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Now Ye're Talking - To a World Traveller
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How did you decide where to go? Why did you choose certain countries/regions/cities over others?
At the start of the 7 years, did you have a pre planned itinerary mapped out, or did you make it up as you went along?
Honestly, most decisions were made on a day by day basis. From the beginning I knew that there were certain key places that I wanted to visit - Everest Base Camp, Lake Baikal, Mongolia, Tibet, to name a few, but other than that, the dots joining those places together on the map shifted as circumstances changed. The key is being flexible enough to accept that change. Very few choices of country to visit were dictated by money - actually the only country I ruled out from a financial point of view was Japan - I met two Norwegian girls while travelling in Russia and met up again in Beijing, and they had blown through over €1000 each travelling around Japan for a week. So I decided to leave Japan for a trip of its own, sometime in the future.
To give an example of how made up as I went along this trip was, I mentioned earlier a 3600km detour? My original plan was to travel across Tibet and onto Nepal, when Tibet was declared off-limits to foreigners by the Chinese government. Not willing to break my no-fly rule and fly the couple of hours to Kathmandu, I ended up backtracking though half of China, almost all the way back to Beijing, before heading up into northern China, to Urumshi, then along the Karakoum highway and across the border into Pakistan, a country I never considered visiting, and camping at the base of K2 after a three week detour. After spending some time in Pakistan, I ended up travelling down through India and eventually across to Nepal, arriving into Kathmandu months after I should have been there.How much in depth research did you do on each country/region/city that you visited, or did you go in blind?
For the most part I travelled blind, but I guess that at this stage it's worth bearing in mind that I was a seasoned traveller even before this particular trip, so nothing was overly shocking. That being said, once on the ground, I would look into what was in the region or the province - much of what I learned about a place came from chatting to local people. Which is a good approach in my experience - you get to experience many places of cultural significance that most tourists don't get to see, as it's off the tourist track. I will admit to being particularly fortunate in China - the girl who I travelled through part of it with, happened to be an archaeologist, and she had a wealth of information on pretty much anything of significance there.Did you travel to places with a preconceived notion of what they were going to be like? Were your ideas usually right/wrong/bit of a mixed bag really?
I don't really have any preconceived notions, or at least I try not to have. I didn't really have any unpleasant surprises - but there were pleasant ones - as I mentioned earlier, I found the Lao people particularly friendly, moreso than I had any preconceived ideas of. Unpleasant, probably Papua New Guinea - it's just a very difficult place to be. Tourists don't go there - westerners who are there are usually missionaries of some form or another, and life isn't worth a whole lot there. There have been other trips though where I have had unpleasant surprises - when I travelled in Africa, the level to which racism is so ridiculously rampant is shocking - I traveled through Kenya when I was 19, and the white families there were particularly bad.How many pairs of socks and jocks would you have had in your possession while travelling?
While I was thinking of what actually was in my rucksack, I figured that I may as wall draw up a list. Below is what I pretty much started out with. I added to it and took away from it as needed - for example I bought a woolen jumper in a market somewhere in Russia, when the weather got too cold, and ditched it again somewhere in China - but for the most part, the contents of my rucksack were pretty consistent.
55 litre Deuter Rucksack- Rollmat (outside bag)
- Sleeping bag
- Silk liner
- Compass
- 2 man MSR tent
- rope
- MSR multifuel stove
- titanium saucepans
- compass
- decent first aid kit
- antibiotics
- water bottle
- headtorch
- bivvy bag
- knife
- Camera
- Shower gel, shaving, etc.
- Washing powder
- 4 pairs of boxers
- 4 pairs of socks
- 4 t-shirts
- 1 light sweater
- 2 pairs of hiking pants
- 1 pair of jeans (for special occasions)
- 1 pair of light trainers (wore boots during day)
- fleece cap
- fleece gloves
- Heavy duty rain gear
- heavy duty fleece jacket (lost it about two weeks into the trip)
- Various books that I swopped out regularly along the way.
But to answer your questions, I left with four pairs of boxers, and I'm almost ashamed to say that one pair lasted the entire journey...How easy/difficult was it to do something like wash your clothes?
It's not that difficult actually. I'd always carry a ziploc bag of washing powder in my rucksack, and in the beginning, while travelling through Europe, I met up now and again with various friends I'd made over the years, who would invite me to stay, or at least grab a much needed hot shower or use their facilities to do washing. As I left Europe and my friends behind, camping mode kicked in. Most of my washing I did in a big cooler bag I found somewhere while hitchhiking - the type that are made of heavy duty plastic and are reflective on the inside, with a big ziploc on the top to seal the cold in. Chuck in t-shirts, jocks or socks, few litres of water and some washing powder, seal up the bag and shake the bejesus out of it before rinsing. On other occasions I was quite liberal with peoples outdoor taps or troughs. Streams got put to use sometimes. On occasions I'd stay in a guesthouse or hostel, and most of my clothes would get washed in the shower alongside me. Drying them was a matter of string the wet clothes through the various straps of my rucksack and hoping they'd get enough sun and wind to dry off.
In south east Asia, I spoiled myself at times - there seems to be a small army of housewives there who make a living from washing backpackers clothes. For $3 or $4 I could hand them my steaming mass of dirty clothes, and get them back washed and ironed. It was the height of luxury compared to what I'd been doing beforehand.Who was the most interesting person/people you met on your travels?
