Traveling Can Be Tough
Don’t think that we have this lavish dreamy life with no problems…the reality is that our lives are not magical. Just like everyone else we thought, not working, exploring, beaches, and pretty pictures sounds like perfection. Traveling should be a happy vacation right? We did not expect to have hard times while traveling, but that is definitely not the case. Bad attitudes and bad days happen on the road just as they do in the working world. When on a RTW trip every week you are looking at logistics of where to go next, how much it costs, can it be done and so on. Traveling constantly takes a lot of planning and that is something we severely underestimated.
Everyone thinks Oh you are traveling the world and eating local food wow thats so great. In reality we walk 1 hour to find a restaurant and sometimes its a hit and sometimes an utter miss. Eating local is pretty hard, when at 2pm you realize you are hungry and have no clue where you are. So you go around the corner and find hot dogs. No way I’m eating hot dogs in Portugal right? So we walk a little longer, find a place that is about 15 euro a plate, and decide that is too expensive. Then find a generic store that has food that won’t fill us up, then maybe we stumble upon another place that is good food at a good price and maybe not. It is not an easy task. So that day is filled with so many decisions…right or left, left or straight, this way, no this way, should we go here…no…yes, and so on. Sometimes we stumble upon amazing places like a family kitchen with 10 euro for a shared good portion for two with great design and great company…and sometimes we think we have found a good place only to find that it is not authentic at all. The tostas are really plain and not filling, so we have to order two more and it doesn’t fill us up and also doesn’t taste good, even though we just spent about 45 minutes to get there.
The constant planning is something else we did not think would be an issue. It seems almost every day you are planning for the next day/week/month. We had to decide where we were going in Portugal three days prior to a reservation falling through. We also had to plan how we were getting to Spain from Portugal and how to buy the bus tickets from an all Spanish website. Maybe we will do a ride-share, that seems cheaper, but the guy won’t message us back…wait, what are we doing tomorrow when we go to the Douro Valley? Are we going to stay in one of the towns, or just stop in two, what vineyards are we going to visit, how do we get to them after we are dropped off, which ones do tastings and which ones don’t? Wait again, we are hungry and need to go eat somewhere.
The constant decision making and planning wears us out especially when they happen day in and day out. We have learned not to plan as much and take more time to figure stuff out on the go. It seems we get better recommendations and we are not spending our day in the hostel’s common room taking up all the wifi. The point being is that traveling the world is not as glorious as it sounds sometimes. With that being said figuring out how to travel is pushing me and Katie to grow in different ways. We both have always been really go with the flow and indifferent. Now we are learning to make quick decisions when we need to and go with the flow when we need to.
Another issue we have come across is our attitudes. Just because we are traveling doesn’t mean we don’t have bad days, argue, have something crappy happen to us, or stay in a hostel all day. We have arguments, bad days, and bad attitudes like everyone else. Traveling or not, these things don’t leave you. I shared a room with some german guy in the azores, and we started talking and he started complaining and complaining about the island we were on. “This hostel is like a prison, its always cloudy. I’m only staying one day and I can’t wait to get out of here and go to this other island.” I thought to myself, wow, such a bad attitude and complaining about what? It made me think that anyone can have a bad attitude or a good one, no matter if you are working or traveling. So no matter what your circumstance, your attitude usually travels with you. So whatever your circumstance make sure your attitude is positive instead of letting the situation dictate you. Regardless of the situation we have learned to appreciate what we do have, rather than complain about what we don’t. When we have to walk 3 miles in the chilly rain, laugh about it, smile and say life is great.
7 thoughts on “Traveling Can Be Tough”
Christopher Lloyd
Well said.
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tannerherriott
Fantastic post. Attitude is everything. I’m excited to see you two being stretched and growing as a couple.
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Anna
Yes. I was waiting for this post. You said it perfectly – “We are limited and that is the reality”. Traveling for months (or years) at a time wears on you. Just because you’re surrounded by the most beautiful cities and locations doesn’t remove the sin – it’s still a fallen, fallible world, and swapping one continent for another doesn’t change that.
You reach a point where you look at each other and wonder what the hell you were thinking. I SO appreciate the honesty and vulnerability here – to say this idea of long-term traveling, it’s NOT what you think; there are not the most ridiculous, mundane challenges involved. Not glamorous, like everyone thinks. It stretches you and your relationships – not only with each other but with your friends/family back home. There’s this trapped feeling of not knowing how to communicate your struggles when everyone is like, “what are you talking about”.
Totally admire you guys and praying/hoping for your well-being and safety. Love keeping up with you through the blog. ❤ A.
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Justin
Yes, yes, and yes. Relearning this now–and I have only one set of preferences to consider. Either you care about doing it all and have to plan really carefully and extensively, or you’re willing to take what you can get and only plan carefully.
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It Began In a Balloon
Thanks guys! Traveling has been great, but as we said it has its struggles like everything else. Through the struggles is where we grow and have learned more about ourselves.
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Diana
This post is so incredible true – myself and my husband are currently doing a long term trip, we are not quite sure how RTW it will be, but it happened to us exactly what you described just an hour ago. It took us around 20-25min to get to a nice quite place with internet to have a coffee. I totally agree – atitude is everything. Thanks for sharing these insightful experiences! (And I’m so proud you were in Portugal, I’m originally from Coimbra :))
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It Began In a Balloon
Thanks Diana. Keep up the positive vibes and soak up everything around you, and your trip will be great! Don’t worry about making it RTW or not, travel is personal and everyone learns in a different way.
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