Everybody speaks of how traveling is a great learning curve. There’s so many people out there that claim it taught them more than any professor or any classroom in any university. Almost all of them are spectacularly correct. Being on your own in a strange, new land, where nothing is familiar and every moment takes you some distance out of your comfort zone, can be quite unsettling & humbling. At the same time, it brings many life-changing lessons.
Recently, I returned from a trip I spent months planning for. I thought I was prepared for everything and had every contingency figured. Yet, there’s no way I could have accounted for getting separated from my friends and being lost in a big, strange city for a good couple of hours. There’s no way I could have accounted for having to spend my last night in a dingy, stinky hostel room, with two weird room-mates, neither of whom willingly conversed. So many of these situations felt scary at the moment, but in hindsight, I realize now it was also part of the thrill – part of what makes travel memorable and part of what makes travel a great teacher. Here are some of my first real travel lessons from my very first independent trip. What were yours?
Click to Begin The Enlightenment!
1. Traveling is Tiring
The Pilgrim’s Path to Slieve League drained me out and HOW!
I know it sounds rather obvious and silly, but fanatics like me often get carried away with their elaborate planning. In a span of 20 days (including 4 flights & >4000 KMs of driving), I’ve covered 2 countries, 3 distinct cultures & explored at least 15 different counties. Yes, I’m showing off; but also, in hindsight, I’d have liked to do this a lot slower, taken a little more time to settle down at every place I visited, and become part of the local culture.
I spent so much more time sleeping & resting than I’d ever accounted for, that it did throw my rough itinerary off by a few hours every day. I like to think of myself as above average on the athleticism front, but even then, scaling 3 peaks in 3 continuous days can be rather draining.
Bottom Line: Do consider travel fatigue when planning your road-map, and take it slow. The number of destinations isn’t as important as experiencing each destination (unless you’re the kind that likes setting records or something).
2. Use Travel/Guide Books With Care
Photo Courtesy: Irish Fireside
I honestly don’t want to be critical of guide books, because the one I used – Lonely Planet’s Ireland was absolutely well written and immensely helpful. Travel books, however, can be quite influential – they can dictate your experience and have you develop pre-meditated biases. I noticed my over-dependence on the guide book a couple of days into my trip, and I realized I didn’t want my experience to be dictated by somebody else’s experience altogether. That’s when I put my kindle away and took it out only when we were well & truly lost!
I strongly believe itineraries, road-maps & travel books should form a skeleton of your experience. Reading what other people recommend and their experiences can create a bias, and I would want to always give myself the freedom of going where the road takes me.
Bottom Line: use guidebooks as a reference point, but don’t let it dictate everything you do and everyplace you go to on your visit.
3. Stories will Find You Where You Least Expect Them:
Photo Courtesy: Chelsea Tells Stories
It’s strange, isn’t it? People like me go all over the world wanting to bump into interesting people, make elaborate plans and crave for interesting tales & experiences to share. Very often though, the most touching stories will come to you when you least expect it.
One of the stories that moved me the most, came on the very last night of my adventure. I was spending the night at a beat-down, shady looking hostel at Northfields, because it was the cheapest & closest thing available to Heathrow Airport, from whence I had my homeward flight the next day. This is where I met my room-mate – 21 year old Harry Johnston (name changed). After all the exuberant Irish welcomes, I was a little knocked off balance when Harry barely acknowledged my jovial “hello” when he walked in. Significant prodding and a couple of drinks later, I found out Harry was a single child, who’d recently lost both his parents – one died in a car crash and the other walked out. With nobody to pay the mortgage, design student Harry had to give up his house and take up a job at a massive apparel chain – the one we all use toiletries from. When I first saw Harry, he had just returned from a 12 hour shift that began at 5.46 am on a Sunday. He had been staying at this beaten down place for several weeks now, barely making from rent-day to rent-day. He’d already dropped out of college and was truly clueless about how to get his life back on track. He’d wanted to be a fashion designer, and though it definitely isn’t my area of expertise, some of his work that I was able to see in pictures he shared, promised a lot. Sounds like a plot right out of a Bollywood movie doesn’t it? Well it isn’t, because there’s no happy ending to Harry’s story (yet), but I hope there will be. There are countless such obscure faces in and around Central London – people who’s lives have turned upside down in a moment, stories that don’t deserve pity, but deserve to be told and heard.
