Travel stories and advice.

[BrewingTravisty]

Have any of you ever done any long term travel? Round The World trips, or just stayed in a foreign country for an extended period?

I'd like to hear your stories, and maybe some advice if you have it. I'll be traveling in a few months and I'm basically foregoing any real planned itinerary and with only a backpack as a carry on. I'll be traveling for as long as I'm financially able to, and hopefully working while I travel to supplement my savings.

I figure this would also be a good place for others to come and hear about your experiences around the world and possibly learn some things from your stories. Maybe even inspire a few people to make their own travel plans.

 

[TX_Brewing]

First off. I hate you!

Now that is out of the way, I did a 5 week trip as a kid (with a tour group) through Europe.

Bring a small thing of laundry detergent, we did laundry in our hotel sinks and air dried it. That way we only had to pack about a weeks worth of clothes. Only real story is that my parents lost me in Versailles palace. I got a cool behind the scenes tour with security, and I think my parents got heart attacks!!

Nowadays I travel with work so not much excitement, if I need laundry done I send it to hotel dry cleaning.....

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Cool, don't bring more than you can comfortabley carry. Don't be afraid of three star hotels, you may share a bathroom, but the room itself can be very nice and low cost. Have you seen Hostile?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Nowadays I travel with work so not much excitement, if I need laundry done I send it to hotel dry cleaning.....

This is me too. I can give advice on travel, but not the kind OP is asking about.

 

[Galek]

My fiance and I spent 3 months is Central America. Lonely Planet "location" on a shoe string budget books are great. Do not overly rely on them but they are good to find out how to get from one place to another, a short overview on what type of foods to order in the area, and things to do that might be an hour or so drive away from the town that may not be readily evident.

Oh and hostels that provide breakfast foods are the best things you will stay at. Also be on the watch for places with communal kitchens.

 

[hunter_le five]

Not a whole lot of world travelling, but I did spend a month in Italy and Spain back in college.

Pack strategically. Don't bring a bunch of crap you don't need because that's just more you'll have to lug around everywhere. You don't need as much clothes as you think. You can always wash them, and nobody's going to care that you wear that same t-shirt every Monday.

Pictures are great, but try not to spend the whole trip looking through a camera viewfinder.

Take advantage of hostels, Air BnB, and other cheap lodging options. Hotels can sap your budget quickly, especially if you're staying in the touristy areas.

Try to find where the locals eat and drink. It's always much cheaper than the tourist spots.

And don't feel like you have to eat out every meal just because you're travelling. Buying simple to make meals at the grocery store really helps stretch the budget.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Thanks for all the awesome responses everyone =D sorry I haven't responded in a couple days, been sick and out of it.

I get the "I hate you" a lot when it comes to travel TX xD and I plan on staying in hostel dorms for the places that I'm staying short term and renting apartments in places I stay long term. I'm gonna pay for my travels with a mixture of WWOOFing and teaching English. I'm kinda just throwing myself in to sink or swim lol I have a small savings after I start that will cover a couple months in a not very expensive country, and then a plane ticket back home if I need it.

As far as my packing list goes I'll be bringing my Laptop (gaming, skype, video/photo editing and blogging mostly), my Sony A6000 camera, socket adapter, earbuds, glasses and sunglasses, 2 pairs of shoes (one everyday and one nicer) 2 pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, merino wool sweater, merino wool under shirt and long Johns (for cold weather), 2 t-shirts, and a dress shirt. Along with travel size toiletries.

I'll be starting in Canada where I'll get my CELTA, and then after that it's wherever the wind takes me so to speak.

Also yes I've seen the movie Hostel xP that's the movie everyone brings up when I mention traveling and staying in hostels.

I've been planning this for over a year now, and now that it's finally getting close I'm a mixture of excited/scared and a little stressed lol

 

[passedpawn]

I've done a lot of travelling overseas in my life, Europe and the far east, but always on someone else's dime. When I was 30 I spent most of a year in Paris. But traveling carte blanche isn't the kind of traveling you're going to be doing. Sounds like a lot of fun. Keep a travel log and enter all the little details. It's funny looking back 20 or 30 years and seeing names and places and small funny events you forgot all about.

 

[PlexVector]

I've been to several places on business and all big cities: Cork Ireland, Shanghai China, Bangkok Thailand, San Jose US, etc. One big city is just like any other, so if you can figure out some safe places out in the country side that could be fun. I've gotten at least one or more interesting stories out of each. Maybe a diary would be fun to do. Only recommendation would be some travel meds in original packaging for montizoma's revenge or the like. You don't won't to figure out OTC's in a strange place in the middle of the night...

