8 Months of Travelling, 3 Life lessons Learnt

before embarking on our travels with just a one-way ticket, we had no concept what the future held for us. We believed we were well gotten ready for travel as well as prepared to dominate the traveller-blogger world, as well as enjoy every single day.

With the highs as well as lows, we revelled in every moment of the 8 months of our travels around SE Asia. However, not without these 3 primary life lessons learnt along the way.

Slow Travelling

The very first as well as the most valuable lesson we learnt during our travels is the importance of sluggish travelling. particularly if you are planning to do some work along way.

We totally fooled ourselves into believing we might quickly travel around, as well as work. as well as really, exactly how difficult could it be to compose a publish after exploring?

Believe us, after riding a motorbike all the time or checking out 17 temples within 3 days, all you will want to do is put your feet up as well as have a beer. as well as that’s precisely what we did!

It wasn’t up until 3 months into travelling that we found exactly how fantastic it really is to travel slowly. After our 2-day boat trip in Laos, we decided to anchor in Luang Prabang for at least one week as well as stop moving.

Only then did we realise that we requirement to do this, otherwise we will never catch up with composing content, let alone starting building a blog.

Since then, while travelling in Vietnam we made a mindful decision to stop in lovely Hoi An for 1.5 months, as well as we spent our last two months in SE Asia living in Bangkok. To develop our blog further, we are now planning to stop in Malta for the next few months.

While it’s fun to jump from location to location as well as experience the travel rush in a short area of time, we now appreciate exactly how fantastic it is to travel slower as well as discover a bit bit more about a place, the people as well as culture.

A piece of advice we can provide to anyone wanting to travel as well as blog is to select the location carefully. Make sure there is speedy wifi in the flat/house as well as lots of locations to pop out for food. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to travel as well far to buy some food if you are in midst of motivation as well as the fridge is empty.

Travel Complacency. Avoid!

Travel complacency is a dangerous business. We experienced it very first hand at the Cambodian/Thailand border as well as it wasn’t fun being stuck in between two borders. This was the time when we were happily chatting away about our upcoming two months in Bangkok as well as exactly how much we’ve missed the city, when Kristina was rejected entry to Thailand.

We just ended up being as well contented about the rules as well as didn’t inspect the regulations before making our method to the border.

While Charlie, as a British citizen, was quickly stamped into Thailand, Kristina, a Lithuanian citizen, was unceremoniously pulled to one side for further investigation. Not only do Lithuanian nationals requirement proof of a departure flight when crossing the border overland, however they likewise have to pay $30 for a 15-day visa on arrival.

We were lucky the policeman was kind as well as provided us a couple of options to kind ourselves out. We do not desire it on anyone to be stuck in no man’s land trying to book a return ticket to ‘anywhere’ as well as then trying to print it out just to get into the country. Finally, 5 hours later, disheartened as well as exhausted we were granted entry.

Make sure to inspect as well as double-check the rules. Even if you’ve ‘been there as well as done that’, things change, rules modifications as well as locations change. There won’t be anyone else to blame however yourself!

There’s a useful tip that came out of all this mess: if you ever requirement to cross at the Krong Poipet/Aranyaprathet border in the Thailand direction then go in the afternoon where there is little-to-no waiting. as well as if you ever get pulled aside, stay cool, keep calm as well as try to believe clearly no matter exactly how frightening the circumstance may seem.

Stay Flexible

If we have learnt anything during our travels, it is to be flexible. Sometimes, no matter exactly how much you plan, things don’t always work out. We made plans as well as had to modification them many times during those 8 months on the road, sometimes because of ridiculous things like weather.

It was reaching +40° Celsius when we were checking out Vientiane, the funding of Laos. We desired terribly to see the 4 Thousand Islands to the south of Laos, however the warm was sweltering as well as most of our days were spent inside, hiding from the sun.It soon ended up being remove that we were just wasting our time as well as money as well as going even further south would only get worse temperature-wise, so we fled the country. We made a rational decision to fly to Hanoi in Vietnam as well as it was one of the very best decisions we’ve made, hello rain!

Just keep in mind that you will always be able to go back as well as check out further another time. In our opinion, it’s always much better to change the plans instead of fighting things you just can’t change.

If you feel like you are not enjoying the moment, let go as well as move on, otherwise you danger resenting the whole travelling experience.

This is what travel is all about, not only checking out the new as well as rediscovering the old, it’s likewise about learning, improving your old methods of travelling as well as discovering new methods to stay on the road.

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