Taking an Extended Trip: What I Did Wrong
Posted on 28. Jun, 2011 by Steph in Advice, On the Road
On Sunday I posted a list of all the things I think I did right on my extended Australasia trip. This ranged from remembering to pack jeans to being flexible in my planning, but really boiled down to following my gut and not other people’s advice.
So let me start off this post on what I think I did WRONG by saying that I don’t actually believe it is possible to travel incorrectly. As long as what you’re doing is right by you, then that’s all that matters. Looking back now though I can see some of the mistakes I made, and I’m sharing with you so you don’t end up in the same traps I did.
I didn’t pack an umbrella
Why didn’t I pack an umbrella? I have no idea. In my miserable confusion over what to pack it somehow didn’t make the cut. Which meant I had to buy an umbrella about 5 minutes after I got off the plan in rainy Tokyo (and boy did that umbrella get a lot of use ).
Be realistic about what you’re going to need on your trip. I might have imagined myself lounging in the sun in a bikini all day, but it turned out what I really needed was an umbrella and sweatpants (I know, glamorous).
I let myself get too tied down with plans
Wait a minute, didn’t I just say I’m glad I left my plans so open? Well that’s true, but I wish I’d left them even open-er. Specifically I never should have committed to spend 6+ weeks driving a camper-van across Australia. It was expensive, it rained the whole time and we had no escape clause. If our plans had been more flexible we could have tossed up our hands and flew out to the sunny west coast, instead of continuing to slog through Queensland.
I got too hung up on what other people were doing
The awesome thing about reading travel blogs is that you can learn about everyone elses experiences and opinions of the places you visit. That can be problematic though- witness the mini-breakdown I had in Vang Vieng- a place every twenty-something but me seems to love. I shouldn’t have worried so much about the fun I was supposed to be having, and enjoyed myself in the way that was true to me.
I bought a bad camera
Have you noticed a decline in my photography skills? I loved my Canon Powershot. It may have been just a point and shoot but it helped me take truly marvelous pictures everywhere from Iceland to Australia. When it crapped out on me in February I replaced it with an Olympus uTough. I wanted it because it was hardy, it could take pictures underwater, and it just seemed cool.
Mistake. I. Hate. This. Camera. It’s slow, it’s not smart and it just doesn’t take good pictures. I can’t afford to just replace it on a whim, so as a result I’ve been really unhappy with most of my SE Asia and China pictures. This might actually be my biggest regret of the whole trip.
Don’t worry though, a new camera is in the cards very soon!
I didn’t take notes
Lately I’ve been reading Marco Polo Didn’t Go There an excellent collection of short stories by Rolf Potts. In the footnotes, he describes his travel notebook, where he writes down all kinds of significant and seemingly insignificant details, which he can consult months, even years later to help craft a story. It makes me wish that I had been more vigilant writing down all of the wonderful, wacky and notable things I saw and experienced in Asia. I was pretty good at recording details my first couple weeks in Japan and then it fell by the wayside. As a result there are a thousand little things that made my trip interesting that are just lost in the recesses of my poor memory.
On my next trip I plan to find a system to keep my travel notebook much more up to date.
I never found a good work/play balance
Running a business from the road means a whole slew of special challenges from finding wifi to remembering to tweet. One skill I never quite mastered- I still haven’t mastered, is time management. I am just terrible at getting my work done in an efficient manner and caused myself a ton of needless stress. I would worry about getting posts up on time, freak out about being disconnected and occasionally spend entire days tied to my laptop. In the future I hope to find a better system where I can actually go out and play without worrying so damn much.
I let the weather get me down
I didn’t have good weather luck on this trip. Most notable was the three month stretch of uncharacteristically rainy weather that followed me through Australia and Thailand. After weeks of hearing “it’s not normally like this!” from the locals, it started to get to my head. And then I would feel bad about letting it get to my head which would throw me off even more. I’m not sure what the solution is here, but if anyone has a cure for the bad weather blues I’d love to hear it!
I never made it to Indonesia
Or Burma, or Yunnan province, or Chiang Mai. Or a whole host of other places I’d originally planned to see but just didn’t have the time to tackle. I think I’ll always have those kind of regrets- whether a trip is two weeks, nine months or more, there is just never enough time to see it all. Of course I did make it to places I never expected to be on my itinerary: China, Macau and Vancouver for starters, so maybe it evens out. What I’ve got now is a good list of spots to hit up next time!
