I’ll share you my finding accommodation story and include some budget tips which I come up with after joining in the festival last week (with some painful and unforgettable experience).
Accommodation is not developed in Can Gio yet. There’s no dorm rooms for backpackers, few hotels for tourist. Hostel is usually people’s choice when they travel here.
I love Can Gio. It’s peaceful town by the sea. I’ve visited it many times and painfully admit that room price is quite high while the comforts are poor. Even more, when the festival is at peak, most of hosts purposely increase the room charge. The situation has remained for years
For me, I usually stay in a very budget hostel, with mostly no comforts but pillow, blanket and private bathroom – very limit interior equipments. They charge 5$/ day for a person and 6$ for two.
My first day charged 5$ and the hostess told me that she would charge up to 20$ for the next day (festival peak) and some tourists have accepted and booked rooms already.
I get around and make a survey, the hostels in town generally charge 15-20$/ day. In a countryside like Can Gio, I consider they are quite expensive.
Years ago, there’s no running water in the town, so clean water is in lack, it’s ok. But nowaday, electricity and water are provided widely, there’s no reason to remain the same price without any improvement.
So the next day, I decided to pack up and go out with a belief of “everything will be alright”.
It was quite hard for me because I had all luggage in my backpack, which I put on my shoulders, get around to find activities while managing to find somewhere to rest during the intervals.
Finally, in the evening, when I was enjoyed myself on a hammock, I asked a waitress if I could stay for a night. Luckily she answered: “30.000 vnd”. I didn’t expect to be free, but merely 1.5 usd/ night with an agreeable hammock, strong wifi signal with food-and-drink available anytime, I booked it at once, and order a coconut to celebrate my finding.
The only shortage of the hammock-night accommodation: there is no bathroom and if you would like to go to toilet, well, feel free to talk with the sea because there’s no public toilet at night. (on day, you can locate a very dirty-and-smell restroom behind. I tried and I just ran away right after my nose sounded an alarm “please don’t torture me in that hell”).
After secured a place to rest at night, I headed for boats which were chosen to set floating flower lanterns onto the sea. After that, I disembarked on a local house which bypass through the Whale temple.
I found out that there’s a public room for pilgrims and locals who stay for a night, with public bathroom as well (just requires donation after used). However, I noticed that most of the people settling there were elders. I don’t think it’s suitable for young travelers, except for cases that we are strictly sticking to a very limited budget.
Some tips you should pick up:
Avoid festivals if you’d like to reduce accommodation budget
No need to book rooms in advance, you come first then you take first.
Ask for staying in temple for free in festival (if you’re lucky enough)
The coffee shop offering hammock-night stay locates next to the central park.
Vung Tau is a beautiful and crowded city. It’s just 120km away from HCMC so you can easily take a short trip there at the weekend. A great spot to entertain! I usually take a short bike trip to Vung Tau as a retreat after days of hard working. The quick travel guide will be very useful for your first time experience the city.
The city at dawn
There are many beaches to sunbathe, nice coffees to have cosy seat and sip, stunning landscapes and historical spots to discovery and get some fresh air among many mountains right inside the city that you can even have a good hiking day.
1. Get in
Vung tau street
Bike: The city now is well connected with other regions because of the very good transport network which offers you 60-80 km/h on your motorbike. Take your bike, and follow A1 highway over Dong Nai bridge and turn right in the intersection, then keep going on 51 highway until you reach Ba Ria, then turn right again, get your full throttle and 20 minutes then you’re rolling on the city roads. The total time is 2-3 hour, depending on your riding experience. I love this option most of all.
Bus: The ticket is around 60,000-80,000 vnd, and you have to catch ones in the EAST bus station (292 Đinh Bo Linh street, ward 26, Binh Thanh district). You will arrive at Vung Tau bus station (192 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, ward 3).
Hydrofoil: The best way is to get onboard a hydrofoil and 1,5 hour later, you’re checking in Vung Tau. So buy ticket and go at Bach Dang port (1A Ham Nghi, district 1) and disembark at Cau Da port (120 Ha Long street). Ticket price ranges from 50,000 – 200,000 đ. There’s an official website to book cheap ticket, it’s initially in Vietnamese, so remember to change language to english by click on the English flag at the top right corner.
Take a look at my transportation guide-map for more detail
Bike rental: It is known that you can rent bike from most of the hostel/hotel in the city. The price ranges from 150,000 – 200,000đ/ day, 25,000 – 40,000đ/ hour.