That's really hard to answer - I met many amazing people who stand out for various different reasons. Some I have mentioned already - for example, sitting down in a hut in the Himalayas, chatting to a 60 year old man over a cup of tea, who just happened to mention in passing that he'd climbed Everest eight times (he had the certificates to prove it). Another would be one of the meteorologists I met just west of Everest - he was born in a Himalayan village, and still messages me on Facebook with today's view of Everest outside the weather station now and again. One of the crazier ones who I haven't mentioned is Kako, an ex Georgian militia and self appointed chief of the town he now lives in. During the 2008 war, when Russia invaded Georgia (again), he'd been shot three times and lived, only after taking out a healthy number of Russians himself. I was introduced to him through a friend of mine, and our first encounter was a drunken wrestling competition with each other, where he spent the first half hour threatening to kill me, before ripping open his shirt to show me where he'd been shot. And after that we were friends! He was an extremely lovely and generous man, and invited me many times to stay in his family home, or drink with his friends. On my second trip to Everest Base Camp, I brought the Georgian flag, and his family crest to base camp with me, photos of which still adorn his mantlepiece back home. We're good friends to this day.What was your worst flying experience?
For the most part, no flights were involved in this trip, so no bad flights to report. There have been bad flights on other trips though, the worst being when I backpacked through South America. I was in Venezuela, and wanted to hike into Angel Falls. And the way it works is that you can charter a small plane from the town of Ciudad Bolívar into a landing strip in the jungle, and boat/hike the rest of the way on foot. The plane I flew in on was standard fare - 4 seater Cessna, local pilot and two other people in the back. No issues, hour long flight and we touched down on the landing strip in the rainforest. A couple of weeks later I returned to the same strip, expecting the same plane to be the one taking me back, but apparently it doesn't work that way. Whatever plane happens to be handy at the time and going in the right direction is the one you end up taking. The plane that happened to be sitting on the grass runway was of similar size to the one I arrived in, only about 20 years older. And appeared like it had spent at least five of those years as a henhouse. As it turned out (and this isn't a word of a lie), they has dragged it out of retirement a couple of months previous, after crashing the good plane they'd bout to replace it, killing everyone on board. Not exactly a vote of confidence.
Inside it wasn't much better - I was in the copilots seat, the door to my right tied closed with fencing wire, and a hole in the floorpan I could (and did) take photographs though. Gauges had long been removed - navigation was a handheld GPS unit velcroed to the dash. Trim controls were non existent. I'm not sure what certification (if any) this thing had; it was airworthy, but only just. But with little other choice, in I got, along with a Dutch couple who happened to be visiting the falls on their honeymoon.
The next hour was a rollercoaster ride from hell. To start with, the Dutch couple asked if they could pay extra, and get him to fly over the falls one last time before they left, which he was willing to do, all too enthusiastically - he made a fair attempt to plough straight into them before pulling away at the last moment, to show off his piloting skills. And for the next 45 minutes back, for some inexplicable reason, he'd pull the plane up to a decent altitude before letting go of the flight yolk and letting it nosedive for a while, and pulling the plane up again. While it didn't exactly inspire me with confidence (after the second or third time I figured that we probably wouldn't die), it absolutely terrified the poor Dutch woman sitting behind us, her husband trying to console her while screaming at the pilot, her vomiting from fear until she had nothing left to throw up. By the time we landed, the Dutch woman had to be carried from the plane - the combination of vomiting until weak, and sheer terror meant that her legs wouldn't hold her up - while the pilot disappeared out of sight. I have no idea how she got back to the Netherlands, but I sincerely doubt she's gotten on a plane again since.0 -
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whiskeyman wrote: »Since you've travelled the world and are now back home in 'normality', if you got a weekend or a week off for holidays, where would you go?
Where'd be a top city break for you?
Have you travelled around Ireland much?
(really enjoying your answers here. Thanks again to you and the Board team for this
)
A weekend off, I'd probably stay around Ireland to be honest - spend some time hiking in the mountains. A week, I'd consider going a bit further afield, and use it to get a feel fro a country to perhaps return to again for a longer period of time. A week right now, and money not being an option, I'd probably visit Iceland, see a little of the country and decide whether to return there in the future, with more of a plan in mind.
As for Ireland, yes, I've travelled around every county at this stage - it's pretty much how my love of travelling began. My dad brought me camping and travelling all over the country when I was a kid, and I've expanded on it since. In college I used to be involved in kayaking and mountaineering, and travelled all over to partake in both. The kayak still gets dragged out now and again, but the mountains are where I'm most active still, and where I feel most at peace, so I'll still go all over for that.Is there anywhere you haven't been that you really really want to go?
Where was your favourite place in Africa? Any tips for Mozambique?
Many places. Even though I've travelled a fair amount, there's always somewhere new to see, and something new to discover. I'd love to do a trip from Cape Town back to Ireland, going though West Africa in particular as I haven't been to the countries in that region before. Though with the threats that some of them pose, it would require a lot of planning. Antarctica is still on my top 5 places to see, even though there isn't a whole lot to 'see' there. At one point in my life I looked into possibly working there for a season, but the requirements are pretty specific. A friend of mine (one of the Norwegian girls I met while traveling, mentioned earlier) works there as a chef at the moment.
