What Travelling Has Taught Us In A Month
Journal Entry 9
We can’t believe it’s already been over a month that we left home and started travelling full-time. We already met so many people, stayed in different levels of accommodation and did so many jobs that we never dreamt of doing! Here’s a short recap of the most important travel hacks we learned during this time.
Workaway.info
We have been talking about this for so long but we still feel that it’s unheard of by most people. It allowed us to have a 3-week trip on a Greek island without spending anything on food and accommodation! How cool is that, right?!
Packing
We had heard this ourselves a million times before our trip and we did our best to keep it in mind, but still … we took too much unnecessary stuff. If we had to go back, we would have left half of our things at home. Now, our backs have to suffer the consequences!
We initially packed 7 socks and 7 underwears (1 for each day of the week). But it turned out that we’re doing our laundry nearly every day – meaning that we only use just 3 or 4. Also, so far, we haven’t had any access to a washing machine and even if we did, we wouldn’t have collected enough laundry for 1 load – our wardrobe is very limited, meaning that we wear the same clothes more than one day in a row.
Makeup – If you wear makeup on a daily basis, then this is not for you! However, in my experience (Charlotte), I brought a small makeup case for occasions, I thought. But I have never used any of it … and I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have brought any in the first place.
We haven’t used half of the things we carry also because we brought clothes for both Summer and Winter. We couldn’t have done it any other way but always keep in mind to pack LIGHT!
Pack Versatile Clothing
When deciding what to take and what not, make sure to plan ahead – meaning that the majority of the clothes should go well with every other piece in the backpack. If there’s a T-shirt that only goes well with one type of pants, dump it! It’s a luxury to have all clothes available to you while on the road and have enough time to wash the others.
COVID Requirements
We already made a mistake once, but we really hope that it won’t happen again any time soon!
Check if there are any requirements prior to entering the country you’re visiting.
Call the embassy of the country you’re planning your visit to.
If you’re travelling by plane, make sure to check-in more than 24 hours prior to the flight. The airline shall send you an email if there are any changes in requirements after check-in.
Dump Your Straightener/Curler etc.
Charlotte – I never have time and neither the effort to put into making my hair look better, just so it could maybe last a day or two. I always use to straighten my hair back at home … and hence why I brought my straightener with me! But it has literally no use at all.
Set Weekly Budget Plans
Every traveller will do this differently. But personally, we believe that short-term budget plans are easier to manage and deal with. Otherwise, it would be a bit harder to keep up daily round-ups of expenses and it would become a total mess. We’ve been using Revolut’s vaults to set up these budgets, and so far it has been working great!
Keep in Mind: IT’S NOT A HOLIDAY!
Backpacking is the total opposite to what some may refer to as a ‘holiday’.
We sleep in airports, train stations or beaches … and sometimes we don’t sleep at all. When we’re lucky enough to have an accommodation, we stay in hostels and every once in a while we get to work with amazing accommodations from all around the world. It’s literally a rollercoaster – sometimes we’re on the up and others on the down. Most of the times organisations provide us food and shelter, or else communities, families etc. where we volunteer, we help and we become better selves. Total strangers become our best friends in just a few days … until we have to say goodbye once again!
We eat crazy local affordable food from street vendors or else just storm a supermarket for something tasty on a budget.
We hitchhike, deal with locals who offer to give us a ride and are all ears to hear about how we ended up in their vehicle … we walk and truly discover the beauty of the place on foot or we use public transport.
We’re taking on the idea of sending postcards to our families. They’re a great souvenir which is cheap and wouldn’t require any space in our backpacks. Also, they’d be great to look back to someday in the future.
We would definitely not change a thing about anything that has been happening lately. We have been dreaming of this life for a long time now but honestly, we didn’t imagine it to be this fun!
While we’re happy living every backpacker’s dream, we wish we could inspire others! If you have the dream to travel, PLEASE, we beg you … GO FOR IT! Life is VERY short to wait for the perfect time – chances are it may never come!
