I hate having to go to the hospital and especially abroad. The comfort of family isn’t there and there’s no one to visit me. Still, I’ve come out stronger and learned a few things on my way out. Mostly that I need to take better care of myself.
Travel Advice
Every country has it’s aspects you don’t want to miss and every country has it’s share of scam artists, customs and tourist traps you would be happier if you could avoid. Egypt is no different. I can safely say Egyptians are the friendliest and happiest people I have ever met. It is not unusual to be invited for a cup of tea or to dinner by someone you met only an hour ago. However, it is also not unusual to hear many stories of tourists getting ripped off by people they thought were being friendly.
Have you heard of the infamous Pharaohs Revenge? Whom does it strike? How do you deal with it? Travellers to Egypt are, for the most part, familiar with this dreaded phenomena. You will find the remedy here, along with a list of symptoms that let you know you have been stuck down, a list of ways to avoid it and how to distinguish it from a simple stomach-upset. Pharaohs Revenge is the Egyptian tummy bug that many tourists to Egypt dread and/or experience. Therefore, most tourists arrive in the country armed with a plentiful supply of medicinal products designed to combat stomach problems. These remedies, for the most part, are not designed to combat the Egyptian tummy bug.
2 1/2 years worth of pictures, videos, and documents with sensitive information like copies of my passport and social security number. Losing this would be heartbreaking and even worse if stolen. These are the precautions I take and recommend on the road .
An email from Kimi: “I do have a couple of questions for you. First of all, I’m about to turn 23, and while I am working two jobs, I only have about $15K to my name (all school loans paid off). There are certainly things I could sell for extra money like my car, but I just wanted to get your opinion about whether or not you think that’s enough to get me started on my long-term travel plans. I plan to build a blog around my travels, but I don’t want to go bankrupt trying to build a name for myself which is the biggest fear holding me back from traveling. Any advice / tips you can provide me would be extremely appreciated.”
We’re not all cut out for long-term backpacker travel and that’s okay. Some of us are ashamed to admit that we get eventually get sick of hanging out at hostels and subsisting off of ramen noodles and the occasional kebab. You find yourself stuck in the rut of “get on bus, arrive in new city, check into hostel, see the sights, repeat.” Isn’t this the type of monotony you wanted to leave behind when you decided to go on this trip in the first place? The side effects of this travel lifestyle can be exhausting, but here are a few ways to keep them at bay.
Now, I could have used a backpack like Michael’s but I wanted less hassle from the low-cost airlines. If you have ever had any experience with Ryanair, they lure you in by appearing to be cheap but then screw you over at the last minute. (Kind of similar to a few girls I’ve dated in the past.)
This time however, I was smarter. I even went as far as buying the approved Ryanair carry-on bag to maximise my free allowance (or what I like to call “The Ryanair bribe”). The benefit with these kind of bags is you have more accessibility than with a backpack. But more importantly, while everyone else was made to weigh their bags or put them into the baggage-sizer, I was allowed to walk on by.
I’ll be returning home on July 11th after a year in Asia. I visited home last year too after a year around the world. Reverse culture shock hit me hard last time but I think now I know what to expect.
We had close to 40 people in the room at the Backpacking Webinar. An impressive turnout considering this was our first webinar for Art of Backpacking. Our last webinar was on Travel Writing and Growing Your Readership over at Art of Travel Blogging. If you’d like to watch the webinar again or if you’ve missed it, I’ve provided the link in this article.
The Good vs The Bad of Long-Term Travel. This is what I’ve learned and what I think of long-term travel.