Some of the most interesting people I met, some of the best conversations I had were in completely unexpected circumstances in some of the remotest places in Ireland – and I do hope to do a whole new post about some of those sometime soon.
4. Once a While, Travel will Disappoint:
Once again, I’m being dramatic here, but in an age where travelling has become the ‘cool’ thing to do and everybody wants to do it long-term, it’s immensely important to point out and to realize that it isn’t always as rosey as it may sound. Things can go horribly wrong, you could miss a flight, you could get mugged and for a more realistic example – the weather could totally ruin the joy of experiencing one of those things you most looked forward to doing (welcome to my world). I wanted to take a surfing lesson during my 2 day stay at Bundoran – a small obscure surfing village in north-western Ireland, but one of the country’s best surfing spots. For some odd reason, on a perfectly sunny day, the water was deemed too dangerous for an amateur session of surfing and I was left ruing my luck.
At other times, things you had heard a lot about – places, people or experiences, may not live up to your expectations. When I set off on this journey, I had such brilliant pictures of Ireland in my mind, I’d have laughed if anybody had ever mentioned that it could ever leave me wanting. Thankfully, it largely lived up to its billing, but there were times and moments when I drove for hours to arrive at a particular destination recommended by a local or paid a hefty admission fee to see a local attraction, but leave feeling a little mooched. This happens, but you know what? That’s partly what makes the whole thing so beautiful & exciting – not knowing how things will turn out, not knowing what wonders await you tomorrow.
5. You are Very Likely to Overspend:
This holds very true, especially for a first time traveller. Airlines will charge you for bags that are oversize by 1cm or overweight by 1kg; car rentals will charge you hundreds of euros for losing a tire rim, despite purchasing the most comprehensive insurance cover; exchange rates will certainly screw you over from time to time and here’s the funniest of the lot – you will find far too many souvenirs and things you want to bring back but can’t afford and all of them will be overpriced (simple Irish branded ball-pens were being sold for obscene prices of INR 500).
I mean no disrespect here, these expenses are being charged because you missed reading a clause in fine-print or because there are plenty of people willing to pay that much for a pen. The bottom line is despite months of budgeting and planning, you are very likely to overshoot your projections (at least that first time you travel on your own) and it’s always helpful to have a tiny contingency fund at your disposal.
6. Your Participation Defines your Experience:
Traditional Irish Music & Dance Workshop at my hostel in Dublin
I knew beforehand that the Irish were renowned for their friendliness & welcoming nature. Plenty of times, a complete stranger made attempts to reach out and strike a conversation, but reaching out yourself, was always greeted with enthusiasm and pleasantries too.
For an introvert, striking conversations with complete strangers was a real step out of my comfort zone, but isn’t that exactly what this is all about? I completely enjoy a pint of beer by myself in a quaint little pub without a trace of human company, but somehow, reaching out to such wonderful people feels greatly endearing.
It’s important to watch what your body language says. Most people want to reach out to you because you’re evidently a new face in places where everybody knows everyone; but you could look cold and uninviting, huddled together in your own group at the remotest corner table in the room or you could sit in the middle and look aware of your surrounding patrons and be pleasant in general. You could stand with folded arms, watching a local favorite troupe of musicians perform or you could jump right in and cheer like a hooligan – just generally, people will always reach out to a happy looking person, and for me, what makes travel immensely rewarding is the people you meet, and not so much the places you visit. So next time you’re out there by your own, try and strike up a conversation with that stranger next to you or at least look pleasantly interested and hope they get that you’re just shy! 🙂
7. It NEVER is Enough
This is obvious, but I’ve also heard of people who grow homesick and want to return midway. Honestly, I do miss home as I write this and I’m looking forward to seeing my family and sleeping in my own bed again, but with each passing day, I cursed silently at the fact that time was passing by too quickly.
Frankly, 20 days is a long time to be away from a full time job, and I’m grateful for the privilege, but somehow, it still isn’t enough! And then while I was writing this on my homebound flight, I realized what I have, is an insufferable condition that even 365 days of travel may not cure. The hunger for more, the wanderlust is insatiable. We are a greedy breed when we get a taste of it and the only cure is a new adventure after the other. You know what’s interesting though? Somehow I like this feeling, this discontent, because it keeps me craving, looking and working towards my next great adventure 🙂
What were your takeaways from your travel experiences? I’d love to know it all!
Also Read:
Ireland: 50 Shades of Green, Blue & Beer
Seychelles Immigration – A Nightmare Introduction to Paradise