More eco-friendly option is twin bicycle, which charges 15,000 – 20,000đ/ hour. It’s ideal to get one with your friend and pedal around the city ‘til night, completely fresh and sporty. Chit-chat together is fun, too.
Taxi and bike taxi: The taxi fee in Vung tau is more expensive than HCMC, and there are some scam alert. Bike taxi always welcome you at any intersections . Sometimes they follow you, especially when you are walking alone. You have to bargain half price of what they suggest, or you should use google map and tell their the distance with your price suggestion (usually 5000-6000 đ per kilometer).
2. What to play
Taking stairs to hike location at Bai dau church
Entertaining games: Tho trang (While rabbit) theme park, really exciting for hard-core game or just painting some statue while enjoying eventful ambiance with rides, play ground and mascots.
Sipping coffee: Though Vung tau is not famous for café, seaview is a good reason to find a seat and enjoy gentle breezes and landscape. Some coffees are even offering creative indoor spaces.
Swimming or sunbathing: take a look at four main beaches: Bai Truoc (front beach), Bai Sau (Back beach) and the other are two quiet, no safeguard beaches: Bai Dua (pineapple beach) and Bai Dau (Strawberry Beach).
Playing golf: There’s a resort including golf club and they offer golf courses. It’s Paradise beachside resort, locates at 01 Thuy Van, Nguyen An Ninh Ward.
Greyhound racing: The most exciting racing tournament for Greyhound – a kind of racing dog. You can enjoy the race at Lam Son stadium, 15 Le Loi street, from 19h15 – 22h30, Friday and Saturday every week. Entrace ticket: 50.000 – 100.000/ pax, you can bet on the dog you love and have a chance to win prize legally.
Hiking: The three best location to take a hike is The Lighthouse (starting from Phan Chu Trinh street), Jesus statue (Thuy Van street) and Big mountain (Tran Hung Dao street). There’s also a short hike route right inside Bai dau church.
Take a walk at dawn is ideal choice
3. Where to visit
Jesus statue
There are many sightseeing locations in town. I pick top 10 for you to check-in.
Jesus Christ’s statue: the most well-known landmark and it seem that if you haven’t check-in here, it’s considered as you’ve not been to Vung Tau yet. Many people get here everyday so it’s very crowded, you queue up to take a short stair to the statue shoulder. This is a really incredible pananoma view of the city. By the way, there’s some old cannons remaining the city history as once a powerful fortess.
Worldwide army museum: love guns, this is the best place to take a close look at guns, most of them are old ones, remind you something once upon a time. I love history, but to be honest, I love the art pieces lying in guns more. So interesting.
Villa Blanche: It belongs to the last emperor of the country – Bao Dai, it’s just a villa, like other one. In my opinion, the special points are historical value and architecture, a bit.
Buddha Statute pagoda: The two most outstanding architecture to notice are the giant buddha statue and the eight-side tower where they store relics. It impresses people by dozen of statues. Yes, statues everywhere.
Homay park: another amusement park on the top hill. You have to take a cable cabin , price? 300.000 vnd/pax. I don’t really enjoy it. How about you?
Hon Ba (Ba isle): A small pagoda, famous for “the road among sea” that is only available on low tide days, usually in mid-month of lunar calendar.
Back/ Front beach: the back one is ideal place for sunrise and the front is great for sunset. It’s all because of their location.
Bai dau church: I once visited here and love it for windy architecture which makes it cool everytime, the church shapes perfectly and you can even make a short trek to the Saint Mary statue nearby.
Xom luoi seafood market: Vung Tau is a coastal town, so it’s really good place to enjoy seafood. You can come to the market and watch those creature are lively moving. Take some of them, along with coal, set up fire and have wonderful roasted seafood night.
A victory monument at the intersection
4. What to eat
Seafood: This is the first choice for most of traveler when they take a visit to coastal city. The local seafood is fresh and you can choose to buy these creature alive and take home to cook or order prepared dish to enjoy at once. Ganh Hao at Tran Phu street is quite famous for seafood dish with reasonable price.
Banh khot: a well-known dish in Vung Tau, beloved not only by the local but also tourists from other province who come to enjoy the city. The cake is crispy with fresh shrimps on surface, served along green vegetable and tasty dipping sauce.
Snail: Vietnamese love snail, and Vung Tau is also a good choice to enjoy the food. Various kinds of snail, cooked with different recipes make it delicious and mouth-watering.