Favourite place in Africa - there are a few. The skeleton Coast in Namibia is beautiful in its bleakness - I drove a 4WD down the length of the Namibian coastline once, and you can see straight away how the coastline got its name - you'd be better off drowning in the shipwreck, than making it to shore only to face a slow death. South Africa in general is a beautifully lush country, and looking across Table bay at Cape Town and Table Mountain, it's hard to imagine a prettier location for a city.
No tips for Mozambique I'm afraid - I've never been there.TimeToShine wrote: »Under what circumstances would you recommend someone travel solo as opposed to trying to get a group to go?
To be honest, that's very much a personal choice and it's hard to make that call for someone else. If you are confident in what you are doing and where you are going, and you are confident that you will be content in your own company, then travelling solo is certainly worth considering. If not, then better to travel with others, at least for a while until you get your bearings.
There's obviously a greater risk factor involved with travelling alone. You do appear more vulnerable - you are more vulnerable, and if you are female, you definitely are more vulnerable to unwanted sexual advances. If you are going off the beaten track, and something happens or you get injured, then it's obviously an issue. As is if you get robbed, and you don't have anybody to fall back on for money, or just a bit of support. You need to motivate yourself a lot more to do things and go places, as you don't have anybody elses enthusiasm to bounce off. It can limit you in certain activities. And travelling in company can often be cheaper - sharing accommodation for example.
Other than the physical aspects, there is a psychological side to it too. travelling alone allows you to be inside your own head, rummaging through your own thoughts for extended periods of time, particularly if you are somewhere remote, like the mountains. And you may not always like what you find in there. That sounds more dramatic than intended, but if you are working through some personal issues, or trying to get a sense of yourself, being alone all the time can be a double edged sword in that sometimes it can be hard to switch off, because you don't have the distraction of somebody else around to help you do so.
That being said, unless you are truly planting yourself in the middle of nowhere, it's easy to travel alone, and pair up with people fro a bit. there are plenty of other travellers out there with similar interests, and meeting new people is often a case of sitting down and having a beer in a guesthouse.Balmed Out wrote: »Whats your favorite part of Ireland to travel in?
West of the Shannon, for the most part. Cork and Kerry, Connemara up to Mayo, and the hills of Donegal.Balmed Out wrote: »In my own travels ive preferred Central and South America to Asia or Africa but you haven't mentioned, am I right in thinking these seven years didn't include the Americas?
Back to finances, even given all you said I find it hard to believe that your budget didn't hamper you. I mean just paying entrance fees to historic sights, museums etc it all adds up. Are there places you would like to return to with a bit more money?
I did a short hop across to Central and South America on this trip. But you're correct, I didn't make it back there again before coming home - sudden illness in the family meant that I had to come back earlier than expected. A year before I left, I'd travelled down through the Caribbean Islands, onto Venezuela and down through South America though, which is the main reason for me heading east from Ireland this time round, rather than west. I do love South America though, very much - one of my travelling regrets so far is that I haven't been to Chile yet - something I'd like to rectify very soon.
Regarding finances, I don't feel that I lost out on anything, but certainly there were compromises I guess. Travelling on a shoestring all the time can wear thin, and there have been times where I'd love to splash out on a nice place to stay - many of the places I stayed in in India for example, were not much of a step up from the treatment centres where I volunteered. but that's what you get in a dollar a night accommodation. If I were to go back to anywhere in particular with money, it would probably be Malaysia or maybe the gulf of Thailand, and spend more on activities there - I scuba dive and did so while I was travelling, but it's an expensive hobby to take part in while trying to live frugally. I had to turn down a few amazing diving opportunities, and the chance to upskill, licence-wise.Did you have all your money on your person? If you had it in a bank account did you not waste alot of money on bank charges?
No, for somewhat obvious reasons, I didn't leave Ireland with €31,000 stuffed into my pockets You're right about the bank fees of course, in that they need to be considered. Generally what I did was withdraw money in bulk (about €500 at a time), and converted it to local currency as I needed it.Awesome stuff so far;
I lived in South Africa for a while and have travelled to some of the touristy parts of Africa, south coast of Mombassa, a bit of Mozambique, Tunisia, but would like to know how was your experience in SA & what other parts of Africa have you been and where would you recommend?
I first visited Africa when I was 19, and travelled across Kenya and Tanzania, and climbed Kilimanjaro. The biggest shock to me was Kenya in terms of the sheer power and sense of ownership a few white families would have over an entire region. If you've been to Mombasa, then you may have also been to Malindi, and when I was there it was like colonial times all over again. A few white families owning county-sized tracts of land, with local people living in slums, and having to set up their stalls on teh beach, because it was the only land that the white families couldn't actually claim ownership to. It was pretty shocking.
I went back again a few years later, and this time backpacked down through Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Zambia is beautiful, and worth going for Victoria Falls alone (you can bungee-jump from the bridge going over the river connecting Zambia to Zimbabwe). Zimbabwe is beautiful, though Mugabe's reign there as taken a shocking toll on farming there. The wildlife however, is amazing - I was on a train there one evening, watching elephants and giraffes out the window as the sun went down. Botswana is expensive to the point of silliness, Namibia has a particularly remote and beautiful coastline, as I mentioned earlier. It was a former German colony, so you'll end up in these surreal towns (Swapokmund being one) that look like they should be in Bavaria, but are instead in the middle of the desert. If you drive far enough out into the countryside, you'll also find huge old farms with nervous 80-something year old Germans who have been hiding out there since the Nuremberg trials, though they've probably all died out at this stage.
