Some travel blogs seem to make it look easy and my own photography and stories might make it seem like it too. Traveling is all about dedication and getting to these plans are about commitment. There’s a whole lot of ugly sometimes that goes behind some of the glorious pictures of sceneries you can find on the internet and there are challenges that need to be succumbed behind those pictures. Indeed, the places are beautiful and sometimes, going through those ugly things can most definitely be worth it for the sight seeings. Here are some things that I noticed for years that I’ve experienced on adventures.
Your feet will hurt, especially if you choose style over comfort.
Sometimes, we get so excited to be photographed or walk around a city in our really nice clothes or shoes. However, don’t be like me who has had the mistake of wearing heeled booties from seeing 6 museums in one day and almost wanting to give up from walking to the Washington Monument to past the Reflection Pool and to the Lincoln Memorial (they’re really, really close walking distance). My feet was KILLING me and I felt super sore at the end of the day but would I take some time and money out of the day to go back to the place I was staying in just to change my shoes? Nope, I didn’t because I knew it would all be worth it for the sight seeings and I would do myself justice saving money (because saving $$ is the most important thing you can do for yourself at times!). Lesson learned: always wear comfy shoes, no matter how cute your boots look, if you plan to walk around and knock a place off your sight seeing list.
Your feet will hurt in general.
Lots of trips you will end up going to throughout your life will require lots of walking and/or driving but if you’re not lucky to drive around everywhere, you might have no choice but to walk, walk, and walk. Not that I think it’s a bad thing, I think it’s a fantastic thing to be active and fit while also enjoying a place that isn’t home. I find myself, personally, more active when I am away because I know I feel more energetic and have more excitement in completely new surroundings. I’m still working on that while I’m back home.
You will be tired from your trip. Very tired.
This leads to my next point. After so much energy you’ve spent during your trip, you might come back overly exhausted. You might sleep for hours on or you might just feel out of place for a little bit especially if jet lag hits you. Don’t worry, you will feel normal once everything is settled to being back to normal in your home life. I always believe that surrounding yourself with new atmospheres may just be worth this. You will at least take lots of memories with you back home.
You might end up spending more than you thought you would. Keeping a budget might fail, somewhere.
You worked hard to save money for your trip already and you probably kept track of how much amount of money will go into your food spendings, hotel or room rentals, cab rides, and excursion costs. Sometimes, you might be off. If somehow you decided last minute or didn’t plan on doing something but now you did, you will probably spend more than you expected. This will tend to happen once you arrive at a place and you don’t have all the resources or even after all the researching you’ve done, you still discover there’s more to do and more to go. The best thing you should do is have some pocket money in case these things happen and sometimes plans might not go the way they should and you’re going to have to compensate.
You’re going to miss your family, friends, pets, and/or significant other, and in general, miss home and wish you were there instead.
This might sound like it’s typical and absurd at the same time. But when you wish you were with specific and important people in your life and even wish in that very moment, they were there with you too, it can give you uncertain feelings like sadness. It might be a culture shock thing or missing the way things were and being so used to routine or it might just be a thing where you wish you were with loved ones experiencing what you experienced. Trust me, I hate being away from my pets and not being with my boyfriend on the trips I go on. The most honest advice I can give you is still keep in good contact with your loved ones back at home when you can, even when the time zones might be different between you and them, which may make it a bit harder.
Things might just not go the way they’re expected to go.
Lots of things can go wrong in a trip. You might find out an event got cancelled, your air flight got delayed, you missed a scheduled tour or event… the possibilities are endless! You might feel disappointment but sometimes those things will go away as soon as possible when you find other things to make up for it. That’s why some things are also better when they’re not planned and I find that some of those things can be the icing on the cake.