Salted egg yolks cake: A favorite snack of girl – Yes, many friends of mine know it and most of are girls. I’m wondering why the food is so attractive to, mostly, girls. You can try it in Nguyen Truong To it, look for keyword “Banh bong lan trung muoi”.
Noodle: the ingredients are various make it worthy to try. You can choose among noodle or rice noodle, chicken or seafood, and you can even enjoy a high-throwing technique performed by the cook.
Dove soup: another food that is delicious but merely a few people know and enjoy it, which served in some food stall at Do Chieu street.
5. Extension
If you take time exploring around 2-3 days, there are 4 popular names nearby:
Con dao is a part of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and you can buy boat ticket from the express port to get there. It’s available anytime. Con dao is a real hidden gem, best place for luxurious lifestyle, historical research, or advanturous trek. The local beaches are nice. You should stay here for at least 3 days to deeply discovery most of polular locations and enjoy foods. It’s noticed that price is high because of the island isolation from the main land.
Long Hai is another choice if you’d like to explore nearby neighborhood, beach is not excellent but landscape is great for shooting, I was impressed by beauty of Nuoc Ngot bay and Minh Dam mountain. Food is delicious and cheap.
Long Son island is famous for oysters. There’s nothing beautiful here but oysters. You should come here for oysters, I strongly recommend the food because it has become the island trademark, and indeed, they are usually fresh and smell good, with a slice of lime, mustard, scallion,… OK, save it later, my mouth is watering.
Ho Tram – Ho Coc: these spots are quite far from the city, about 40 km in distance. Most of the great resort of Ba Ria locate there. Nice sand, blue sky and gentle sea with quiet ambience. Ho Coc is occupied by resort, offering luxurious experience while Ho Tram is cheaper and more affordable, mostly chosen by the local.
I love Dalat not just for its stunning landscapes, or old architectures but also for best foods. They’re not just delicious but very creative. Every times having a chance to meet the town, I am going to be surprised that there’s a new dish in town to check-it-out. Dalat is really the competitor of HCMC for food war, if it happens.
Tôi yêu Đà Lạt, không chỉ bởi khung cảnh đẹp như tranh vẽ hay những tòa nhà cổ kính, mà còn bởi ẩm thực. Không chỉ ngon miệng mà còn sáng tạo. Thị trấn luôn làm tôi bất ngờ mỗi lần trở lại. Luôn có món mới để ăn thử. Với tôi, Đà Lạt là một đối thủ đáng gờm của Sài Gòn, nếu có “chiến tranh ẩm thực”.
From every corners, every streets, you just take few steps out-of-door and there are always some delicious foods waiting for you there, the aroma guiding you to a certain street vendor and you hear a friendly local calling for you.
The below are my best delicious foods and the locations I usually check-in whenever I visit the flowery town.
Nem nuong (roasted meatball)
My first impression of the dish is so colorful that it looks more delicious. The food is the combination of red well-roasted meatball, fresh green veggies, white/ orange pickles, little crispy plain rice paper rolls and yellow dipping sauce.
How to enjoy the food? You spread the fresh rice paper even in your hand, put in all the ingredients above and wrap skillfully into beautiful rolls. Then dip it into the sauce and have it will all your feelings.
The meat balls are perfect, kind of roasted fresh meat. Crispy fried rolls make it sound tasty, veggies and pickles play an important play in balancing the taste. The sauce is gentle, not too strong like most of the ones we experience in Vietnam, so you can take a deep dip before letting your mouth do the rest. How delicious it is!
Price range: 40,000 đ/ pax and 8,000-20,000 vnd for drink
Best location to visit: I usually have nem nuong in Ba Hung restaurant at 328 Phan Dinh Phung street. I’ve seen many tour guide taking their tourists there. It’s said that the restaurant has started the business for over 10 years and now it’s really a trademark for Nem nuong of Dalat
Best time to enjoy: the restaurant opens from 9:30 AM to 9 PM so you can have the dish anytime you like.
Bun bo (Beef rice noodles soup)
It originates from Hue, though the local adapts very well into their own taste. It remains traditionally rice noodles, aroma and soup but the veggie is changed a bit, not water spinach but a mixture of the fine-chopped, I guess they are salads, sprouts and banana buds.
When you enjoy the food, it’s optional to add some spices to your bow of noodles: a slice of lemon, chilli peppers, chili paste or even some salty fish sauce if you requires stronger taste.
You can also order a block of chopped stewed pig leg, it’s delicious, fatty and gets you full quickly.