My experience of South Africa was mixed - I've been there as a backpacker, and later on I lived and worked there. On one hand, it is one of the most beautiful countries in Africa. I used to spend weekends travelling down to the cape, or visiting Boulders beach. On a couple of occasions when I was working in Jo'burg, I headed up to Kruger National Park. It's a vast country, and there's lots to see and do.
On the other hand, the blatant racism is shocking - when I hitchhiked across the Kalahari to Namibia, I got picked up by a South African long haul truck driver, who could be the kindest guy in the world in one respect, and have an incomprehensibly deep-seated hatred of anybody black in another. The way the conversation went, if I wasn't quite literally in the middle of the desert, I'd have parted ways with him. When I lived in Cape Town and later, Jo'burg, I got to see a lot more of it. The flame of apartheid still burns strong in some people's minds, and can appear at any time.0 -
A general observation that I would like an opinion on, I have traveled a bit and now in my late thirties I will only go to western countries as I have had some crap experiences in Africa where been white means money and trouble.
Do you think that is very unfair ?
At the end of the day whether we admit it or not, our views of different places are often coloured by our experiences there, and if you've had issues in Africa before, then it can be hard to not let that affect you in some way. But at least you went there - the only people I probably would pass judgement on are the armchair travellers - those who will never leave home, but will happily sit there, criticising anybody else's choice to go to a certain country because it's full of rapists, thieves and terrorists, things like that.
Is it an unfair judgement on the country and the people, maybe so. But in a lot of ways it's more unfair on yourself because you won't ever get to experience the good that same country has to offer. For sure, there is a perception sometimes that every white person is (a) American and (b) wealthy, and that does sometimes colour how some people interact with you. But in a lot of ways we only have ourselves to blame for that - we (the western world) continuously export TV shows to the rest of the world that portray us as all having big houses, a couple of cars and a swimming pool in every back yard.
Every country, Ireland included, has its share of chancers and conmen, and it can pretty much be taken asfact that if you travel extensively, at some stage you are going to get ripped off in some capacity. I was shortchanged years ago by $25 exchanging money somewhere in Vietnam - but looking back it was the cheapest lesson I've ever learned in a lot of ways - I've been more cautious since and it never happened again. I've ended up on the worse end of a bargain in bazaars across the world, but that's just as much my own responsibility because I wasn't raised in a bargaining environment, and it's an acquired skill. I've had taxi drivers across the world try and squeeze an extra dollar out of me, and I've fended off hawkers the world over. Hawkers trying to sell their wares can be particularly bad in Africa, but it's understandable, considering the average income of some of these countries. For them it's often a matter of survival for their families, rather than trying to screw the tourist.
In short, while I can understand why you are wary, I wouldn't rule out entire countries based on those experiences.I spent time in Australia and people in Ireland are obsessed with Australia and New Zealand what is your opinion on these two countries?
I wouldn't say that it's an obsession, but the appeal is certainly understandable from an Irish point of view in terms of:- no language barrier to contend with
- similar quality of life
- weather
- pub culture
- being a western country
- driving on the same side of the road
- ease in which to travel
- ease in which to work
If it's your first time heading off on an extended trip, it's an easy transition going to Australia, while still travelling across the globe. There is a lot of Irish heritage there, and Australians have the same sarcastic sense of humour that we have, which is something that I missed in other countries. I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky person a lot of the time, and often I would have to curb my humour as it doesn't translate well in other countries, even English speaking ones.
Ease or not in which to get there, Australia is a vast and beautiful country. the east coast is inundated with backpackers, but I spent most of my time off-road and out bush (I rebuilt a 4WD there and lived out of it), either travelling or working on various cattle stations. And the outback and territories are by far my favourite part of Australia - well worth seeing.I believe maybe incorrectly that being Irish usually gets you an in. Its a conversation stater at the very least, would you agree ?
It is, for various reasons. Being honest, often being white and not being American is enough to get you in, and to a degree, it's understandable. But whereas other western countries are seen as relatively wealthy, Ireland is often perceived as the downtrodden race, who fought back against the big bad oppressor and never gave up. And that kind of story has a lot of appeal to people form countries that have experiences the same.
It can become particularly prominent in countries that were former British colonies, and I've passed through border crossings on more than one occasion where the customs official looked at my passport, face lit up with a smile and said something along the lines of 'Ah you're Irish! So you hate the English too!' before beckoning me across the border.
The whole thing about us being big drinkers can be an advantage and a disadvantage, particularly in male dominated societies where how much you can drink is used as a measure of how tough a man you are. It sounds like fun, but when you're sitting at a table where ten local men are trying to get you to chug your fifth litre of home made wine and are insulted if you say no, it can wear thin very quickly. Looking anyway 'manly' for want of a better word, only invites trouble in this regard - I grew up on a farm so I'm quite broad-shouldered as a result - which coupled with being Irish, often leads to invites to drinking competitions situations like I've described above. Conversely, I've seen Americans being seated at the women's, or worse, children's table based on the assumption that they would be throwing up after one drink.Also what is the most random place you met an Irish person ??
