Travelling is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I always thought I would finish school and that would be it, I’d pack my bags and off I’d go, turning my back on the UK for a year or so to experience the rest of the world. But three years later and it still hasn’t happened. I guess it’s just not as easy as just packing your bags and leaving for some people, and life happens, and it goes so fast, and before you know it, it’s a few years later and those dreams of seeing the world are looking less and less likely.
I know I can’t give you that physical push to just go and do it. Perhaps you’re already ready. But everyone needs some research and knowledge to find that comfort to actually make the move. So, I met up with some fellow TWENTYSOMETHING year olds; Timiah, Jimmie and Theo, who have already made the move over the span of eight months, travelling through New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, to discuss the truths behind travelling in your twenties.
As we sat down in their cosy living room, I asked the group where their favourite place was, a question I thought would be simple, but oh how wrong I was.
“My favourite place was Vietnam… but also Bali and Malaysia”, Timiah says giggling, her boyfriend and fellow travelling partner Theo pointing out that that’s very clearly cheating the question. “I have different places for different reasons!” she replies at him, which, of course, is understandable. When you expose yourself to the rest of the world, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact favourite place.
Jimmie, too, struggled with this, talking me through a multitude of different spots that he loved. “Singapore has to be one of my favourites, we had a crazy time there”, he tells me. “Another favourite was most definitely Malaysia. That place is amazing. One of my favourite experiences from Malaysia was going to these white sand dunes; you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, but you’re actually just outside of the city, just a few miles from an oil port. We were trying to fly our drone in the dunes but had no idea it was a restricted fly zone, so it kept crashing and we were all running around trying to catch it, but it’s that footage that we’ll treasure forever.”
Just before I get a chance to ask the next question, he makes his final decision; “Vietnam I think was my favourite overall, it was just beautiful. You just can’t believe the scenery. The people are so lovely and the food is incredible. So yeah, that would be my short and sweet answer.”
After a while of listening to them debate on whether or not it was possible to pick just one favourite location, I hit them with another big question. “What’s your favourite memory from your experience?” Timiah’s face lit up and I could see her mind travelling back to the memory.
“Because I had such a great time throughout the whole thing I kinda don’t think about a particular memory, but I remember one very special memory that came to my mind straight away. Me, Ollie and Harry, two friends that came with us on the trip, went off on some motorbikes through some mountains in this small town. The sun was setting, and it was just one of those moments where you’re like ‘oh my god this is amazing’. Sorry, you were probably expecting something more exciting, but it’s those small snapshot moments that reside in you the most. You almost don’t want to capture them on camera because you don’t want to look back and recreate that memory through the picture and it not be as good.”
“Do you know what”, Jimmie quickly responds to her, “I think one of my favourite memories has a similar feel. Something that isn’t on the surface really amazing, but a day I will always think about. It was when we were in Cambodia. Myself and two friends who we were travelling with told the rest of the group we were just gonna nip off on the peds we had rented, but we ended up spending the whole day out. We met loads of locals who showed us around, taking us to their amazing lunch spots. It pissed everyone else off cos we had the most amazing day and saw the most amazing places that you wouldn’t have found without making friends. The curries… oh my god my mouth is watering at the thought of them.”
As someone who hasn’t travelled myself, I felt the main question I needed to ask, not only for myself, but for all other twentysomething year old people who want to travel but haven’t quite had the guts to do it yet, was what the number one tip each of them would give to someone who hasn’t travelled yet
It’s almost like Timiah read my mind when I asked what her what hers was. “I feel like the only tip I would give to someone whose never been travelling before is just to do it. I know that’s not really a tip but sometimes people just need that push to go. Obviously do your research before you go into each country; it’s important to know each places’ cultural values and everything like that, but my main advice is just to go, and to not overthink it too much because you meet so many amazing people when you’re away that can help you or give you advice.”
“I can’t agree or say much more than that”, Jimmie responds. “Try and do everything. Talk to as many people as possible, don’t say no to anything (within reason), just go and live it, because chances are, you’re never gonna do it like you did again.”
“But, I’ll also give you a simple one. When you go on a night out, and trust me, you’ll have many of them, DON’T take your passport. We all thought it’d be safer to keep it on us at all times, but if you can hide it in the hostel, that’s your safest bet. As long as you have a passport, everything can be sorted pretty easily.”
So let’s flip to the opposite point of view. I feel like there’s so much ‘don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that’ when you search for travelling advice that it floods the brain with so much anxiety of what not to do, that you end up staying firmly put, and the idea of travelling gets put to the back of your mind for another few months. So I asked what the worst mistake they made was. I wanted to find out what truthfully is the worst that can happen.
Jimmie knew his instantly. It took no hesitation for him to remember the dreaded day. “There was five of us, in Thailand. (Timiah had taken a different route at this point). I was the lucky one who somehow managed to escape the madness, but for the other four… well, let’s just say it’s the worst of the worst. We were staying in the party area of Thailand and thought we’d taken enough precautions on the beach, but clearly not. We hid and buried our valuables before going for a swim, but we came out of the sea and their passports, money and phones had all been stolen. The worst thing is, we realised one by one that everything… everything was gone. So yes, that was most definitely our biggest mistake. It took some weeks to recover, but we managed; we got phones sent to us and our passports recovered. If you ever needed a horror story, we were it, but we recovered from it, and it didn’t stop us travelling for months beyond that.”
Timiah had gained a disapproving face revisiting the story, but this quickly turned smug knowing all her valuables remained safe the whole time she was away. The smug face didn’t last long when the boys reminded her of her worst mistake. “Ohhhh yeah”, she said. “There was one time that I panicked on the roads when riding a motorbike in Vietnam. Something which by the way, I had never done before. I didn’t look at which way to go, or what was coming, and a car pulled out as we were getting close to it. I nearly got us run over.”
“Honestly, it was a relief to get rid of those motorbikes by the end of Vietnam”, Jimmie laughed. “They were carnage.”
“It was a stupid mistake and something that came from my own lack of awareness rather than from the travelling experience itself” she reminded the boys.
Shocked at the notion that they had even learnt how to ride motorbikes whilst away, I questioned what else they felt they’d learnt on the trip.
“Something we definitely learnt how to do, which I’ve really noticed has stuck with me is being able to plan on the move” Theo chimes in from the kitchen. “Or being able to adapt plans when things come along unexpectedly. I think most people who have been travelling will have had to do that a few times, and it’s stressful when it happens at first, but it becomes so natural.”
“I agree with that on practicality terms, that’s something I’ve really taken with me”, Jimmie agrees. “I’d say the thing I take away most from the experience is that, if you go with the right people and the right attitude, you can have the most fun with almost nothing. We were on such a budget, but we had the most incredible time. You can really make the most out of anything.”
“I don’t know if this counts as learning”, says Timiah, “but becoming more independent and confident in making new friends was a huge thing for me. I’m rambling now but… I just had a great time okay!” she says with a big smile on her face.
I can see that having this chat has brought back a lot of great and heartfelt memories between the group. We wrapped up the conversation with smiles on our faces, and I left them rediscovering memories amongst each other.
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