Riding in the back of a tuk-tuk is not the “norm” at home.
Mike at Vagabondish tagged me as well as a couple of others to give our 5 reasons for traveling.
For me, I wanted to do some long term traveling from the age of 18 onwards. The problem was my mother was set against it and I didn’t have enough money to fund the trip, perhaps at the time I didn’t want it enough.
After college I left for university and 4-5 years of debt and overdrafts. I still find it bemusing that so many people today can find enough money to travel the world before university.
When I was at university I can only remember one single person who had gone “traveling” before hand, he’d made it to Australia at the time this sounded like a scary journey.
After two years of working as a web developer I had saved enough to pay off my student debts but was still in the cycle of spending money. I moved jobs and locations and after a year made the decision to travel, at the age of 25-26 it felt like it was now or never. A year later I had saved enough money and I was ready to leave. See my article on The Secret Of Successful Saving For Your Trip.
So there you have a little background on why I wanted to travel.
Here are my five reasons for traveling:
1. To Step Out Of My Comfort Zone
I’ve always liked moving to a new place, meeting new people and seeing new things. Even in the UK I relished moving away from home to university to gain some kind of independence. In my home town it was far to easy to fall into a routine and the cycle of everyday life.
I initially wanted to put myself in a situation where I would challenge myself to see how well I would cope with unfamiliarity. I booked my first flight to Beijing, I was determined to go solo. So far it has been one of my favourite places and I have some great memories.
2. To Learn About Myself
I wanted to find out exactly what I liked and disliked, by traveling solo I’d soon find out. Being a particularly placid person I wasn’t relying on anyone to make suggestions or decisions. I ended up traveling in a very “go with the flow” style, this was sometimes a good thing as you’d go to places you wouldn’t normally but on the other hand I’d also miss things along the way.
3. To Build Confidence
I think I needed some confidence building. If I was in a group I’d normally just let someone else organise things or for example buy the tickets. By traveling alone I was reliant on myself to organise everything, there was no where to hide.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, at university the prospect of visiting Australia sounded daunting. After landing in Beijing and traveling solo around Asia everywhere seems like a new exciting place to visit, for some reason most of the fear of the unknown has evaporated.
4. To Try New Foods
I used to be a little fussy with food, but after traveling through Asia I now eat almost anything. I really don’t know how it came about but if it looks cooked I’ll eat it. I ate snake and crocodile in Cambodia but only saw the much talked about dog strung up on a stall in China.
The food in Asia was pretty amazing and food in general plays a big part in traveling. It is also one reason why I’d like to get away for Australia, here there are KFC’s, Subway’s, Mc Donalds on every corner. I find myself in the Thai restaurant craving after some spicy Tom Yam soup at least once a week.
5. To Experience New Cultures
I wanted to see how people lived in other countries. For this reason Asia primarily appealed having read about places and seen various videos it just seemed very different. From the amazing food to the chaotic traffic everything seemed so different, I wanted to see it and try to understand it all.
Today, I could still be sat in front of a computer screen watching my life go by without seeing or doing anything new. One of those days I’d wake up and it’d be too late or too difficult to find the flexibility and freedom to just get up and leave.
My old grandad often has many amusing stories from back in the days and even from his military service in India. I thought to myself that when I reach his age I want to have some stories to tell, but the way I was going I’d only be able to talk about how I spent most of my life in front of a computer screen. It was slightly depressing.
My advice to anyone who wants to go traveling is to physically do something about it now, not tomorrow but now. Book a flight, commit yourself to it and go for it.
I’d like to tag Stacy, Timen and Ian. That is if no one else has tagged these guys already!