Good luck and have fun!

 

[m00ps]

SWMBO has lived in Seoul South korea, Melbourne Australia, Paris France, and somewhere in new zealand over the past 7-8 years. No idea how she was able to do it, but you certainly gotta keep an open mind. Definitely look into hostels and the like. She just got back from a friends wedding in Seoul where she stayed at a spa instead of a hotel. They would let you sleep on a mat against the wall for less than $10US per night. Air conditioned, nice soothing fountain sounds, quiet, and it came with free access to the showers and sauna. i couldn't believe it

 

[Baja_Brewer]

I lived in Belgium for a year after high school on a youth exchange program. The program was free, aside from airfare and insurance, they even gave me a monthly allowance! Students rotated through 3 families and were supposed to go to high school.

I managed to travel to a good bit of Belgium, then visited the Netherlands, Francex3, Switzerland, Germanyx2, the Chezc Republic, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal over the course of ~10 smaller trips, using Belgium as my base (we had to get approval for some trips)

Ryanair is cheap airfare in Europe. If you're spending a long time in Belgium looking the GoPass (or something like that) that gets you 10x 1 way trips in the country on the train for €4.5(ish) each. Hostels are awesome, but you might worry about securing your stuff.

I'd love to do all of that again. Best year of my life.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I've done a lot of travelling overseas in my life, Europe and the far east, but always on someone else's dime. When I was 30 I spent most of a year in Paris. But traveling carte blanche isn't the kind of traveling you're going to be doing. Sounds like a lot of fun. Keep a travel log and enter all the little details. It's funny looking back 20 or 30 years and seeing names and places and small funny events you forgot all about.

I'll be writing blogs and doing some videos as well for YouTube. I figure it'll be good for my parents to see that I'm safe and having a good time while traveling plus if I actually get a decent viewership doing it that could pay for my travels in itself. Plus it'll be fun to look back on them one day lol

I've been to several places on business and all big cities: Cork Ireland, Shanghai China, Bangkok Thailand, San Jose US, etc. One big city is just like any other, so if you can figure out some safe places out in the country side that could be fun. I've gotten at least one or more interesting stories out of each. Maybe a diary would be fun to do. Only recommendation would be some travel meds in original packaging for montizoma's revenge or the like. You don't won't to figure out OTC's in a strange place in the middle of the night...

Good luck and have fun!

I wanna try to get outside of the big cities and tourist areas, and try to actually experience the culture of the places. I feel that that would be a much more rewarding experience than simply spending all my time in the tourist traps. That's really good advice about the meds though! Thanks, I'm definitely adding that to my list.

SWMBO has lived in Seoul South korea, Melbourne Australia, Paris France, and somewhere in new zealand over the past 7-8 years. No idea how she was able to do it, but you certainly gotta keep an open mind. Definitely look into hostels and the like. She just got back from a friends wedding in Seoul where she stayed at a spa instead of a hotel. They would let you sleep on a mat against the wall for less than $10US per night. Air conditioned, nice soothing fountain sounds, quiet, and it came with free access to the showers and sauna. i couldn't believe it

That sounds absolutely amazing honestly lol I've slept on mats and on floors quite a bit over my adult life, so I would have no problem with that. I figure mostly I'll be staying in hostels though.

I did have the idea of staying in a monastery for a few months and live life like a monk for a bit. I think it'd be difficult but I think it would be very rewarding at the same time. Plus most of the time you pay with work and not money so it's a win win.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I lived in Belgium for a year after high school on a youth exchange program. The program was free, aside from airfare and insurance, they even gave me a monthly allowance! Students rotated through 3 families and were supposed to go to high school.

I managed to travel to a good bit of Belgium, then visited the Netherlands, Francex3, Switzerland, Germanyx2, the Chezc Republic, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal over the course of ~10 smaller trips, using Belgium as my base (we had to get approval for some trips)

Ryanair is cheap airfare in Europe. If you're spending a long time in Belgium looking the GoPass (or something like that) that gets you 10x 1 way trips in the country on the train for €4.5(ish) each. Hostels are awesome, but you might worry about securing your stuff.

I'd love to do all of that again. Best year of my life.

That sounds amazing, thats kind of how I plan to do my travels. I'll find a job in one country and then on weekends when I can I'll travel out and visit other places for a couple days and then go back to my "home base" until my term is up and then I'll move to a different country. I'll probably move every 6 months or so depending on what work I find and how much I like a place.