05Nov13
One month into our leap year, we have some reflections on full-time travel. In no particular order:
- We don’t miss our stuff at all. In fact, there are a few things we’d take off our packing list.
- Other people are more hard core than us, like this family of three driving across Central and South America and camping in their VW van.
- It’s hard to find other young travelers. We miss our friends and family who aren’t here. We need to figure out how to make friends.
- It doesn’t cost much money to live.
- It’s helpful to know local people who can recommend places to eat, where to do your laundry, upcoming local events, etc.
- We love Mexican food, but miss having more diverse food options.
- Volunteering is really rewarding and we’d like to do it more often.
- We miss sitting in an office every day. Psych. So we’re doing some thinking about what else would both challenge us and have meaning.
- A slower pace of life suits us well. It’s nice to be able to take the time to appreciate little things, like this:
Have you tried couchsurfing.com? When I was traveling I would check out their message boards for the city I was in (even if I wasn’t couchsurfing myself). Often people – including locals – post events and the community is really friendly to travelers!
Also, that’s in reply to your comment about needing to make friends.
Thanks for the tip, Rom-Po!!
What would you leave off your packing list? We are going to Thailand in a month and I’m starting to think about what to pack. Your insights would be appreciated!
We haven’t needed most of our long-sleeve shirts, although that’s OK because the next places we go will be much cooler. Haven’t needed the water filter — the tap water is fine for washing/bathing and it’s easier (and tastes better) to get a garrafon de agua and drink from that. I also have barely worn make-up at all except a little bit of powder, so I’d take that off my list. We haven’t played the games a whole lot either, nor have we needed our sneakers (except when I go for a run). Our regular walking shoes have gotten us through just fine.
But I would definitely say bring enough clothes for a week. I’d hoped to re-wear things more, but it’s been so hot here that that’s not really realistic. Probably the same in Thailand. Hope this helps!