hostel Table One-UpSmanship:
Vi forsøger at undgå denne slags samtaler som pesten, men de sker stadig. Nogle gange synes rejsende, at seje historier er en konkurrence, og for hver sjov historie, du fortæller, har de en, der er “langt bedre”. Først havde vi ikke noget imod denne type chat, og vi gik den ud som bare ”ophidset bordprat”. Men jo meget mere tid vi bruger på vejen, jo mindre ønsker vi at deltage i denne slags samtaler. Vi elsker at høre om andre rejsendes historier, og vi er regelmæssigt inspireret af vores kolleger, men ofte er motiverne bag at fortælle historierne alle forkerte. Vi glæder os over at fortælle historier frem og tilbage, så længe de ikke er konkurrencedygtige. At prøve at få min rejse til at lyde bedre end din virker bare som spild af tid. Alles rejsehistorier er specielle og spændende af forskellige grunde. Hvis en gengældelsesrejsefortælling starter med “Åh ja”, eller “ja, det er intet”, forsømmer vi normalt bare resten!
7. Ingen er ligeglad med:
Hvis du har været på en lang tur og vendt hjem, ved du denne alt for godt. Venner og familie derhjemme er interesseret i cirka 10 minutter, før samtalen drejer, og du er tilbage og tænker ”Jeg troede, vi ville tale om min fantastiske tur i årevis”. Sandheden er, at din rejse ikke er så utrolig, som du tror … i det mindste for mennesker, der har været hjemme. Resultatet af hockeyspelet, sidste weekender drikke-fest, og den røvhul på arbejdet er langt bedre samtale stykker end dine historier om at galivere over hele kloden. Hvorfor skulle dine venner og familie finde det interessant? Medmindre de selv er rejsende, har de andre interesser og kan ikke forstå, hvad du har været igennem på vejen. Selvom de måske elsker at høre den lejlighedsvise historie om din rejse … det er alt, hvad du sandsynligvis får.
Dette er en hård virkelighed, som vi alle bare skal vænne sig til. Det er for dårligt, fordi rejser er alt, hvad rejsende kan (og vil) tale om! Alle Dariece og jeg gør er at rejse, leve i udlandet og lære om nye kulturer, så hvordan kan vi tale om den irriterende person på arbejdet? For os er den person den eneste anden person, vi kan tale med om rejser! Vi er ligeglad med, om ingen er interesseret i vores rejser, vi elsker det stadig, og vi stopper ikke snart! Vi ville bare dele noget af de bitre med den konstante søde på geder på vejen. Der er dele af backpacking, der ikke er lette, men ærligt talt tilføjer de sandsynligvis til eventyret, og vi ville ikke have opdaget så meget om os selv uden at håndtere de lave rejsedage.
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