We're like a virus - we are absolutely everywhere. Years ago I walked into a bar in Trinidad to watch a rugby game (Ireland was playing), when the local man running the bar recognised the accent and hauled the owner out of the back. Turned out he was the uncle of a guy I went to school with.
More recently, I was in Cambodia (a couple of days before the motorbike accident as it happens), a little the worse for wear after a few drinks, when a blonde girl came up to me saying"You're <my name>, aren't you?!". It turned out that I had taught her in college, many years beforehand.And thanks for this - I love travelling and wish I had the balls to do more !
No worries - glad you're enjoying it.Oscars Well. wrote: »1) What was the most difficult visa to obtain?
In recent memory, China, for two reasons. The first, I didn't plan my visas in advance, and certain visas involved a lot of bureaucracy, and it's better to apply for them from home, and have them in your passport before you leave - China and Russia are such visas. The second reason was that I wanted a dual entry visa for China, and preferably multi-entry. Dual entry was going to be difficult at best, multi entry visas, they simply weren't issuing to anybody. I tried the embassies in every country along the way, and eventually obtained my Russian visa in Warsaw (after a 10 minute interview with the consulate in very bad Russian). I was met with a firm 'no' from every Chinese embassy, even for a single entry visa.
The closer I got to Russia, the more concerned I was getting, China being the country that would shape my entire trip in the SE Asia region. So I pushed north instead, up through the Baltic countries, and caught the ferry across to Helsinki for a last ditch attempt. Walked into the Chinese embassy at 9am, got talking to a young guy working there about my proposed trip, and walked out 20 minutes later with a multi entrance visa. They were rare enough at the time that I was taken aside and questioned by Chinese border patrol at various crossings as to its authenticity, how and where I'd gotten it. *shrug*Oscars Well. wrote: »2) How many countries have you been to?
*draws up a list*
67, seven of which I've lived longterm in.Where was the most crazy-assed location where you pitched a tent that seemed a perfectly rational decision at the time, but maybe later not so much?
I've been pretty lucky in my choice of camping locations on this trip - other than temperatures dropping far lower than anticipated in a couple of spots, there were no real issues. Lessons learned on previous trips have included setting up a tent on a flood plain, and waking up at 3am in a foot of water, waking up to all sorts of wildlife in Africa because I camped too near a watering hole.
Probably the biggest camping 'mistake' on this trip was somewhere in Switzerland - after some quite long days, myself and my friends decided that we needed a decent meal for a change, and a few beers. In the middle of the village in question is a large rock/hill - about half an acre of flat ground on top, about 20 metres above the land below, but very steep sided, requiring a bit of a climb/scramble to get to the top. But at five o' clock in the evening it seemed like a perfect camping spot - convenient, yet hidden from everybody below.
At 2am it was another matter though, in the dark, and a little worse the wear on beer, and we both damn near killed ourselves for an hour trying to get back up fro it, before abandoning our attempts for the night.Any tips re: travelling light?
Yep - before you leave, put everything you think you will need into a pile on your bed, and then from that, create two equal sized piles - the first pile being the important stuff that you need, the remainder being the less important stuff. Allow for one or two luxury items, but other than that, keep going until the two piles are roughly equal in size. Then pack the important pile, and leave the second pile behind. Anything that gets left behind is not so important that you won't survive without it, and not so unique that it can't be easily replaced if you do.
In all my years of following the above system, I've never been stuck anywhere where I've thought, God I really need that thing from the less important pile right now.Call Me Jimmy wrote: »Any notable encounters with wildlife/ giant insects?
Plenty of encounters over the years, none of which have posed too much of a threat, thankfully. When I was travelling from Kenya to Tanzania, I pulled over at the side of the road for a break, only to hear screeching coming from the long grass. Being young and foolish at the time, I wandered in to take a look, to find two lion cubs nestled in the grass. Thankfully there was no sign of a mother in sight, but it was pretty much guaranteed that she wasn't too far away, so I took no chances, and jumped on the bike and sped off.
On one of my ventures into Nepal this time around, I was hiking on my own, and bent down to tie my shoelaces only to get bitten on the wrist by a snake - it was my own fault, I should have been more cautious. It was venomous, but thankfully of the painful but not lethal variety, though not knowing that until I'd found medical help meant that I was quite worried for a couple of hours.
Ironically, one of the most painful bites I've ever gotten was from the tiniest of spiders. I was in a local wooden longboat in a river cave in Southern China somewhere, and I'd put my hands on the gunwale of the boat to steady myself, where a small spider who had ended up being an unintended passenger, bit into my finger. Whatever venom it injected, my hand swelled up and felt like it was on fire for about three days afterwards. To this day I have no idea what it was.theemigrant wrote: »did you use a bicycle much for transport? id so what type of kit did you carry??
No, I didn't. But when I was travelling, I met a french Canadian guy - he was a grandfather who was enjoying his retirement - cycling through Europe, and ran into him again, years later, on a separate trip (but same bike) in Australia. He was traveling pretty light - his gear was distributed in panniers on the bike, but he didn't look like he was carrying much more than I was. A few hardy people will attempt to cycle from Melbourne or Adelaide across to Western Australia, or vice versa. I'd love to give it a go.Gloomtastic! wrote: »Well done you for doing it! It's something I've always wanted to do. The first time I left on my world tour, I got as far as London and stayed for 20 years.
