This traveler talk back comes from Nick and Claudia, a fun loving and newly married couple from Washington, DC.聽 Our trip helped inspire Nick and Claudia to travel (what a huge honor!) and we couldn’t help but want to catch up with them during their journey for some perspective.聽 In June, they left on their year long RTW, their first stop was Cartagena, Colombia.聽 With a flexible itinerary for the year, we caught up with them in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, to ask them how things were going a few weeks in.
What made you decide to travel? What are your sources of inspiration?
We both got bitten by the travel bug within the last few years. Claudia has always done a lot of traveling, but never for more than a month at a time, and in the back of her mind, wanted to take off for an extended period of time at some point in her life. Meeting many Europeans, Canadians, and Australians (primarily) who were in the midst of longer trips in our travels to Brazil and Nicaragua in the last few years got us thinking more seriously about making it happen. Also, reading about your trip was a big source of inspiration, and helped a lot in understanding the kinds of planning, logistics, and mindset required for an undertaking like this.
Did you find leaving home easy or difficult?聽 What was the reaction from your friends and family?
The nuts-and-bolts process of packing up our lives, putting things on hold, and preparing for the trip was a bit more difficult than we expected (especially the last 24 hours — fevers, vomiting, and no sleep on our last night were not how we wanted to send ourselves off!). It wasn’t necessarily stressful, but the months beforehand were filled with endless to-do lists. Besides that, leaving our friends and family, our routines and comfortable lives was a hard transition as well, but with a year of adventure ahead of us it was a little easier. Our friends and families were all supportive– some were surprised that we were actually going through with it, but all are really excited for us. We got a lot of questions about what we were going to do with our condo, our cats, our jobs; whether we had the whole itinerary already planned out and how we would go about making reservations, arranging transportation and staying in touch. Our parents were surprisingly supportive, and told us that now is the time in our lives to go on this adventure. Of course they didn’t let us leave without a few warnings (“always wear your passport around your neck, lock your valuables, be prepared to get ripped off a few times”, etc.), but that’s their job. 馃檪
How did it feel getting on the plane?聽 How have your emotions about traveling evolved since you’ve been on the road?
Equal parts excitement and exhaustion. When we arrived in Cartagena, our first destination on the journey, we were sick and pretty much slept for 18 hours. It took us a few days to feel healthy again, and then the reality of the year ahead of us started to settle in and we became excited. I think we’ve settled in to our travel lives quite well. We think we’re on a good pace, seeing many amazing things but not tiring ourselves out too badly. We’re a little more than a month in, and we aren’t tired of living out of a bag or being on the road yet!
Claudia and Nick arrived in Bogota and almost immediately were targeted by robbers.聽 We asked them about how they were able to get past the experience and how it impacts their trip.
I think we’ve gotten past it quite well. It definitely soured our opinion of Bogota, and we left earlier and saw less than if it hadn’t happened, but we were able to leave all but a healthy amount of the paranoia behind there. It also helps that we’ve mostly been in small and very safe towns since then, except Quito, where we stayed in a very safe and well-trafficked area. All in all we’re trying to make the best of the experience, and using what we learned to be more aware of potential bad situations, and being a little safer with our stuff.
Have you found a sense or freedom or do you feel overwhelmed by the journey ahead?
Totally a sense of freedom. We feel so excited about every day, and about the weeks and months to come. Planning our next few stops is always really exciting (except for the feeling that we don’t have as much time as we’d like to fit everything in). For the most part we feel much healthier, we’re eating well, exercising every day, and sleeping marvelously, and we’re almost totally without the stresses that make our “real lives” difficult. While we have a general plan for the coming 11 months (and a few countries where we’re meeting friends on a certain date), we usually don’t make reservations more than a few days or a week ahead, if at all. We feel comfortable with the fact that our general itinerary will certainly change, and that we may decide to skip certain places in order to spend more time in others. One thing we thought about before we left, and have become more comfortable with the longer we’re on the road is that since we’re traveling for a whole year, day to day life is a bit different than if we’re on a 10-day vacation. We are reminding ourselves that it’s okay to take a day off from doing anything and just read in a hammock, watch a movie, do stuff on the internet for a few hours, or go to bed at 8 pm– just like we’d do at home on a lazy Sunday. And some days just simply have to be written off as an “errands day”, just like we have to do at home sometimes (except things take a bit longer here…. we spent almost 3 hours trying to mail a package in Quito!). We can’t always be running around and trying to see everything, and that’s okay. The pressure that you feel when you only have a limited time on a vacation is off. And, at the end of the day, this year isn’t about trying to cross as many sights as possible off a list– it’s about experiencing the journey, slowing down and really taking in the feel of a place: appreciating the language, the food, the people, the mountain air. Sometimes sitting in a cafe, watching people go about their everyday lives, and striking up a conversation with a few locals is a much better way of experiencing a place than checking out the museum or climbing the nearest volcano (although those things are great too!).
Biggest mistake so far: Not taking a cab to our hostel in Bogota.
Best surprise so far: The price of food in South America: generous cuts of fish with ample sides for $7; big loaves of (albeit kind of boring) bread for $1, and freshly squeezed fruit juice every day? Yes, please!
One thing you wish you had brought: More suntan lotion (it’s hard to find a bottle under $15 here). Rechargeable batteries that work (they’re expensive and of questionable quality here).
One thing you wish you had left at home: We already sent home a shirt and tried to send an extra water bottle. The morning we left we took a few items of clothing out of our bags at the last minute, and we’re really glad we did so!
I wish someone had told us __________ (fill in the blank) before we left.
We couldn’t think of anything here, so how about “we’re glad we knew ______ before we left”: Pack earplugs, as many hostels have really thin walls and there is never an hour too late or early to blast music in the streets in South America! Don’t rely on credit cards– many places don’t accept them, and get an ATM card that won’t charge you fees and will refund fees charged by other ATMs. Pack all your clothes into compression/dry sacks– they’ll keep your stuff organized and clean and make your backpack more compact. A silk sleep sheet makes a wonderful light sleeping bag or protective layer between you and any sketchy beds that you may be forced to spend a night in, and they take up barely any room. In general, pack about 1/2 to 2/3 of what you think you should bring, and be prepared to do a little sink laundry every few days!
If I met someone leaving on an RTW tomorrow I would tell them _____________ (fill in the blank).
Buy a steri-pen, it will be your best friend and save you loads of money buying bottled water everywhere you go. Also, don’t plan too far ahead and just go with the flow– we’ve loved not being tied down to an itinerary or previously purchased flights that are expensive to change.
You can read more about Nick & Claudia’s journey on their blog, but don’t miss their regularly updated twitter feed.
Sailor says
Very nice to hera that your blog is inspiring more people into the world of travel.