August 16, 2010
I have seen and met many young people travel months around the world with only their backpack, shoestring budget but manage to visit lots of countries. I envied them and wanted to do the same for quite sometime and I did it! However, I will never do it again.
In the company of two younger Peace Corps Volunteers, I traveled to Turkey with a 30 lbs backpack for 14 days. To save money, we traveled long distance with overnight buses, slept on a bench in an airport, and stayed 4 nights in cheap hostel. Most of the time, we had only 2 meals a day. We avoided expensive restaurant, ordered meal with no beverage, took advantage on hostel that offered free breakfast and dinner. The two weeks we were in Turkey, the heat wave dominated the entire country so we sweated like a pig walking in the hot sun everyday. By the end of the trip, I ended up losing 5 lbs. After living like a vagabond for 14 days, I was relieved, happy and glad to finally sleep on my clean bed again. As for how much money I spent, without counting the expensive caviar I bought for my friends, I only spent 650 manats, of which 75% is related to bus tickets and taxi fare.
What I dislike the most about this kind of traveling is the long hour bus ride. Our longest bus ride was from Istanbul to Batumi. We were on a bus 20 straight hours! From Tbilisi to Trabzon was 12 hours ride, after walking aimlessly in Trabzon to kill time for six hours, we got on a bus again and traveled another 13 hours to Goreme. Staying in Goreme only 2 days, we headed to Olympos with another 11 hours bus ride and ended up staying there only one night. If we traveled by plane, we would have done more sightseeing, visited more places and be able to stay in one place longer so as to learn more about the native cultures and enjoy the local cuisines. On the other hand, I am glad I did it. I do not believe many people with my age can travel like this! I have to give myself a lot of credits.
Peace Corps experience taught me to be flexible, to have patience and never forgot a sense of humor. I exercised all of those things while I was in Turkey. I did not lose my temper once, nor did I grumble about the primitive lodging, bitch about the hunger, the heat and the unpleasant body odor. I am even glad to have the opportunity to sleep in a windowless room with 16 other boys and girls who were all wearing nothing but their underwear at night due to the unbearable heat. I have proved to myself once again that I am a true survivor! Nevertheless, I am looking forward to my next trip which I will travel by plane, stay in a nice hotel; dine with exotic foods, drink good wine, enjoy a bubble bath and have sweet memories afterward.
I have seen and met many young people travel months around the world with only their backpack, shoestring budget but manage to visit lots of countries. I envied them and wanted to do the same for quite sometime and I did it! However, I will never do it again.
In the company of two younger Peace Corps Volunteers, I traveled to Turkey with a 30 lbs backpack for 14 days. To save money, we traveled long distance with overnight buses, slept on a bench in an airport, and stayed 4 nights in cheap hostel. Most of the time, we had only 2 meals a day. We avoided expensive restaurant, ordered meal with no beverage, took advantage on hostel that offered free breakfast and dinner. The two weeks we were in Turkey, the heat wave dominated the entire country so we sweated like a pig walking in the hot sun everyday. By the end of the trip, I ended up losing 5 lbs. After living like a vagabond for 14 days, I was relieved, happy and glad to finally sleep on my clean bed again. As for how much money I spent, without counting the expensive caviar I bought for my friends, I only spent 650 manats, of which 75% is related to bus tickets and taxi fare.
What I dislike the most about this kind of traveling is the long hour bus ride. Our longest bus ride was from Istanbul to Batumi. We were on a bus 20 straight hours! From Tbilisi to Trabzon was 12 hours ride, after walking aimlessly in Trabzon to kill time for six hours, we got on a bus again and traveled another 13 hours to Goreme. Staying in Goreme only 2 days, we headed to Olympos with another 11 hours bus ride and ended up staying there only one night. If we traveled by plane, we would have done more sightseeing, visited more places and be able to stay in one place longer so as to learn more about the native cultures and enjoy the local cuisines. On the other hand, I am glad I did it. I do not believe many people with my age can travel like this! I have to give myself a lot of credits.
Peace Corps experience taught me to be flexible, to have patience and never forgot a sense of humor. I exercised all of those things while I was in Turkey. I did not lose my temper once, nor did I grumble about the primitive lodging, bitch about the hunger, the heat and the unpleasant body odor. I am even glad to have the opportunity to sleep in a windowless room with 16 other boys and girls who were all wearing nothing but their underwear at night due to the unbearable heat. I have proved to myself once again that I am a true survivor! Nevertheless, I am looking forward to my next trip which I will travel by plane, stay in a nice hotel; dine with exotic foods, drink good wine, enjoy a bubble bath and have sweet memories afterward.
1 comment:
Vagabonding is fun, says Christopher McCandles in "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer. You sure sounded like him.
-Jim
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