5 things I wish I knew before starting travelling

I have been lucky to travel a lot and these are some of the things I wish i knew or thought about in advance…

1 Health first

 Taking care of your health is crucial, especially when you are a solo traveller, because you may have nobody you can count on (or at least not immediatly, lets hope lots of amazing people will be part of your life!).  If your goal is to have a long trip, be sure to have done all the important medical check ins before leaving if it is possible, so you don´t have to come back on purpose or risk to be not in your best shape.   Always bring your health insurance card,and remember to look up if an extra insurance can be beneficial or even necessary. If you usually take meds, remember to check if you have enough. If you think about getting them in a new place educate yourself about the system in advance. You may be required to do some specif procedures that take time, so planning ahead is the key.  If you take meds daily and go to a country with a very different time zone, ask your doctor how to handle the situation, no DIY please! If you have a specific diagnosis ask your doctor to make a translation in english, you may not need it but you never know. Last but not least: find trustable online communities with people in your same situation, so if you need a specific professional they may can refer you to a good english speaking one in a blink of an eye! 

2 Look for free opportunities

Speaking about communities, it is a good idea to find some with expats so you can share your struggles, ask for advice, you can also meet them ( of course consider safety conditions at first!). Groups with locals are a great opportunity as well, you can find people interested in learning about new culture and you can discover hidden gems. I will always be grateful to have met an amazing Hungarian girl in Budapest because my experience would not have been as special, and we are still in touch now!

Consider Facebook groups (and if you are too young to consider it vintage, I am really jealous!)

I actually recommend to join a free walking tour with professional guides (there are usually in big cities) as soon as you get to a new place, so you can get the main vibe of a place, you will save time visiting more mainstream landmarks while learning way more. Guides often give you suggestions about local and less expensive restaurants, pubs, flea markets, language classes and more. You will have plenty ideas of what to do next in a blink of an eye.

Sometimes museums with an entrance fee offer one free day a week/month, so check on Google or ask fellow travelers if they know. You can meet other travelers in the tour itself and that can be enriching as well. I met a German girl in Sicily while hiking on the Etna and we had a great conversation, it is a special memory that i still cherish today. I hope we will meet each others again!

Using the app Meetup (I´m not sponsored for saying this, of course) to find events and workshops can be a great idea too, you can educate yourself about a specific topic and meet people with same interests and values.

3 Consider volunteering

Speaking of free opportunities, if you want a massive one you should totally consider volunteering. This is ideal if you would like to spend a longer time in one place and experience it on a deeper lever. If you are during your gap year, still figuring out what to do in your life, you can try different things, acquire new skills and understand what you enjoy more. I would recommend the following 3 platforms (I`m not sponsored for writing this, of course) that have projects worldwide: Workaway and Worldpackers, where you can find different types of projects: helping in hostels, animal sanctuaries, schools, non profits, communities, if you can think about it they probably have it. So go ahead. They give you free accomodation and sometimes more benefits. You need to pay an annual fee in order to contact the hosts, but if you are seriously thinking about using it it will be worth it!

Aupairworld is designed for becoming au pairs, who are in charge of the kids of the family for few hours a day and they may need to do some light work around the house. It can be good to improve another language surrounded by locals, but don`t worry if you don`t know it because sometimes they only want you to speak english or another language in order to get a full immersion. They usually require you to stay longer but they provide you with food, accomodation and pocket money.

It is better to ask to do a videocall before so you can see if you get along and have more informaton about the specific project. Look for reviews on the platform and ask for valid referrals if you feel safer.

4 Don´t think you are too cool for hostels

I know that in hostels privacy is not really a thing, bathrooms aren’t usually the cleanest, the kitchen can be messy, roomates can the worst humans ever, but you will create memories like crazy and discover so much about the world, besides the fact that your wallet will thank you. One of the best memories i have is learning how to do belly dancing with a Turkish girl in the kitchen, in a hostel in Copenhagen, then an Argentinian came and started teaching us salsa. One of the best nights ever. You may have the opportunity to taste so many different dishes, and get the real traditional recipe. Don’t worry if you don’t know English well, you will pick up quickly, and you may learn other languages too if u want to put in the effort. If you think you are too shy, don`t worry neither! Hostels are really chilled environment, so you can acquire new social skills with no pressure, and usually people like to make feel each others comfortable. You will learn how to be more adaptable, organize your space, communicate with others without knowing a mutual language, be assertive cause some people can be really rude, let’s be real, but you will trust humanity again too because solo travelers tend to help each others, form deep bonds and create a family away from home. If you think it is too good to be true keep reading…

5 Problems will follow you everywhere, even while travelling

Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about leaving everything, move to an exotic place and somehow ended up having the perfect life? I thought it was a legit solution when I was a young teenager, but maybe the ones now are way smarter.

Sometimes your problems depend on really specific external situations and changing environment can be the wisest thing in some cases. For example moving to a state that values your job more so you have higher possibilites to get more benefits , but it is not always like this.

I used to have a hard time when it came to meet new people, even when I was surrounded by potential new friends. I thought I wasn´t fitting in, then during my first experience away I realized that this problem didn´t magically disappear. Being in a new context can help you tell apart external factors from internal tendencies, so you can quickly understand what are the patterns you are keep sticking to even if they are useless or harmful. Travelling will not automatically solve all your problems, but it can give you insights to understand you better and learn how to overcome your struggles. You can do this work on yourself at home too, there are other methods to improve of course. The strenght of travelling is that it will push you so much of your comfort zone even when you don`t feel like, so growing is the only choice you have.

Thank you for reading, and if you have other tips please share them in the comments because fellow travelers should help each others!