So now I’ve got a list of areas that I can improve on next time but as a whole I’m really proud of how this trip turned out. It was my first trip of this magnitude attempt at long-term traveling and blogging, so I’m going to forgive myself for falling short a bit. The most important thing about travel mistakes is learning from them.
What are your biggest travel mistakes?
Note: By sheer coincidence, Adventurous Kate wrote about the exact same topic today! Check out what she did wrong here.
49 Responses to “Taking an Extended Trip: What I Did Wrong”
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- - June 28, 2011
[...] or not, by coincidence, Stephanie at Twenty-Something Travel wrote about this same topic today! Check out what she had to say. Did you enjoy this post? If so, subscribe to my RSS feed for more of my [...]
- - July 1, 2011
[...] we make as we travel, which with a bit of foresight we could avoid. Here is one traveler’s list of regrets, and here is another useful roundup of mistakes made on a Southeast Asian [...]
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[...] Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes. Although encountering unexpected challenges is often why we travel in the first place, it certainly pays to be prepared. Here are some tips on what not to do on your ‘round the world trip, coming from a seasoned traveler. [Twenty-Something Travel] [...]
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[...] She’s transparent. She’ll pair the travel highs with the honest travel lows. (Even though they are not that [...]
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Dave
28. Jun, 2011
The issues you described with the Olympus Tough camera were exactly what I feared if I gave up my Canon. Sorry you had to find that out, but you helped put my mind at ease about not making the switch.
I kept written notes on my RTW trip, but they’re all in storage, so kinda hard to consult them for new content now. I no longer keep written notes, telling myself I don’t want to have to carry around the notebook in which to write them, but I do feel like I’m missing something from the way I use to travel.
I’d much rather be writing out my (often boring) thoughts on paper at a restaurant than compulsively checking my Blackberry.
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
Stick to the Canons, canons are wonderful! Can’t wait to get a new camera and take some decent photos again.
Monica
28. Jun, 2011
- Not taking notes or writing down my thoughts each day. I always tell myself that I’ll remember everything to write up at the end, but I don’t. And for someone that blogs, takes pictures and documents life extensively you think I would know better.
- Not going more places. but I think every traveller has this problem.
FiFi
28. Jun, 2011
I totally understand some of your travel regrets. The umbrella and rain is something I deal with every day living in Ireland! But yet we live in hope! I took notes during my trips and am thankful, hand writing notes is much more relaxing than logging on. Time management is difficult, you need to find a balance for you. I usually tried to reserve an evening or morning for two days a week, sometimes less, sometimes more. Sometimes travelling isn’t all smiles – you captured that.
Nice post.
Julia
28. Jun, 2011
My trip hasn’t even started yet and already I can relate to the point about getting hung up on what other people do. Already I’m thinking to myself “Why don’t I really want to go there? Everyone goes there and seems to love it!” Another downside is that for some popular backpacking spots I feel as though I’ve read so much about them that I needn’t even bother going there myself. My brain has become a bit saturated so I’m trying to take a bit of a breather from consuming so many opinions in order to have a clean slate from which to form my own views on a place. Having said that, I still love reading blogs….so it’s a toughie!
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
Yeah, I just have to periodically remind myself that the only person I need to answer to is ME.
Erik
28. Jun, 2011
I didn’t invest in a digital camera until 2003, by then I’d done so much traveling in Europe and Australia that my pictures from there on film are of so much lower quality, I hesitate to even use them on my blog. I spent two months in Australia in 2001 and bragged about taking 25 rolls of film. With digital, that is such a ridiculously low number. Now I take more in single days than I did that whole trip. I’m not going to come up with the money to go back anytime soon and retrace my steps, and there are too many other places I haven’t been to do that anyway.
If it makes you feel any better, I’m a lot older than you and I still do lots of things wrong on my trips- if we didn’t how would we learn a better way?
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
It’s true, as the times change our ways of traveling have to evolve as well.
Alex
28. Jun, 2011
These are not only your regrets but also great lessons for other travelers to use in the future! Luckily I did NOT forget an umbrella (I’m in Scotland!)
Tim L.
28. Jun, 2011
I know what you mean about the camera. I just replaced a dying Kodak super-zoom with a similar Nikon one. You would think the latter would be better, but it SUCKS bigtime. That’s what I get for being in a hurry and not reading enough reviews.
As far as the balance, you’re probably online more than you need to be. A few minutes a day is enough for social media, but it’s easy to get sucked into hours of it. You don’t really have to blog in real time. Look at your stats and you’ll see most of a post’s reads come months later…or years even.
