Listen… traveling is the best. I love it. If I didn’t love it, I would stop doing it. But that doesn’t mean every part of traveling is amazing. There are a lot of not-so-great parts on the journey that make the good ones feel even sweeter. So here are some of my favorite mishaps and misconceptions that I’ve come across on the past year and a half on the road.
Everyone wants to travel until its day six without a vegetable in Western Europe
One of my biggest complaints. Sometimes it feel like you have to actively seek out the vegan and vegetable based restaurants to get a single gram of fiber. Italy, France, Spain, Portugal. It’s all the same. Protein and carbs. I loved the food all across the continent, don’t get me wrong. But as someone who usually eats a lot of vegetables, and is used to the American plating of protein, carbs and vegetables all on one plate, it was a little bit difficult to adapt. One time in Lisbon, I visited four different restaurants that only served chicken and french fries before finding one with creamed spinach.
One of Jordan’s friends swore he got food poisoning after eating at a vegan restaurant in Europe. My suspicion? It wasn’t food poisoning. It was his digestive system trying to process its first piece of fiber in a week. I know because my stomach was also making some noises after that meal.
Everyone wants to travel until you’re wearing the same outfit every day and your clothes are falling apart
I am nothing if not an outfit repeater. I’ve got one pair of pants I love and, since it’s hot, I rotate between two tank tops. Even though its nice to know exactly what you’re going to wear, I do miss my closet back home. I will never take for granted my closet again after living out of a single carry-on for a year.
Oh and it would be nice to have a carry-on of clothes that aren’t literally ripping at the seams. When you wear the same clothes nonstop, you end up in a constant cycle of patching them up or dropping them off at random tailors. On the bright side, at least it makes space in your bag for new pieces when the old ones finally give out.
Everyone wants to travel until the sand follows you
I spent a month in the desert and it took me getting a new suitcase and backpack five months later to finally rid myself of the sand that had hitchhiked with me all that time. The sand would find its way through cracks in our house and pile up on our suitcases and clothes. It didn’t help the sand situation that after the desert we immediately went to the beach and spent two months there
Everyone wants to travel until the guy at your hostel is snoring louder than you thought possible
Listen. I handle snorers. My boyfriend and everyone in my family is a snorer, so I am very conditioned to hearing snores. But this was different. This guy was snoring so loud that when he suddenly stopped snoring, I actually got worried. It was genuinely like nothing I had ever heard before. Even Jordan, who can notoriously sleep through anything, got woken up.
Everyone wants to travel until you’re hot and sweaty always
Traveling in the summer is brutal. Especially in places that just don’t usually have AC. Right now I’m in Cambodia, where the humidity alone feels like a punishment. Despite fans running constantly, I’ve accepted that my baseline state is “mildly damp.”
But maybe the worst was camping in Türkiye this past summer. We lived in tents by the beach, which was so cool. But it was hot, no air conditioning, no fans and the only real escape from the heat was plunging into the freezing ocean.
Everyone wants to travel until you realize how hard it is to keep up with friends
Unless both parties are willing to put in the work to upkeep a long distance relationship, it just doesn’t work. And it’s sad. But hey, friendships naturally fade. But being in a 12-hour time zone difference doesn’t exactly foster the best environment for a healthy relationship.
To keep up with each other, some of my friends and I have switched to sending voice memos. It’s not the same as a real catch-up, but it’s a good way to keep connections alive when scheduling calls is impossible.
Everyone wants to travel until every time you visit a new city you get food poisoning
I don’t know what it is. You’d think eventually. Multiple countries later. I would get over this. But no. Here I am. A year and a bit of traveling and I still get sick every time I visit a new city. Like clockwork. Luckily, it was never too bad in the UK and most of Europe, but since then I just always have food poisoning. Maybe that’s the reason I decided to stay in Siem Reap for three months.
Speaking of Siem Reap. My Cambodian food poisoning was a bit delayed. It didn’t hit me in Phnom Penh, but instead about 20 minutes before a six-hour bus ride to Siem Reap. Perfect timing. Miraculously (and thanks to the three bathroom breaks) I made it through unscathed. In Siem Reap I powered through a six hour apartment hunt, stomach in knots, only for the sickness to magically disappear once we signed the lease.
Everyone wants to travel until your sanitation standards plummet
I think an unspoken rule on the road is that unless you actually stink, you and your clothes are clean. Or at least that’s my unspoken rule. Because unless you’re living somewhere, its hard to do your laundry. Either you’re spending your whole day at a laundromat or forking over too much money for someone to do it for you. So sometimes you find yourself stretching how long you can go between laundry. Socks and underwear get washed in the sink with bar soap. Shirts get reworn even if you know you sweat straight through them yesterday. And you tell yourself: “It’s fine. I’ll wash them soon.”
Everyone wants to travel until you get scammed again in a Moroccan medina
We’ve all been there. In Fes, it happened daily. My favorite scam was actually kind of brilliant: A “helpful” guy sees you checking your phone and says, “You’re going the wrong way!” He insists he’s headed into the medina and will guide you. You follow, get led into a shop, pressured into buying something, and then asked for a tip on the way out. Textbook.
Needless to say, we never accepted directions again. But trust me, they always find a way.
Everyone wants to travel until your shoes give you blisters but they’re your only pair of shoes
I am of the belief that you only need one pair of sneakers if you’re traveling. If you have more than one you’re doing too much. That being said. I also have this uncanny ability to wear holes at the heels of every pair I own. It’s honestly impressive. I even splurged on a high-quality pair to break the cycle. Three months later: holes. The rest of the shoe was perfect, but the heel was shredded. I might just go back to buying cheap ones if they’re all destined to die anyway.
Everyone wants to travel until you’re walking ten miles a day
I’m not going to lie. I love walking. When asked my hobbies, walking inevitably makes it onto this list. The only time I don’t love walking is when the scenario above with the shoes is being played out.
The funny thing is that Jordan and I have basically trained ourselves to walk absurd distances. Friends and family who visit us struggle to keep up. And I dont even consider myself to be in fantastic shape. So, when we have others with us, we have to remind ourselves to slow down and actually look at the sights instead of speed walking through every city.
Everyone wants to travel until you’re wearing two backpacks and its 100 degrees outside
I recently switched from the carry-on suitcase lifestyle to the carry-on backpack lifestyle. In many ways it is so much better. Dragging a carry-on up a hill, carrying it over the cobblestones, making a ruckus in front of a cafe at 7am. Those days are over. But with it came sacrifice. Now I have to carry a backpack on my front, as well as the big backpack on my back. This makes for a very hot and sweaty and not entirely enjoyable experience.
And that’s the thing. Travel isn’t glamorous all the time. It’s sweaty, loud, and sometimes miserable. But sometimes the not-so-great parts make for even better stories than the days that go perfectly.
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xx abby
this made me realize that ur just a straight Tank bc u make it all look so easy, yet, u are so humble. I love reading this because it lets me imagine u doing ur Abby stuff in the parts of the map i have not unlocked yet. amazing literature!
Love this share, and bought me so many memories, Abby! Especially with the cloth repetitions and the summer days! Also walking a lot, and alsoo carrying two bags and having to walk on a hot n humid fay as I couldn’t board any bus!