Lauren Caselli is a freelance writer and perpetual nomad. After five years working and living in NYC, Lauren had just about enough and hightailed it to Bozeman, MT where she writes copy for small businesses, teaches yoga, dances around her kitchen to Motown, and still tries to get used to the fact that people use horses as a means of transportation. Find her on her website or at her blog.
You’ve done it.
You’ve finally booked your plane/train/bus ticket to a far away land. You’re busy comparing the merits of a Gregory pack vs. a Lowe Alpine. You’ve been reading travel websites, blog posts, and every community board you can find. You have your Lonely Planet: Insert Name of Country Here.
You’re ready.
But! There are a few things that you might not be expecting. Here’s how to deal with those twists and turns that are common in a life on the road.
You get into a fight with your travel companion
It happens. Spending day in and day out with someone who, up until this trip, you couldn’t get enough of can make you go mental. And before you have a dramatic blow up in a fancy English restaurant, try to act like the smart, elegant, mature lady that you are.
How to deal:
Take a big break. Not an I’m-jumping-on-my-motorbike-and-riding-off-into-the-Thai-sunset-so-I-don’t-have-to-look-at-your-face-ever-again break. Be honest and say “Hey girl, it’s not you. It’s me.” And then spend the day sunning at a fancy pool in Vietnam or trolling the archives of the Louvre alone. The space to do the things you like to do without being mindful of someone else’s needs/schedule/hair woes will be enough to keep the cray-cray in check.
You have The Worst Day Ever
You will miss the last bus from Vietnam into Cambodia. You will forget to fuel your rented motorbike and you will run low on gas twenty miles from the closest gas station. You will fall asleep on an overnight train and miss your stop by, oh, fifteen towns. You will want to dissolve into a waterfall of tears while plunked helplessly on your backpack.
How to deal:
Fear not. This happens. To everyone. Cry it out and then pick it on up and start problem solving. You’ve gotten yourself this far; you can get yourself to the next destination by asking for help from other travelers or sympathetic locals. Trust me. They’ve been there and they’ll want to help.
You miss having a routine, having a community, and street signs that are in your native language
The reason we all want to travel is because we like that feeling of newness. We like experiences that bring us out of our comfort zone. We like to know that, when we get home, we’ll be able to regale our family and friends with ‘that one time when I ate sheep brains!’
But then? You want to know what’s up with the Super Bowl. You’ll want PBR in a can and Bud Light on tap. You’ll want fall weather and the option to wear riding boots instead of those grubby flip-flops you’ve been donning since Day 1.
How to deal:
Stay present, my friends. It seems that we are always looking for, striving for, wishing for the other side of the coin. Why, I bet just a few weeks/months ago, when you were at home, sitting at your desk job or cracking those books at 11pm on Sunday night, you were wishing you were lying on the beach in Indonesia, right? Take breaks to do the things that make you feel like you’re at home. Go to that ‘touristy’ sports bar, watch football, and scour the city for the most-Bud-Light-like beer possible. You’re not any less of a traveler if you do these things.
What things did you realize after your first long-term travel experience? Or what things are you nervous about if you have one (real or not-quite-real-yet!) on the horizon?