THE people who shaped MY LIFE
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 gjengen fra La Tomatina var et tips om at dette er mulig ikke bare når du reiser, men ofte.
Og i et beste eksempel på nøyaktig hvordan ting aldri endrer seg, feiret jeg over et år senere Thanksgiving med tvillingesøsknene fra denne gruppen så vel som deres familie, så vel som det var som om vi hadde vært gode venner med tanke på at barndommen.
Selvfølgelig ville jeg være der for Thanksgiving!
Livet er fullt av fremmede som former livene våre, både store og dårlige. Alle menneskene du tilfredsstiller etterlater et stykke av seg selv med deg. I tillegg til at du ofte ikke kjenner det igjen før mye senere. Du tror ikke virkelig om det før en melankolsk, reflekterende natt i fremtiden når du setter deg ned for å komponere en bloggpublikum som denne.
Selv om jeg har sett mange bemerkelsesverdige steder på mine reiser, er de hovedsakelig irrelevante. Det er menneskene jeg har møtt som har gjort livet mitt bedre. Det er det jeg tror mest på.
Og uten å tilfredsstille folk som disse på veien, ville jeg sannsynligvis ikke ha vart så lenge.
Så når jeg fyller 30 år i helgen, hever jeg et glass til dem så vel som alle de andre jeg jeg har fornøyd de siste fem årene. Takk til deg, si takk til deg, si takk til deg.
Hvordan reise verden rundt på $ 50 om dagen
My New York Times veldig populære pocketbok guide til verdensreiser vil vise deg nøyaktig hvordan du kan mestre kunsten å reise for å sikre at du kommer fra allfarvei, spare penger, i tillegg til å ha en dypere reiseopplevelse. Det er din A til Z -planleggingsguide at BBC kalte “Bibelen for budsjettplanreisende.”
Klikk her for å oppdage mye mer i tillegg til å begynne å lese den i dag!
Bestill turen din: Logistiske ideer så vel som triks
Bestill flyet ditt
Finn en rimelig flytur ved å bruke Skyscanner. Det er min foretrukne bla gjennom motoren siden den søker på nettsteder så vel som flyselskaper over hele kloden, slik at du alltid forstår at ingen stein er igjen.
Bestill innkvarteringen din
Du kan bestille vandrerhjemmet ditt med Hostelworld. Hvis du vil bo et annet sted enn et herberge, kan du bruke booking.com, da de konsekvent returnerer de billigste prisene for gjestehus så vel som hotell.
Ikke klarer ikke å huske reiseforsikring
Reiseforsikringsdekning vil sikre deg mot sykdom, skade, tyveri, samt kanselleringer. Det er detaljert sikkerhet i situasjonen alt går galt. Jeg drar aldri på tur uten det, da jeg har måttet utnytte det mange ganger i det siste. Min foretrukne virksomhet som tilbyr den aller beste servicen og verdien er:
Safetywing (best for alle)
Forsikre turen min (for de over 70)
MedJet (for ekstra evakueringsdekning)
Klar til å bestille turen?
Sjekk ut ressurssiden min for den aller beste virksomheten å bruke når du reiser. Jeg viser alle de jeg bruker når jeg reiser. De er de aller beste i klassen, og du ikke kan gå galt ved å bruke dem på turen.