While I was there I tried again and got as far as Greece and stayed there for six months before heading back to London. The draw of the 'rat race', to my shame. :rolleyes:
Did you keep a diary while you were away? Did you have a phone with you for photos etc?
I kept both. My one luxury item was a good camera - I'm an amateur photographer so I had a decent DSLR with me. My 'diary' was often scraps of paper that I would write on by the light of a headtorch when the day was done - and when I had some downtime I would type them up and upload them for friends. The blog has long since been disabled, but I have a copy of saved somewhere.
On a related note, one of the biggest transformations I experienced while on this latest trip is connectability. When I left, only one company made anything that would qualify as a netbook (sony vaio X505), tablets, and smartphones as we know them now didn't exist. Wi-fi was an almost non-existent luxury (one public place in Kathmandu had it), except perhaps in places like Korea. My communications with friends and family were strictly limited to email and my newly created facebook account (which had just started accepting accounts from Ireland). The last time I returned to Nepal, wi-fi was ubiquitous, and people are in constant communication from sun up to sun down from one end of the globe to the other. The world really has gotten far smaller in the last decade.0 -
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What would you count as your top five experiences on your journey?
Hard question to answer, and it's hard to pick five....- Everest base camp, particularly the first time, when I befriended the meteorologist up there.
- Meeting a local police officer in Pakistan while out walking one day, and taking a three day detour to his home in the mountains to meet his wife and family.
- Night diving in the gulf of Thailand
- Camping in the outback at night, with zero light pollution, staring up at the stars. Have never seen a sky that intense before or since.
- Meeting a bunch of random strangers in Armenia, sitting outside a local man's house for dinner, translating between French, German and Russian for the night, for everybody there.
- hiking out into the middle of a frozen lake Baikal.
- The religious festival of Durga Puja in Calcutta.
- Attending a cremation in Varanasi.
- Climbing in the Caucus mountains.
The list goes on.What did you work as when you were working?
Anything really. In no particular order, I worked as a barman, cowhand, farmhand, first-aider, carpenter, builder, security, English teacher, on a dive boat, I worked at a police academy for a while too. There are probably a few I've forgotten.What's China like?
China is beautiful, but in some ways asking what China is like, is akin to asking what South America is like - it's vast and encompasses many different landscapes, people, and to an extent, cultures. The bad side of China from the point of view of being a visitor there, is the pollution - I remember one cold morning when I went for a long walk through Beijing, I was 100 metres from a skyscraper and I couldn't see it. The sun can quite often be a very faint disc in the sky. Other big cities such as Xian and Chengdu were similar in that regard, and it does take its toll on your lungs. I remember being told at the time that breathing in the air in Beijing was the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes per day, and considering the crap I was coughing up, I would well believe it. That being said, Beijing at least made distinct efforts to eliminate pollution during the 2008 Olympics - the basically shut down all industry within the city and rebuilt them further out, and it has made a huge difference.
Other than that, it is a beautiful country, with tropical regions and desert regions and everything in between. Transportation is easy - trains traverse the country, and are comfortable and cheap, busses are even cheaper, and younger students now speak a reasonable level of English.
Something I didn't foresee before I travelled there is the different cultures, and even ethnic groups, within China itself - probably somewhat naively I presumed that all Chinese people more or less had the same Asian features. Going north, up towards Urumshi, it's a bit of a shock to get on a train to find very Slavic looking people, blonde hair and blue eyes, conversing in Chinese. The same goes to a lesser extent with other regions, such as along the Mongolian border.What tips would you have for people who love to travel, but can only put aside a couple of months a year, and a fortnight here and there to do so?
Great thread by the way.
Thanks
I say that whether you have two weeks or two years, go for it. The one thing I will say is not to overstretch yourself - it's far better and far more memorable to spend more time in fewer countries and enjoying the people and the culture, than to rush through many countries, taking snapshots like a Japanese tour group. My second recommendation would be to, rather than flying in and out of the same place, instead sit down in front of a map, and pick a starting point that you can fly into, in a country that you want to visit, and pick an exit point in another country, and plan your trip from A to B, rather than wasting precious time circling back around to A again. Two weeks might seem short, but you can see quite a lot that way, with a little forward planning. I happened to do my trip all at once, but there's nothing to stop you from doing the same, a little piece at a time.Rakish Paddy wrote: »I've done a bit of travelling in my time, but it pales in comparison to yours! I'm enjoying experiencing the world through you on this thread.
My question:
On your travels did you ever find yourself on the wrong side of law enforcement (either through corrupt police, inadvertently breaking a local law etc.). If so, what happened and how did you handle it / how did it turn out?
Yeah I have, on multiple occasions. Russian police are particularly corrupt, or at least they were when I was there - to the point where the police commissioner actually made a statement in a Moscow newspaper, asking the police (not to stop, but...) to cut down a little on the number of bribes they were extorting from foreigners, because it was affecting tourism.
Africa and South East Asia wasn't so bad - there were a few corrupt border officials where I had to pay a $1 'Sunday tax' (it happened to be Sunday when I was crossing in that instance). Americans in particular though, do get fleeced - they haven't exactly made many friends the world over. I remember on one occasion paying a $1 bribe to get my passport stamped, and the guy behind me who whipped out the blue passport had to pay $100 - it was a jungle crossing point in Northern Laos that took a 3 hour longboat trip to get to, and there was no way back - so he had absolutely had no choice.