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
Next camera I’m going to research the hell out of! Thank you for commenting.
Rebecca
28. Jun, 2011
Ohmigod, can so relate to your “I got too hung up on what other people were doing” part. Everyone told me I had to go to the Gold Coast in Australia. When I asked them what they liked most about it (beaches, parties and amusement parks, no thanks, sounds like LA (home), Vegas (SoCals 2nd home) and Miami (blach) all rolled into one), it all sounded miserable to me!
Then I looked at who was telling me to go. Mainly New Zealanders and Brits, places with crap amusement parks and rain 13 months a year! If I wanted any of that, I could have just gone home. So skip I did and thankful for it!
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
That rainy photo second from the bottom was actually taken on the Gold Coast. We drove through during Schoolies Week and needless to say, I was not impressed either.
Rebecca
28. Jun, 2011
Oy, and during schoolies too!!! My deepest sympathies…Live and learn! That is what I always say when something doesn’t work out.
Alouise
28. Jun, 2011
Some really good advice. I always regret not taking enough notes. I bring journal, pens, my ipod, my netbook but I get too busy and never take the notes I should. And the last point, I’ve come to realize I’ll never get to go to all the places I want, but I’ll still try my hardest.
Steph
28. Jun, 2011
Yeah I need to get in a note taking habit- I usually just put it off and then forget about it.
Martin
29. Jun, 2011
What about investing in a digital voice recorder, then you can speak your notes on the go and download them to your computer for organization?
Camels & Chocolate
29. Jun, 2011
We definitely let the weather get us down on our recent six-week road trip! But with 40 straight days of rain, how can you not? Especially when you’re camping in national parks and, um, there’s nothing to do that’s NOT outside!
Steph
29. Jun, 2011
Same issue in Australia- there is just nothing to DO in a campervan in the rain. Watching your trip was so painful for me b/c it reminded me so very much of what happened to me in Australia.
Maybe we got rid of all our bad weather luck for the next 10 years? here’s hoping.
ehalvey
29. Jun, 2011
The weather thing sounds like you had a case of SAD. I think I had it while studying in Ireland, months of no sunshine did me in. They have notebook sized blue light therapy boxes that help replicate the effect of having sunshine. It’s another thing to carry around, but it helps a lot.
Steph
29. Jun, 2011
That really might have been a factor- especially in Australia. I do tend to get more down during the winter, so I think I’m prone to it. And when I use to live in London I was ecstatically happy but I slept far more than normal which is usually a sign things are not right.
By the time I got to Thailand and it was STILL raining half the time I was just certain I’d had some sort of gypsy curse on my head.
crazy sexy fun traveler
29. Jun, 2011
I’m doing wrong some of the things you say, too. Never take an umbrella with me and then I’m all wet which I hate! Bought a wrong camera as well and sometimes spend too much time stressing out online. But what I regret the most is if I really want to do something but do not do it because of the people who happen to travel with me
Odysseus Drifts
29. Jun, 2011
Yeah, I’m not half as good with the note-taking as I should be. I think it was Tallulah Bankhead who fabulously put it as “It’s the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.”
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
haha i’ll remind myself ot that later
Sarah
30. Jun, 2011
It’s reassuring how many of these ‘wrongs’ are thoughts and concerns that I’m feeling right at this moment. I agree completely, there is no wrong way to travel – but there are sometimes occasions when it feels wrong and you’re not sure quite how to fix that. I’m looking forward to my next stint of travel to maybe try and address some of the uncertainties I’ve had from this one.
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Yeah I think a lot of people face these same issues, hopefully over time we manage to overcome it.
Sabrina
30. Jun, 2011
I really like the idea of a travel notebook. I’ve never carried one with me and in return I keep forgetting all the fun details that actually made the trip fun – in those many instances where you couldn’t just take a picture to capture it
I should start using one on my next trip!
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
I’m going to test it out next week!
Marian Schembari
30. Jun, 2011
Ummm…. I love this. It’s brilliant and well said and I couldn’t agree more with some of the things you did “wrong.”
When I moved to NZ I didn’t pack and umbrella or coat. Why? Because my Kiwi boyfriend insisted it was “subtropical” and I wouldn’t need them.
And now it’s Winter and he was WRONG WRONG WRONG. For some reason NZers think their country is way warmer than it is.
I can, of course, buy said umbrella and coat as I’m here long-term but it’s so frustrating thinking of my warm-weather gear at home in Connecticut just collecting dust and clothes here are EXPENSIVE.