Price range: 20,000 – 30,000 vnd/ pax
Best location to visit: Ap Anh Sang, near Xuan Huong lake
Best time to enjoy: in the morning and afternoon, beautiful sunrise and sunset make it more colorful and it’s cool to have a hot soup at that time.
Banh uot long ga (Steamed rice pancake with boiled chicken coop)
Usually, when you have the pancake in HCMC, it includes pork bologna slices, fermented pork rolls, boiled sprouts and basil. the local people have their own recipe, that they use boiled chicken for toppings.
I’ve heard that even the pancake recipe is also different from ones in HCM, which makes it more unique, tasty and chewy. The chicken meat is torn apart well and innards are cleaned and flavored thoroughly, then remain marinated so that there’s no annoying taste left.
The result is you will be served a dish with full of perfect taste, smell and look. You will enjoy a-bit-chewy pancake, well-shredded chicken meat and chewy innards (if you think they are no problem to you). Don’t forget well-prepared dipping sauce to make it spiced up.
Price range: 15,000- 30,000 đ
Best location to visit: Tang Bat Ho street, near Da Lat central market
Best time to enjoy: it seems the food is served from 2 PM – 5PM so arranging your time wisely.
Banh trang nuong (Roasted rice papers with toppings)
It’s said that if you don’t have roasted rice papers yet then you’re considered as you’ve never been to Dalat, because the town is so famous for the food. Many people believe that the roasted rice papers originates from Dalat with its full nature.
I admit that though tasting many versions in HCMC, I still fall in love with original one in the highland town. It’s thicker and much more toppings than ones in HCMC. The ingredient includes oil-cooked scallion, quail eggs, grounded meat, tiny shrimps and other additional toppings (sausages, cheese,…).
The dish brings you feelings of crispy, tasty, a little salty and good smell of toppings. If it’s served hot, then even steam flows rise up attractively.
Price range: 10,000 – 20,000 đ/ pax.
Best location to visit: vendors in Nguyen Van Troi street
Best time to enjoy: the vendors usually start their business from 2 PM to 10 PM, but for my own experience, when the sun goes down completely and the atmosphere gets cooler, then the roasted will perfectly warm up your taste.
Banh mi xiu mai (meatball soup with bread)
I didn’t know the existence of the dish until my friends took me to the vendor in the beautiful morning to enjoy together. Many visitors there so you are expected to quickly occupied the table.
The food nature is meat ball, but instead of roast method, the local cook it with soup and add some topping like pork skin, bologna and chopped scallion. You can spice up with some soya sauce and chili paste. Usually you enjoy it with a load of warm cracky bread.
Price range: 10.000-20.000/ pax including soya drink
Best location: 26 Hoang Dieu street
Best time to enjoy: in the morning, it’s cool and having some hot soup dish is a great idea.
Banh canh (noodle soup)
I found that one of the most reason we have delicious food in Dalat is cool ambience. Therefore, hot soup foods are always my recommendation, especially it’s rainy day or night.
Banh canh, which comes from Phan Rang – a hot and dry city of central Vietnam, is brought to Dalat to contribute to the food diversity of town with all its original favor except for accompanied veggies.
What are inside a bow of banh canh? They are white gentle-chewy noodles, very clear and delicious soup, well-done stewed blocks of meat. The toppings make it for attractive with fine-chopped scallion, fried sliced onions. the dish is served so hot that you can sense the tasty white steam and engaging aroma that haste you to enjoy it right after.
It’s usually my favorite breakfast when I stay in hostels nearby. It’s really a full-of-energy commence for a long day of exploration.
Best location to visit: Xuan An restaurant, 15A Nha Chung street
Best time to enjoy: the dish is only served from 11:30 AM – 9 PM, if you come in the other time, there are alternatives (bun bo, mi quang)
Xap xap (Dried beef salad)
This seems the best beloved and popular in the highland town. I love dried beef salad. I usually enjoy it once every two weeks with my friend. It’s strange to hear ‘Xap xap’ for the first time, until enjoyed the dish then I realized it’s just an other version of my favorite (it’s called ‘goi kho bo’ in HCMC).
I admit that it still remains the original taste as one I have in the city, but some of the gradients are added. It comprises julienne of green papaya, dried beef, gentle-grounded roasted peanuts, some slices of basil and tasty sop pouring over. The main difference between original dish and Dalat version is the addition of seasoned pork/ cow innards.
I think you can ask not to add innards if you’re not a fan of weird food and enjoy the original taste instead.
Price range: 20,000 – 30,000 đ/ pax
Best location: near Xuan Huong lake
Best time to enjoy: every time you walk around the lake and feel hungry for veggie-intended food.