I've had my passport seized in various places, and I've been arrested once in South America. With respect to passport seizures, I carry two passports as I have dual citizenship, and as such, if one gets seized, I have a tenuous way of at least identifying myself to an embassy, or getting out of the country. Thankfully it's not an option I've had to invoke yet. My passport has either been returned after a bit of a waiting game, or if the bribe was low enough (a few dollars), I just paid it for convenience sake.
I've been arrested in Ecuador, and to this day I'm not sure of the actual reason why. It's not uncommon for local buses to be stopped in the middle of nowhere by police, and everybody being asked to step off and show identification. And for whatever reason, they took my passport and my rucksack, and loaded everybody back on the bus and told it to leave, and took me to the police station, and held me there. Communication was non existent - they were questioning me in Spanish, of which I understood maybe a handful of words, and they spoke no English. After keeping me there for hours, they released me, gave me my rucksack and pointed me towards the door. I also got my wallet back, sans money, but other than that I still have no idea what it was about. I can only guess that they were hoping that I would come up with more money, and just got frustrated at getting nowhere.
I have to say though that in general my experiences with the police abroad have been positive - if anything they have been more helpful, or lax with me than they would have been if I were a local person. Generally I've found that if you do inadvertently do something silly, they'll explain to you what the problem was and tell you not to do it again.0 -
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Cheers for the reply, have done Vietnam, Laos and Thailand previously. Going to head to Cambodia (poor financial planning made me miss it on my first trip) Myanmar is another place that wasnt an option in my previous trip, I've heard conflicting reports about it though.
I'm being quiet open with my trip, I heard the phillipines is supposed to be incredible, also looking at mainland China but such a vast country I don't really no where to start. I'm going to be a bit more conventional (not brave enough to camp) and stay in hostels. India in this regard should be easy to plan but China, Nepal are places I haven't met anyone with much experience of these places.
I suppose a follow on would be, did you just go where the wind took you or did you have a definitive (flexible) plan. What resources did you use to plan, blogs, guidbooks, word of mouth etc!
Definitely my favourite AMA so far!!
Thanks! Now that I know what you have done, it makes things somewhat easier.
Looking at your interests, my suggestion would probably be to fly into Beijing, and work your way west through China, towards Nepal and onto India. That western route is a fairly well travelled one, and you won't have any trouble (a) meeting other people, and (b) finding hostels and the like to stay in. Spend some time in Beijing, in the city and outside of it, and of course you can visit the Great Wall of China from there - the well maintained section that appears in movies and photos. Working west, you Xian is worth a stop to see the terracotta warriors, as is Chengdu. From Chengdu you can work your way north towards Tibet, or fly straight to Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, you won't have any trouble in finding accommodation - there are a plethora of guesthouses there, and it's easy to arrange tours to any part of the country. Pokhara is another lovely lakeside town in Nepal, far quieter than the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, and it's a jumping off point for hiking the Ammapurna trail, if that's something you're interested in.
India... I'm never met anybody who liked India - people either love it or hate it. India is a place where you can truly travel for cheap - third class tickets on the train cost a euro or two, though it can leave a lot to be desired, depending on your comfort levels. As for where to visit, the choices are endless. But if I were to pick a handful, it would be Varanasi, Agra (Taj Mahal), the golden temple at Amritsar, Goa, Darjeeling.... India is vast. With respect to books, as much as I hate the way people use them as a bible at times, Lonely Planet or Rough Guides are as good as any. Just don't treat the contents as if they were instructions handed down from God, like so many people do
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Just want to say im absolutely loving this thread, you seem like such a sound fella and id echo what somebody else has said here previously, you should definitely do a book or at least a photobook as id love to see some of your pictures..as for questions I have so many but ill just ask a few. These are fairly generalised
1. Did you ever travel to Israel \ Palestine and if so how did you find it?
I haven't yet, but I do intend to. I had actually planned to work there at one stage with a girlfriend at the time. When the relationship ended before we had committed to it, it seemed wiser to part ways and for me to defer going at the time.2. What was the strangest local custom you encountered ?
So many, but certainly one of the strangest was in Mongolia. I mentioned earlier that I travelled to some of the nomadic villages out in the steppe - apparently it is customary if a neighbour meets a new mother carrying her newborn male child on the street, to have a gentle tug at the boy's penis or cup his testicles to make sure that everything is in order and that he's going to grow up to be another virile descendent of Genghis Khan, all while continuing your 'hello, great weather we're having' conversation with the mother. I learned this rather shockingly one day when I rounded a corner to encounter a man my grandfather's age seemingly fondling a small child while chatting to his mother - thankfully the peace corp guys explained it to me later. It's not something I've seen too often, but it never really got any easier to absorb, any time I did.3. This is a fairly generalised question but in your opinion who were the most obnoxious \ ignorant travellers you met?
I'll preface this by saying that obnoxious and ignorant travellers come from all nationalities and walks of life, and I've met one or two Irish on my travels that made me hang my head in shame and want to disappear. But I have to admit that in my experience, Americans are the most obnoxious travellers compared to any other nationality.