Have I mentioned how much I love this post?
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Yes that is the worst bit- having all the stuff packed away somewhere and STILL having to replace them. Thanks for the comment!
Jordan
01. Jul, 2011
Really interesting post! I sympathize with the camera problems. While luckily nothing happened to my Cannon, my last day studying abroad someone stole my labtop- with an entire semester of unbacked photos from my travels around Spain and Europe. Luckily I had uploaded the highlights to facebook. But I’ll never be able to print them out. As you can imagine, it was a really terrible way to end my semester.
I think for me, another mistake while traveling with friends abroad was giving in to peer pressure. There were a number activities that I would have liked to do that my friends weren’t interested in. It took a little bit of time and some courage to break away from the group and say, “I’m going to go here today even if I go alone and you’re welcome to come with me.” However, in the end I never regretted those excursions and often ended up making new friends. I just wish I traveled more assertively earlier.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing your mistakes with us- now maybe some good can come of them =)
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Yes I think when traveling with friends it’s really important to feel comfortable doing your own thing, if you really want to get the most of your vacation.
Nomadic Samuel
01. Jul, 2011
This post really resonates well with me. The point I found most revealing: I Iet myself get too tied down with plans.
This was by far the biggest mistake I made on my first extended backpacking trip in 2008. I now believe a combination of a rough blueprint with plenty of flexibility provides for a good balance of plans vs spontaneity.
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Totally a common rookie mistake- you’ll do better next time!
Audrey
02. Jul, 2011
I definitely hear you on the camera. We used to have a crappy Casio where the photos always seemed to be slightly blurry or over-saturated. I’m not sure if you’ve already ordered your new camera, but we love our Panasonic Lumix camera – great photos and pretty amazing HD video for the size.
As for the work/play balance, this is something we’re still trying to perfect all these days later. We take longer breaks now and enjoy just living in a place for a while instead of feeling like we have to see all the sights and do all the activities in a short time. But, then itchy feet starts and it’s on the road again
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Thanks for the reccomendation, going to do a lot of research before I commit to a new one!
Rease
02. Jul, 2011
Why do we always act like not carrying an umbrella will keep the rain away?! When I moved to Buenos Aires, I left my umbrella at home. WTF? As if it would NEVER rain?! Of course I had to buy one here.
It is hard not to let weather get you down, I think you just have to remember that bad weather happens everywhere, to everyone and you just have to make the best of it.
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Yeah I totally don’t know what my logic was- it’s going to rain eventually!
dtravelsround
03. Jul, 2011
Great list! I did pack an umbrella … but that’s about it on this list. There were plenty of times I got caught up in what others were saying — maybe not on blogs — but it was hard for me to hear a certain place was no good and justify going. As for missing certain places on the road, yeah, it sucks. But, i just remind myself that one day I WILL go back there. I wish I would have taken more notes, too. I did when I was in Rwanda, but that was it. To keep me remembering little things, I actually started a sheet with all of my Tweets. And, now, after being home for 9 months, it’s funny the little memories that pop up into your head that you seemingly forgot.
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
God the htought of going through all my tweets sounds like a nightmare- but I totally get where you are coming from.
Tom
03. Jul, 2011
I still think your photos are great! They’re better than anything I’m able to take – I definitely need a new camera. The night-time flash is horrifying.
The weather thing – I get that, too! I just hole myself up with the TV in my hotel room/laptop in hostel and watch trash TV, then order a pizza or raid the local convenience store for a calorific dinner…followed by yet more trashy shows. Always puts me in a better mood when it’s rainy!
Steph
12. Jul, 2011
Sometimes I’m secretly happy when it’s raining so I can do just that!
Susanna
14. Sep, 2011
Im from Sydney and I was up at Byron and then on the Gold Coast at what looks like the same time as you were….
Road tripping and CAMPING – for two weeks it just rained and rained and the tent flooded multiple times it was just that heavy. It was just myself and my boyfriend and we were so worried that we’d have nothing to do and the worst time, and although I got really down at one point (thought that Id have to drive back down to Sydney that night – only to find out the roads were flooded and we were stuck) I had a really great time in up the coast – theme parks are great when its raining because you dont have to queue up in any lines!!
Now Im planning a three month trip to Europe in November -January 2012, because I just KNOW I can survive a European winter after experiencing the flood-causing rains in January 2011!
Steph
18. Sep, 2011
That’s a way to put a good spin on it! At least you’ll miss the crowds in Europe.