Barbecue Buffet
What makes barbecue party become a perfect choice when you’re in Da lat? The chill weather. Imagine you’re served a glowing stove, drying your hands while picking up food and put them on the grill until it’s ready to be consumed. Woa! That’s nice, right?
The restaurant serve a wide range of food from traditional barbecue like seasoned pork, chicken, beef, oyster… to hot pot with plenty of ingredients to choose without minding price. It’s considered as a cheapest option compared to other barbecue restaurant in town.
Remember that you should only pick enough food because you would be fined for 50,000 VNĐ/ 100 gr leftover.
Price range: 99,000 VNĐ
Best location: 1 Hoang Van Thu
Best time to enjoy: It opens daily from 4:00PM – 11:00 PM and you should visit early for the best.
Sweet buffet
Dalat is a paradise for sweet-tooth folks because of its variety of fruit jams and preserve, and L’ang Farm is one of the best brand in the field. It’s good to know that they hold daily buffet of sweet jams and tea for visitors.
It’s quite cheap, and you’ll have great chance to enjoy most of the popular and delicious jams of Da Lat and a cup of hot green tea or artichoke while having a comfortable seat and take a look down to the central market, which is always crowded and colorful.
Price: 39.000/ pax
Location to check-in: L’ang Farm store 2nd storey, 6 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street.
Best time to enjoy: 7:30 AM – 11:00 PM, I usually occupy a seat in the evening to enjoy sunset in the city. It’s so cool at the time that a cup of hot tea seems perfect choice after a long day of riding around the highland.
Kem bo (Avocado smoothie with ice-cream ball topping)
Another choice for sweet-aholic is avocado smoothie in different recipe. As usual, we order a glass of avocado smoothie and it is a mixture of avocado fresh, milk (condensed or fresh), a little white sugar. Put in your straw and suck!
In Dalat, the local add a white ice-cream ball into the smoothie and make it different a bit. You can choose to tear a part or complete the ball with a spoon and enjoy the taste of avocado enhanced with cream. Nice experience.
Price: 15,000 VNĐ
Best location: 76 Nguyen Van Troi street
Best time to enjoy: When you feel hot and bored with original avocado smoothie recipes.
Linh Quy Phap An is a well-known destination these days in south and central highland Viet Nam.
Many travelers are eager to check-in the pagoda to enjoy its unique architecture and beautiful landscape – a combination of green tea plantations and huge white cloud layers, which offers visitors nice photos and peaceful atmosphere.
An attractive destination
I’ve heard of it many, many times when travelers from all forum and social networks overwhelm their walls with information, pictures and posts of the pagoda with japanese-like architecture. As a religious site, it requires quiet ambience, but its early fame makes so much noise.
My travel style tend to searching for adventurous, nature-intended trip so the pagoda was not in my mind for long. Until a day, my friend suggested a trip within 500 kms, covering many natural hot spots and including the pagoda. I’d never been there before, so let’s go.
Interests?
Peaceful and Fantastic!
Those are adjectives I attribute the temple for the first time visiting there. Located on a remote highland, among tea and coffee plantations, Linh Quy Phap An is a hidden gem recently discovered and quickly become one of the famous destinations in Bao Loc, Lam Dong (just 2 hours away from Da Lat).
My very first impression is how tough the route challenges us (I and my friend). We missed the turn while google maps showed us right there. Indeed, in remote areas, you shouldn’t trust 100% in google map because of plenty of tolerance (which is likely up to 3-5 kms). Therefore, remembering some Point of interests is advised. I would update some guidances to the temple, hopefully they help you well.
That’s route tracking. Challenge but exciting! After so many wrong turns, along with “Oh my god, it must be here, but it is actually NOT here” and finally you come to right place, as described in pictures and guidances, I bet you would shout for joy “We did it”. That’s a emotional moment.
The second attraction lies at the routes via plantations. There are two options, you can go up by bike or on foot. I recommend walking on stairs to the temple due to it green surroundings: the old tee plants with little beautiful flowers welcoming you, waving in the blows. It’s cool and clean, green and quite, you can even listen to the bird singing.
Another thing I love is durian and avocado trees side the route. There are many many durians and avocado above your head, they are hung there, pendulously and invitingly. I wish I had asked for permission to climb up and take down some. It would be my great travel experience there.
Now we get to the temple. I admit that I’m not interested in religious structures, I love nature and the temple is an invincible harmony of artificial works and nature touch. A superb scenery!
