Been Traveling for a Year Now. AMA
- Thread starter BeerNuts
- Start date
I had no plan the entire trip. I just visited places and then asked other travelers what to do. In town you can just ask the hostel desk what do in town.
Things I packed and didn't use were the vacuum bags for cloths, the universal sink plug for washing cloths in sinks, the cloths line, and the travel wallet hidden necklace thing. Rolling your cloths is way better for packing and uses less space. I only every did sink laundry in India. And I always just kept money in my pocket you don't need stupid hidden wallets and shit no one uses that stuff.
I guess the biggest expense is actually visiting stuff. Tickets to museums, attractions etc all add up. I didn't expect seeing the sights would cost as much as it did. Everything has a ticket and its never cheap.
Awesome your going to have an amazing time. If you need country specific advise let me know.
Inverness, Kyleakin, Oban I used a tour company called MacBackpackers and did a 5 day tour of the north.
Damn. It's really painful to read this. You were probably going and hanging out in some wrong places. I know many people have bad impression about Israel because of rude security in airports, but for being unfriendly... Honestly, I never heard this. Sorry man for them douches.
Nice post OP.
I somewhat understand you not working. I've been traveling for 2.5 years straight now, but I've been building businesses the entire time. Although I've had a lot more financial success, I also know that I haven't been able to enjoy it as much as if I wasn't so focused on other stuff.
I'm motivated, and I love my work, but there is something very special about the no-cares travel life. I see a big divide between myself and the more care free travelers that I come across every day. I can't turn my brain off while they can.
Of course on obvious benefit is that my travels don't have to end, but it's always a trade off.
I somewhat understand you not working. I've been traveling for 2.5 years straight now, but I've been building businesses the entire time. Although I've had a lot more financial success, I also know that I haven't been able to enjoy it as much as if I wasn't so focused on other stuff.
I'm motivated, and I love my work, but there is something very special about the no-cares travel life. I see a big divide between myself and the more care free travelers that I come across every day. I can't turn my brain off while they can.
Of course on obvious benefit is that my travels don't have to end, but it's always a trade off.
Sounds like an incredible time, really good on you for doing it.
My experience is narrower. I've been living in countries in South America - 3 months in each place - for a while now. My costs are about $2k per month. That gets me a nice room with my own facilities in an apartment in the nice area of town, but usually sharing with one local person who owns the place. I eat out twice a day at nice restaurants, take taxis.. sight see, and usually become involved with volunteering in schools/hospitals. I work about 15hrs a week on average, but it varies hugely on what else I'm doing. I had such a good time where I went last that I am considering going back to live there for 6 months, then maybe 12... etc. For me, it's mostly the climate, food, people and most importantly the connections I make with them that shape my view of where I've been.
In my case, I prefer to live with a local person than on my own as this gets me meeting all their friends, expanding my social circle etc without any weirdness at the start. Then the volunteering takes that to the next stage and before you know it, you become a part of a place and are sad to leave. I've accumulated more nostalgia and experiences in the last few years than the rest of my life put together.
My experience is narrower. I've been living in countries in South America - 3 months in each place - for a while now. My costs are about $2k per month. That gets me a nice room with my own facilities in an apartment in the nice area of town, but usually sharing with one local person who owns the place. I eat out twice a day at nice restaurants, take taxis.. sight see, and usually become involved with volunteering in schools/hospitals. I work about 15hrs a week on average, but it varies hugely on what else I'm doing. I had such a good time where I went last that I am considering going back to live there for 6 months, then maybe 12... etc. For me, it's mostly the climate, food, people and most importantly the connections I make with them that shape my view of where I've been.
In my case, I prefer to live with a local person than on my own as this gets me meeting all their friends, expanding my social circle etc without any weirdness at the start. Then the volunteering takes that to the next stage and before you know it, you become a part of a place and are sad to leave. I've accumulated more nostalgia and experiences in the last few years than the rest of my life put together.
I have been day dreaming about going to Morocco for 18 years. I will do it one day for sure.
Beernuts, I remember you from when I got started in AM, iirc you were on the Squirt forums.
You'll find a new groove. I think most guys are either link spammers or have moved into agency type work. Without a doubt you've got a lot of experience and I wouldn't be surprised if people wanted to work with you.
Also, I think it is awesome you put personal development and living at the top of the list. It's what I am moving toward.
We both must be getting old.
My question. Some of those hostels are pretty nice, right? What was the nicest one you've been in?
Beernuts, I remember you from when I got started in AM, iirc you were on the Squirt forums.
You'll find a new groove. I think most guys are either link spammers or have moved into agency type work. Without a doubt you've got a lot of experience and I wouldn't be surprised if people wanted to work with you.
Also, I think it is awesome you put personal development and living at the top of the list. It's what I am moving toward.