It's hard to write this without sounding like I'm embittered against Americans, it's just my opinion, and your mileage may vary. But it seems to be for a combination of reasons - some stems from arrogance, the rest from ignorance. Ignorance is somewhat forgivable, because at the end of the day they only end up embarrassing themselves, whether they realise it at the time or not. Arrogance is harder to forgive, and I've witnessed first hand some shockingly arrogant Americans, and how they have treated local people. And part of it is that Americans are naturally always loud, so when they are being ignorant abroad, they tend to be the loudest ignorant people there, and thus stand out more.
On one notable occasion, an American ESL teacher I knew in Georgia had been invited to a supra (big feast in celebration of him arriving to teach at the school) in the home of the school director. To put things in perspective, if a supra is being held, all of the women of the house spend days preparing food, the men butchering meat, and will often spend a week or two of income on this. The family and their friends were all in attendance to toast American Mike's good health while he was in Georgia. American Mike took one bite out of the first dish, spat it out, told the family "I can't believe you expect me to eat this shít", and stormed off into town in search of some proper American food, leaving the family there, shamed and dumbfounded. While that may be the more extreme end of the scale, there were sadly, many other experiences that made me cringe to be a foreigner.
Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of lovely, decent Americans who I've met on my travels and am still in touch with, who are equally as embarrassed by their countrymen abroad and who are afraid to open their mouths for fear of being recognised as being American. The easiest way to spot them while travelling, is that they'll have a dozen maple leaves stitched to their rucksack and will tell everybody that they are Canadian, until they trust you enough to admit it. No kidding.
(I'm sorry, any nice Americans out there who happen to be reading this)4. Does encountering gross poverty make you want to become a humanitarian to change this or do you feel that wealth inequality is something that will always exist and is impossible to change?
It certainly makes me want to do something but it's also made me very cynical of certain charities that claim to be helping, when I've seen how money gets distributed in places of need sometimes. I'm not so idealistic as to believe that we can eliminate wealth inequality, but I think that the way forward is certainly through education. Teach children in impoverished areas the skills they need to build upon themselves, and they stand a far better chance of pulling themselves out of poverty.5. Ive done a tiny bit of travelling in Asia myself for a few months and found sports, soccer in particular a great removal of barriers and a way to interact with locals, Did you find this aswell and did you play many other sports?
Yeah, definitely I've played soccer with half the villages in South America at this stage - there was always a group of kids kicking a battered football around somewhere. Cricket was also huge in India and Pakistan, and on every backstreet you fill find kids with a cricket bat, and stumps chalked onto a convenient wall, and they are always happy for you to join in.
When I was in Georgia I had friends send over two hurls and a couple of sliotars to the school there, and after showing them a couple of YouTube videos, I tried teaching the kids how to play. It quickly erupted into near warfare, with the sliotar abandoned in the snow as they went at each other, hell bent on battering each other black and blue with the hurls.Gloomtastic! wrote: »Did you buy travel insurance before you left/while you were away (or did your parents)?
No, I didn't have travel insurance of any kind.theemigrant wrote: »Do you camp wild on your adventures around ireland??.
do you keep yourself fit when at home for potential travel?.
You mentioned your dad taking you camping from a young age . Where would you reccomend for me to take my son in ireland?.
Yeah, I still camp in Ireland, though I haven't been yet this year. In a lot of ways Ireland is lovely to start camping in - no matter where you are, you're not too far from civilisation if you need something. Some of the places of my youth have become more built up over the years, which is sad, but there are still plenty of places to go. It depends on where you are and how far you are willing to travel, but Connemara is beautiful - you can hike the Maamturks and drop off quite easily along the way if you get tired. Kerry is also beautiful, particularly around the Macgillycuddy Reeks, as is Donegal. Glendalough is another option. And it doesn't have to be an epic trip - find a nice remote beach somewhere in a sheltered field nearby, set up a tent and a small campfire, and hand your kid a fishing rod. He'll probably love it. I know I did.0 -
Cheers man, great answers, this is fast becoming my favourite thread ever on boards...you never answered the most important question though, Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Your answers throughout this thread have been eloquent and insightful I really think you should give it some thought, even if its via a self publishing digital format Id definitely buy it and id be willing to bet most of the posters in here would do the same.0 -
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Cheers man, great answers, this is fast becoming my favourite thread ever on boards...you never answered the most important question though, Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Your answers throughout this thread have been eloquent and insightful I really think you should give it some thought, even if its via a self publishing digital format Id definitely buy it and id be willing to bet most of the posters in here would do the same.
Thanks for the words of encouragement - I'm glad that people are enjoying the thread As for a book - I didn't think that this thread would make it off the ground, let alone a book, but who knows what the future holds!Why didn't you get travel insurance?
I looked into it briefly, and it quickly became apparent how complicated and difficult it would be. Travel insurance is easy to get when you are going for two weeks to a specified location - just punch in the data and you get a quote back. I on the other hand was trying to get a quote before travelling...:- for a lengthy period of time, yet to be decided.
- To countries yet to be decided, the risks of which could never be calculated.
- partaking in sports that have inherent risks, yet to be decided.
In the end it just seemed too difficult to arrange, and I imagine would have been prohibitively expensive if anybody actually decided to take it on.0 -
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Ah ok. When I travelled I got travel insurance to include extream dangerous sports which meant I could skydive, bungee and the likes. I guess that's probably the max whereas you didn't know what your extreams were mine probably covered the same as you not having any if I read the small print
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