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.
Det var.
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 som gänget från La Tomatina var ett tips att detta är möjligt inte bara när du reser, hur ofta som helst.
Och i ett bästa exempel på exakt hur saker och ting aldrig förändras, firade jag över ett år senare Thanksgiving med tvillingyskon från denna grupp såväl som deras familj, liksom det var som om vi hade varit goda vänner med tanke på den barndomen.
Naturligtvis skulle jag vara där för Thanksgiving!
Livet är fullt av främlingar som formar våra liv, både stora och dåliga. Alla människor du tillfredsställer lämnar en bit av sig själva med dig. Förutom att du inte känner igen det förrän mycket senare. Du tror inte riktigt på det tills någon melankolisk, reflekterande natt i framtiden när du sätter dig ner för att komponera en blogg publicerar så här.
Även om jag har sett många anmärkningsvärda platser på mina resor, är de främst irrelevanta. Det är de människor jag har stött på som har gjort mitt liv bättre. Det är vad jag tror mest om.
Och utan att tillfredsställa människor som dessa på vägen skulle jag troligen inte ha hållit så länge.
Så när jag fyller 30 år i helgen lyfter jag ett glas till dem såväl som alla andra jag har nöjt mig under de senaste fem åren. Säg tack till dig, säg tack till dig, säg tack till dig.
Hur man reser världen på $ 50 per dag
My New York Times mycket populära pocketbok för världsresor kommer att visa dig exakt hur du bemästrar konsten att resa för att säkerställa att du kommer att gå av misshandlad väg, spara pengar och ha en djupare reseupplevelse. Det är din A till Z -planeringsguide som BBC kallade “Bibeln för budgetplanresenärer.”
Klicka här för att upptäcka mycket mer såväl som att börja läsa det idag!
Boka din resa: logistiska idéer såväl som tricks
Boka din flygning
Hitta en prisvärd flygning genom att använda Skyscanner. Det är min föredragna bläddringsmotor eftersom den söker på webbplatser såväl som flygbolag runt om i världen så att du alltid förstår att ingen sten lämnas omvänd.
Boka ditt boende
Du kan boka ditt vandrarhem med Hostelworld. Om du vill stanna någon annanstans än ett vandrarhem, använd Booking.com eftersom de konsekvent returnerar de billigaste priserna för pensionat och hotell.
Misslyckas inte med att komma ihåg reseförsäkring
Reseförsäkringsskydd kommer att säkra dig mot sjukdom, skada, stöld och avbokningar. Det är detaljerad säkerhet i situationen, allt går fel. Jag åker aldrig på en resa utan den eftersom jag har varit tvungen att använda det många gånger tidigare. Mitt föredragna företag som erbjuder den allra bästa tjänsten och värdet är:
SafetyWing (bäst för alla)
Försäkra min resa (för de över 70)
Medjet (för extra evakueringstäckning)
Redo att boka din resa?
Kolla in min resurssida för det allra bästa företaget att använda när du reser. Jag listar alla de jag använder när jag reser. De är de allra bästa i klassen liksom du inte kan gå fel med att använda dem på din resa.