What are your 5 must haves (apart from the basics such as passport, credit card, phone) when travelling?
My top 5 must-haves when travelling is definitely Cez – my best friend for years and partner in all travel crimes, a lot of smile, picture of my mom in my pocket, camera which I have been travelling with for over 6 years and … faith that everything is going to be just fine, no matter what.
What do you focus on while travelling to a new place – people, culture, attractions, food, adventure, or nature?
First thing – food! Me and Cez are real foodies. Since we’ve been travelling, food became a very important part of our adventures. We simply love to experiment with different flavours, spices and see what each country has to offer when it comes to its cuisine. We constantly go to different local restaurants and cafeterias where freshly local dishes are served and we can spend there hours and hours!
Is there a place you’d never go to? Why?
Definitely, Syria at the moment for obvious reasons. We do like a bit of danger when travelling, but getting to countries where civil wars take place is definitely not an option.
What advice would you give to anyone who is considering travelling but is scared to take the leap of faith?
Start with small steps before you decide to take the big one. Go somewhere close to your home country, stay there a couple of days and see how you like it. Hungry for more? Pack your backpack and stay somewhere a bit further for a week or two. If you still like it and feel like you are ready for more, plan a bigger trip to a safe travel destination that will not scare you, but still challenge you. It could be perhaps South-East Asia or South America.
Another tip I have is finding a job in a company that treats you with tropical island work trips and allows you to work online from remote places. I’m lucky to be working for Poki with a team of inspiring people who also love to travel. In this way I can still travel and work without worrying about money.
Any upcoming trips you’re looking forward to?
Yes! In January 1st me and Cez are meeting in Thailand where we will be staying for 3 weeks. After that the real adventures start – Burma, Nepal and India – one of those places we always wanted to explore together.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
On the beach. I’m sipping coconut juice and Cez is opening cold beer :).
We know that travel affects our lives in many positive ways, but no one ever talks about the negative side of it (i.e. relationships can suffer, etc). Has travelling affected your life negatively in any way?
That’s true. Everyone talks about how amazing travelling is, but not many people mention its negative effect. Let me ask you, who wants to date a girl who loves to travel? She is always hard to please, she probably struggles to hold a steady job, she wants to go to remote places on her own, she tends to speak her mind, she is too proud to show her weaknesses, she always wants more and more and she will always be independent. Although I am nearly 27 and most of my friends have already settled down and started a family, I can’t imagine myself to do so. Getting married and having kids is my biggest fear right now. I want to explore the world, develop myself at work, blog and meet people! So a family guy should never date a girl who travels unless he can keep up with her.
Is it on your plans to settle down somewhere in the future and stop travelling as much?
Perhaps if I fell in love again. Love is blind, so I believe anything can happen! 🙂
How do you fund your travels?
We have impressive savings on our accounts, rich parents and mountains of cash under our mattresses, so we never worried about it :). Joking aside, we’ve been always working a lot, even when travelling – from English teaching jobs in China, through web design and blogging to working as marketeers. Life was never easy for us and all these adventures had to be paid somehow.
really helpful..