We both must be getting old.
My question. Some of those hostels are pretty nice, right? What was the nicest one you've been in?
Just amazing man, I wish I can cover even half of that, my question is, how much was the cost of this trip? Major props to you.
I have to agree, this was my exact experience in Israel as well. If ever there is a country with real, out in the open, xenophobia, then it is Israel. Outsiders are NOT welcome there in general. Such a shame though, amazing country and some of the hottest women in the world. I wouldn't go unless I was jewish or had local friends.
Kudos to you for recognizing the opportunity and following through with your dream of traveling. Most people get stuck in the day dreaming stage and can never turn off the travel channel and actually go out and experience what it's really like. Especially given the limited financial situation you were in.
I did the same thing when I was single. Finally just did it and traveled through Australia, Europe, Mexico, etc. You don't want to have any regrets because once you get married and have kids that kind of cheap, no-plan travel you experienced is over.
As guerilla mentioned above, you should have no problem finding people wanting your knowledge in SEO/PPC that you've acquired (if that is what you want to do again)
Have you considered writing a book on your travels? A detailed travel guide on everything you experienced should be well worth it to enough people to open their wallets and pay for that info.
I did the same thing when I was single. Finally just did it and traveled through Australia, Europe, Mexico, etc. You don't want to have any regrets because once you get married and have kids that kind of cheap, no-plan travel you experienced is over.
As guerilla mentioned above, you should have no problem finding people wanting your knowledge in SEO/PPC that you've acquired (if that is what you want to do again)
Have you considered writing a book on your travels? A detailed travel guide on everything you experienced should be well worth it to enough people to open their wallets and pay for that info.
Total cost I don't know really. I have been earning some cash off and on during the trip that offset things some. If I was to guess a random figure I would say somewhere around 27k USD for the year.
Dude I spent 3 weeks living in Marrakesh while I was there. I LOVED Morocco the people were awesome. I nearly stayed longer but since its a muslim country its got women issues I couldn't live with. It was also one of the cheapest places I visited. My hostel was really nice and was $6 a night. A few days for fun I ate on only $2 and had 3 full meals and snacks. Eat where the locals eat and food is crazy cheap. I would visit Morocco again in a heartbeat.
Some hostels are really nice its not all dirty backpacker rooms for sure. Backpackers have some serious money and their are hostels that provide really nice rooms. I think on of the nicest was recently at Hang Tang Hostel in Xi'an, China. It had white marble floors, insanely white crisp sheets, a full bar and coffee bar and had a live band nearly every night. All of my hostels in China were actually some of the nicest in the world.
I did consider a book or starting a proper travel blog to help people out. I took a lot of routes that not many people take so I actually have useful information to give out. Defiantly enough for a book.
I was detained for 4 hours at the airport before they let me into the country. I had a beard at the time and had just been though Morocco and Turkey so I got lots of questioning. But that wasn't the worst part. I got it really bad when I tried to eat anywhere. I was in downtown Jerusalem in that trendy area the tram runs along. I would go up to one of the open restaurant places and try to order but the guys at the counter would always ignore me. If someone just walked up and yelled out in Hebrew what they wanted they got it. They wouldn't serve me until I was right in front of their face and they had to deal with me. I also went to this one famous falafel place (the name sounds japanese Mishko or something) with this Japanese girl I had met and after we finally got served they made fun of her for a good 15 mins afterwards for her accent trying to say "Lafel Falafel". We were eating at the table out side the place in the street and they would still yell out of the place at her. My whole time there is sadly nothing but these stories. Everyone wasn't just rude they were douchebags. Want to buy strawberries from the market? Expect to take shit for 5mins before you get them.
It was honestly so bad that while I was in Jerusalem I went into the muslim quarter in the old town to eat since the people were nicer. Or at least they wanted my money enough to take my order and serve me.
I was in Jerusalem for 3 days before it got so bad I decide to just leave. I then had two days in Eliat and I left for Jordan. I had planed for weeks in Israel but it was not a inviting place at all.
How was turkey? Yea girls here are a issue, most of them are either crazy or just all over the place! If anyone visits turkey hit me up, lets grab a coffee! Also what do you think was the total you spent on the whole trip? I want to do something like this but would like to save up first! Did you bring a laptop? Or just something like an Iphone?
Yeah, a proper travel blog could be enough to continue your journey on someone else's dime. Advertisers would start finding you and reach out for guest posts, link buys, free hotel stays for reviews, etc.
I just checked out some of your photos on FB and you have a ton of great images... with a year of traveling I'm sure you have some great stories to go along with each of them that would make a really popular travel resource and inspire many readers. Just look at how many "likes" this thread has received in just a few hours time...
Better to be broke with the experiences you've had then to have a shit ton of cash stuck behind a computer all day.
Major props.
Major props.