Travelling is amazing, it really is. But before you are ready to quit your job, grab your other half and hop onto a plane, these are our 30ย bad things about long-term travelling that no one told you about
- 1. Although you may think you are better than that- you WILL miss a flight, it is just a matter of time.
- 2. You will get sick and freak out it is malaria or dengue fever…but it is just food poisoning. And probably with the meal that you expect the least (hamburger with chips, yep!).
- 3. It’s a full-time job and you will spend days organizing itineraries (AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND PROBABLY DOESN’T HELP YOU). You will even consider becoming a travel agent.
- 4. At some point you will have problems with visas, either entering or leaving a country. We had to spend 24 hours in HK airport awaiting Iga’s urgent visa to be issued. BTW, this is how we missed our first flight
- 5. The transition from a 2 bedroom flat to one backpack is liberating but tricky. You will most surely pack way too much stuff and your backpack weighs more than a baby elephant. One by one, you will throw away that “extra thing in case we need it” and regret taking it with you in the first place.
- 6. You will get homesick, everyone does. “I want to sleep in, wear pyjamas all day long watch Netflix on my sofa” type of thing
- 7. You will understand long-term travelling is exhausting. Really, it is.
- 8. You will miss your best friends as hell, and the time difference does not help.
- 9. HOW MANY PLUG ADAPTERS EXIST?
- 10. There will be days when you’ll miss your comfort food so much that you will end up paying double for the “Italian” pizza that tastes like chewing gum.
- 11. Soon enough you will realize that most of your friends don’t really care about your “one-in-a-lifetime adventure”. They are busy living their lives and will hate you for all the cool pics you post on IG. They will divide into “That is so amazing guys, I want to travel like you!” and those who jealously think that you have rich parents or secretly won the lottery.
FYI: if you want to find out how we managed to visit SE Asia on a limited budget- check this post
- 12. There will be days when you will join that second group in thought self-criticism and will question your life choices. “It is time to grow up and get a 9-5 job” type of thing.
- 13. Borders are stressful, it doesn’t matter how well-prepared you are. Forget about the Western standards, corruption does exist.
Crossing the border in Cambodia was quite an experience… check our post to see if it is as bad as people say
- 14. If you are travelling with your couple, it is a matter of time before you will want to kill each other a few times per day until you learn how to laugh about it.
- 15. Travelling will verify, if it was your LIFE that really needed a change, or if it is YOU who was the problem. Get ready for some serious self-discovery moments and face the real you.
- 16. You will spend days stuck on never-ending bus rides or airports
- 17. NO, NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR TUK-TUK OR TAXI.
- 18. You will lose your wallet, credit card or phone. Or they will get stolen. Both are equally bad.
- 19. One of the bad things about long-term travelling is that you will become obsessed with having a decent internet connection.
20. MOSQUITOES EVERYWHERE. - 21. The number of homeless dogs on the streets will break your heart (and your girlfriend will want to adopt them all)
- 22. People will only see the amazing bits about your travelling but no one realizes that you had to eat instant noodles for a week to recover your budget after losing a flight to Vietnam.
- 23. Locals see you like a dollar machine, trying to squeeze every penny out of you. Bargaining will become your second nature to the point that you will question pricetags in every supermarket.
- 24. You get tired of wearing the same clothes every day…
- 25. …and “How come we need a laundry again?”
- 26. Your girlfriend takes WAY TOO MANY photos…
- 27. …and your boyfriend BARELY TRIES to pose for them.
- 28. Then most surely you will lose half of them because your SD card will get damaged. Even if you are really tidy like us and save copies in the cloud, it will feel like a full-time job.
- 29. You will get heartbroken at least a few times because of leaving amazing people and places behind.
- 30. Last but not least, one of our top 30 bad things about long-term travelling for us is – when you realise that it is coming to an end! So don’t take it for granted and remind yourself every day how lucky you are.
Now that you know all the bad things about long-term travelling, if it didn’t kill your wanderlust- it means you are one of us!
Set free and explore the world!