Top 5 Things You Don't Realise Will Happen to You While Travelling

Hello Wonderful People!

There are many things that you expect will happen to yourself while travelling; you'll get a cracking tan, make loads of new friends and totally discover who you really are (lolz). However, there are also a fair few things that happened while I was travelling that I wasn't expecting...

You will lose the ability to distinguish between accents

This may just be me but after a month or so of travelling, having met and spoken to so many people from all over the world, I soon lost the ability to differentiate between peoples accents. A first I'd make simple (ish) mistakes, such as thinking someone was Scottish, when they were actually Irish. But these soon turned into huge errors and I genuinely found it really hard to work out where someone was from by their accent. One of my more embarrassing moments was when we were talking to a bus driver in Australia; it was only after I got off the bus and mentioned to my friend how friendly Aussies were that she said he was clearly English and was originally from Yorkshire. Woopsie.  I also mistook a German girl who we met in our hostel as Irish. And don't even get me started on Canadians and Americans, I mean seriously, they sound exactly the same to me. However, never admit this to a Canadian, as they seem to take great offence at being mistaken for an American.

You will become super quick at mental maths

Having to quickly get used to all the different exchange rates and currencies really help your mental maths skills. When £1 is the equivalent to 53 Thai Bhat, or £ is the same as 34,382 Vietnamese Dong, then you've got to be pretty quick at maths to roughly work out how much you're spending. It's fair to say that I'm not the best at maths, but I'm also not hopeless. Considering I haven't even done maths since I was 16, getting back into the swing of things was easier than expected. Once I'd googled the exchange rate and worked out what the equivalent for £10 would be, it was pretty easy to work out the rest. It was also a great feeling like a millionaire in Vietnam, where you could withdraw hundreds of thousands out of a cash machine. Sadly, 1 million Dong was just over £30 so I was never really that rich. Sigh.

Be overly proud of your own country

When you're at home you don't really think or care about the fact you live where you do. In fact, people often moan about how rubbish their own country is and how they'd love to live somewhere else. Take Brits for example, we love a good moan about the weather and we always have some kind of complaint to make about the NHS, po po etc. However, wait until you're travelling and you can't wait to rant and rave about how your country is the best. 'HA, Americans have to PAY for their own healthcare.. what a bummer, thank God for the NHS!'

'Brits abroad are SO embarrassing'...... 'Oh hell no! We could drink you under the table!'

'Haha you come from such a tiny country'...... 'Excuse me Mr. Australia, you're descended from all our convicts.'

I really could go on all day. Battling for your own countries pride will happen several times while your travelling and you'll be surprised how proud you are of your own country.

You'll miss home comforts, but not home

Waking up in a room everyday full of people you don't know or have just met can get a little tiresome. Privacy and backpacking do not go hand in hand and you'll start to miss your own bed pretty soon. Hostel life is amazing fun, but having to be constantly sociable can sometimes take its toll. Especially when you end up asking the same questions over and over and oveeerrrrr again. 'Where are you from?' 'How long have you been travelling for?' 'Where have you been so far?' 'When are you going home?' 'What's been your favourite place so far?' Bla bla bla blaaaaa, I don't actually care. There will be a few times you'll wish you were back in your own bed enjoying a bit of peace and quiet. But it'll quickly pass and you'll remember what an awesome time you're having and your bed back home is actually pretty damn boring. You will also definitely crave food from home. I especially missed Western food in Asia. While I loved the amazing curries out there, I found myself craving things like cheese, pasta and potatoes. There were days when all we would talk about was the food we were missing from home and what cravings we were having. Hangovers in Asia sucked, as cheesy mash and beans seemed to a pretty rare occurrence. Boo. One food that I always lusted over was a dominoes pizza with a garlic and herb dip. While I never got home sick while travelling I did occasionally miss home comforts, but this never bothered me enough to properly miss home. I was having way too much fun and could surrender my own bed and favourite foods for the backpacking lifestyle.

You'll loose all sense of time and reality

Give it a week and you won't have a clue what day it is, let alone the date or month. You'll also forget that time zones exist and wonder why the hell your mother isn't answering your viber call. Then you'll remember is 3:30am back home and forgive her for not being awake. Not caring what time it is or what day of the week soon leads to you becoming super chilled out. You'll no longer care that your train is late, or that your meal has come half an hour after everyone else. When time doesn't matter and you have nothing to rush for, you'll just go with the flow and be much happier for it.

 

Byeeeee!