Before having my fair share of travels, I always had the notion that it was all rainbows and unicorns. That it was all about seeing the beauty of different places around the world, about opening your eyes to different experiences and finding yourself. I had that notion because of all the blogs and articles I read and all the instagram feeds of my jet setter friends and celebrities who live on planes. Maybe that’s why I’ve always wanted the job I have now. However, what those well curated feeds and well written words didn’t tell me that traveling will test you, your personality, your body, your relationships and even your bank account.
1. It will take ALOT of money to do everything travel book guides and websites tell you to do. While most budget travellers would argue with me on this, it still takes a lot of your month’s pay check or if not all of it to make the most out of a trip. When travelling, you need money for transportation, entrance fees, tours, taxes, food and accommodations and even if you do budget everything, when you put it all together, it still comes out expensive especially if you add the really high exchange rate to almost any currency because of our economy. BUT there are tricks that you can do to make everything cheaper. Will write a separate blog post on that! ;)
2. It can really be dangerous. Whether you’re traveling alone, as a couple, as a family or even as a group. No matter where you are going, no matter how old you are or if you’re a boy or a girl. Even if you’re going to Japan where they say noone steals or in Singapore where there is 0 crime rate. Humans still live in countries and humans are not perfect. No matter where you are in the world, its still dangerous to walk alone at night, you can still get pick pocketed and even scammed by tourists or locals. Sometimes, it’s instances that are out of your control like natural disasters.
3. Being too adventurous with food abroad can get you sick. Sometimes even water. I always advocate to try as much cuisines as one can but while it may be fun and cool to try street food and unique delicacies only available at certain countries, you can seriously get sick and not just diarrhea but you can get something as serious as hepatits even when visiting a first world country. Tap water no matter how safe it may be to be consumed, our stomachs work differently from one another. My advice? Only drink bottled water. Buy in connivence stores ahead so you will save. Also, if you’re eating street food, make sure you see with your own two eyes how it’s cooked and if it’s cooked properly.
4. Discrimination. Believe it or not, there are still people around the world who think that Filipinos live in treehouses and we hunt food to eat. I encountered this through a taxi driver in Hong Kong and he really couldn’t believe I was Filipino because I had money to travel and I dressed well. He thought that we still live barbarically. How annoying is that?! One more experience I had was when I was being served by an Indian in London and when he found out I was a Filipino, he couldn’t believe it and he said that “aren’t Filipinos poor?” then he treated me differently throughout the night. The service was so bad and my order came out so late. Lastly, when shopping in luxury stores anywhere in the world, I noticed in all of them that the salesladies and men don’t give attention to those customers who don’t look like they can afford to buy anything in the store or if they look ordinary. They treat those people like they shouldn’t be there and makes them feel like they shouldn’t be there. I find it so funny because most of my friends who can afford to buy the whole store in a snap doesn’t even dress extravagantly! haha! Ben hates this too that’s why when it’s shopping time, he dresses in a shirt, jeans and normal shoes and he really waits for the sales people to treat him badly and when they do, that’s when we start shopping just to embarrass them and prove our theory! So this is probably the most annoying thing about traveling when races start to belittle you no matter how you look, act or spend.
5. Being out of touch with reality when you get home. Your body clock is messed up especially when you come from the other side of the world. Your body needs alot of time to get back and adjust to its old routine and because of that you miss out on getting work done when you get home. Your appetite is also still used to your eating habits when you travel so continuing to gain weight after a trip is inevitable. Also, when abroad, its quite hard to be in track with things happening back home politically, environmentally and socially especially with the bubble it creates. Your personal relationships get affected too since its hard to stay in touch with people back home.
6. Traveling is addicting. And trust me when I say that you will not get to stay put at home till you book your next one.
Despite all the bad things they don’t tell you about traveling though, all the nice airplane views, the stunning sunsets, the beautiful architectures you will see, the amazing cuisines you will taste, the different people from all walks of life around the world you will meet and the different person you become after traveling is worth all I mentioned above. I’m addicted!
Top from Primark, Boots and Coat from Zara, Sunglasses from Korea, Bag from Furla
