Posted: 06/09/2011 | June 11th, 2011
It’s the people you satisfy that make travel the rich, lively experience that it is. They shape our memories a lot more than the places themselves. They can make a poor location good, or a excellent location bad. They show us about what we like or don’t like in others.
They radiate lights on our ignorance as well as show us about ourselves.
And as I technique five years of travel, I want to take a long time to mention the five people (or groups of people) who have had the most effect on my journey:
Greg – Back in 2006, I spent a few months in Amsterdam playing poker. (Yes, you might have called me a professional.) There was always this regional there who kept inviting me out.
Looking down at a big stack of his money in front of me, I was always suspicious about it — was he just going to rob me? However, after being reassured he was a great person by the other players as well as seeing him around a lot, I realized he was just a great person as well as agreed to his invitation.
He as well as some other players took me out for drinks, to their regular house poker games, as well as overall, just showed me the “local” handle Amsterdam. Greg taught me that strangers are not always out to get you. As somebody who has been on the road for a while, this is evident to me now. however when you are fresh-faced as well as new to traveling, it isn’t so simple to let your guard down as well as let strangers in.
Sadly though, I can never tell Greg say thanks to you. A few months after I left Amsterdam, he was killed during a robbery in his home. anywhere he is now, he is missed.
The unknown Backpackers in Chiang Mai – There are little moments in life that shape the whole rest of your life afterward. bit events that ripple out to type significant waves.
I never believed my two-week trip to Thailand would be anything a lot more than a break from the chilly Boston winter. Yet on that fateful trip in 2005, I satisfied five backpackers on a bus to a temple in Chiang Mai. Over conversation about exactly how absurd the two-weeks-per-year holiday system in America is, I realized there was a lot more to life than a 401(k) as well as 50-hour work weeks.
That little event ended up being one of the most essential moments in my life. A week later on the beach in Ko Samui, I counted on my good friend as well as stated I was going to backpack the world. The rest is history — all thanks to strangers on a bus.
The Ko Lipe team – soon after Amsterdam, on a whim I made a decision to go to Ko Lipe in Thailand. somebody told me it was good, cheap, as well as mainly vacationer complimentary — it sounded like paradise.
Se oli.
I ended up staying a month. While I was there, I satisfied Paul as well as Jane, a couple from new Zealand. We hit it off ideal away as well as ended up being quick friends. That was the very first time on my trip that I had truly bonded with people so quickly. I had believed of travel as a method to make friends, however never as a method to discover “best friends.”
But Ko Lipe verified me wrong, as well as years later they satisfied me at the new Zealand flight terminal as well as we chosen up ideal where we left off. This experience opened me as much as the concept that, even in a blink of an eye, you can make lifelong friends.
Anna the Ex – I don’t commonly talk about my dating life, other than to mention that it is often difficult to date on the road. however I will state I had a relationship. I satisfied Anna a few days after I transferred to Taiwan. I saw her in a bar as well as just went as much as speak to her. (Lesson right here guy of the world: just go up as well as state hi. It works.)
She was studying Chinese for the semester. We dated while I was in Taipei, which — understanding I was leaving in a few months — made things very…complex. After I left Taipei, we stayed “together” in a loose sense of the word.
Months later, I went to Europe as well as spent two weeks with her in Vienna. It was difficult: Anna didn’t want to leave Vienna, as well as I wasn’t prepared to stop traveling. When I left, we both understood that I wasn’t coming back. We just kind of left it there, though we do often stay in touch.
However, my connection with her taught me that there was no method I was prepared for a connection that needed me to provide up traveling, as well as that I was okay with that.
The La Tomatina Gang – like the people in Ko Lipe, this was a group of people that just clicked. There were six of us in a dorm room. Strangers from around the world, however we hit it off ideal away.
For the next week, we were all inseparable. When we moved on to Barcelona, people commented on exactly how close we were, which, provided that we were all from different parts of the world, was odd.
“How lots of years have you understood each other?” they would ask.
“About a week,” we replied.
But often people just connect, as weLL, kuten La Tomatinan jengi oli kärki, että tämä on mahdollista paitsi kun matkustat, kuitenkin usein.
Ja parhaassa esimerkissä siitä, kuinka asiat eivät koskaan muutu, yli vuotta myöhemmin juhlin kiitospäivää tämän ryhmän ja heidän perheensä kaksois -sisarusten kanssa, samoin kuin olisimme olleet hyviä ystäviä ottaen huomioon kyseinen lapsuus.
Tietysti olisin siellä kiitospäivää varten!
Elämä on täynnä muukalaisia, jotka muovaavat elämäämme, sekä suuria että huonoja. Kaikki tyydyttämäsi ihmiset jättävät pala itsestään kanssasi. Sen lisäksi, että et yleensä tunnista sitä vasta myöhemmin. Et todella usko siihen ennen kuin jonkin verran melankoliaa, heijastavaa yötä tulevaisuudessa, kun istut säveltämään tällaisen blogin.
Vaikka olen nähnyt paljon merkittäviä paikkoja matkoillani, ne eivät ole pääosin merkityksettömiä. Se on ihmisiä, jotka olen tavannut, jotka ovat tehneet elämästäni paremman. Ne ovat mitä uskon eniten.
Ja tyydyttämättä tällaisia ihmisiä tiellä, en todennäköisesti olisi kestänyt niin kauan.
Joten, kun täytän 30 vuotta tänä viikonloppuna, nostan lasin heille samoin kuin kaikki muut ihmiset, jotka olen tyytyväinen viimeisen viiden vuoden aikana. Kiitos sinulle, kiitos kiitos, kiitos kiitos.
Kuinka matkustaa maailmaa 50 dollaria päivässä
New York Timesin erittäin suosittu paperi -opas World Traveliin näyttää tarkalleen, kuinka hallita matkataide varmistaaksesi, että pääset lyötyltä polulta, säästät rahaa ja sinulla on syvempi matkakokemus. BBC kutsui A -Z -suunnitteluoppaan, jota BBC kutsui “Raamatun budjettisuunnitelman matkustajiksi”.
Napsauta täältä löytääksesi paljon muuta ja alkaa lukea sitä tänään!
Varaa matkasi: logistiset ideat ja temppuja
Varaa lentosi
Löydä edullinen lento hyödyntämällä Skyscanneria. Se on mieluisin selainmuotoinen moottori, koska se etsii verkkosivustoja sekä lentoyhtiöitä ympäri maailmaa, joten ymmärrät aina, ettei kiveä jätetä kääntämättä.
Varaa majoitus
Voit varata hostellisi Hostelworldin kanssa. Jos haluat pysyä muualla kuin hostellissa, käytä Booking.com -sivustoa, koska ne palauttavat jatkuvasti kalliita hintoja majataloille ja hotelleille.
Älä muista matkavakuutusta
Matkavakuutusturva varmistaa sinut sairauksista, loukkaantumisista, varkauksista ja peruutuksista. Se on yksityiskohtainen turvallisuus tilanteessa Kaikki menee pieleen. En koskaan lähde matkalle ilman sitä, koska minun on joutunut hyödyntämään sitä monta kertaa aiemmin. Suositeltavan yritykseni, joka tarjoaa parasta palvelua ja arvoa, ovat:
SafetyWing (paras kaikille)
Vakuuta matkani (yli 70) niille
MedJet (ylimääräistä evakuointia varten)
Oletko valmis varaamaan matkasi?
Tutustu resurssisivulleni parasta yritystä, jota käytetään matkustaessasi. Luettelen kaikki käyttämäni matkustaessani. Ne ovat luokan parhaita ja et voi mennä pieleen käyttämällä niitä matkallasi.