It’s was an gray day, but it’s still very gorgeous: The far far away cloud rolling by, you can even see the raining storm in other area. There’s a zen garden graveled white and bonsai stones. In the air, you listen to the wind chimes sounding melodiously. The open space really make me ease and stress away. I think this is a best place to have a zen course.
However, there’s a problem: the temple is outnumbering travelers, visitors, which makes it less quite and clean. Littering appears along the stairs and the hall is no longer sacred due to the disturbance outside – the black side of travel.
My Youtube clip for more experience: https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ELmMYpbwh8
Is it cheap?
Our bike trip cost us around 500.000 vnd (25usd) for one-day exploration include visiting the pagoda. Break it down: 300.000vnd for fuel, 200.000 for meals, parking,… if you rent a motorbike, plus 100.000-200.000vnd, and no entrance fee to pagoda, it’s completely free. That’s all for the trip.
There’s some traffic police station on road, so expect to give away some more cash if you get caught, especially when you’re going within Dong Nai province.
Somethings you should notice
The path is quiet challenging. You’re expected to be a skillful riders because it’s narrow, the width is not enough for 2 bikes countering. As a compensation, you’re likely to feel exciting after conquering it.
The stone stair takes you 15 minutes, among some old tea plants and other kinds of flora. They keep it cool and comfortable even when sun heat directly at noon.
It’s religious site, so dress up with appropriate clothes (long-short sleeve, t-shirt, trousers instead of skirts…) There’s no cafeteria, so bring along some stuff to supply your staying.
How to get there?
The website reveals the address: village 4, Loc Thanh commune, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province.
It’d better with a map guide to Linh Quy Phap An pagoda from Bao Loc city:
Not only a late CEO of both Apple and Pixar, Steve Jobs is also a great influencer and an ideal source of inspiration. For years, I’ve started my day reading Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford university, only to find my true living style – travel around the world.
1. Connecting dots
You have to believe what you are doing now somehow will be your future. You have to trust your fate, your path.
For me, the dots mean experience on road and sharing useful information after trips
I started my first solo trip 4 years ago, when I was merely a junior student, skipping some lessons to search for any travel hot trend and check-in places. I did it, and after trips, I shared my experience, hints, tips, guidelines and encouraged people to go.
I didn’t know that blogging will be my choice when I travel now. But as experience accumulated all over the time, and writing skill upgraded gradually, it seems like blogging is the most suitable work. And I once started Darejourney.com to do that. It’s far from just a hobby.
You can even take advantage of skills such as writing, dancing, singing, … which are initially your hobbies, to work while traveling to generate enough money to fuel the trips.
You don’t know when you would use them, so the best way is to well prepare before hitting travel life, rough but funny.
2. Love and loss
My mission for first days in university was to find what I love. I’ve tried many ones, from playing guitar, cooking, business to teaching,…Finally, I found that whenever I felt disappointed, tired or even sleepy, then a blog posts mentioning a new destination that I’d never been to make my eyes open wide and my will was to hit the road then. I knew I loved travel like that.
And since then I started follow travel blogs, got inspirational and information for trips, all my money was spent mostly for travel gears, fuel for bike trips, airline tickets, dorms/ hostels and discovering local foods. I love every moments and I believe this life is for me. But yes, love comes along with loss, like a hand with in and out sides.
Travel means loss somehow, when you travel for long, homesick is first emotional trouble, new tastes seem hopeful but then make your stomach sound bad. You’ll be likely to miss every pieces of your daily life. Leaving comfort zone means you have to strike against a lot of problems.
First days, even for months or years, you will struggle with financial issues, work for many ones, many places for any chances to finance trips. It’s lovely that you will experience many jobs, meeting various people but it’s expected to be tired sometimes.
Even few girls decided to share a long term relationship when you usually jump on every corners all over the world. Most of the girls are likely to settle down in some cities to build their life. Love on travel does happen, but some of them survive.
3. Death
In the worst case, a adventurous life means you take a risk dying in strange places far far away from your home. Often you heard of the news mentioning a traveler missing in certain remote area while he/ she was taking an adventurous trail.
But for years, as Steve Jobs suggested, death makes you realize that you have to follow your instinct. For me, it’s all about travel, to fulfill life. Start a day with a question like “If today was my last day, would I do what I’m doing” is really effective.
It turns out that most of time we are living on someone’s will. Society puts heavy responsibilities on us but leave our wills alone. And we live an ’empty life’ every days.
When I travel full-time, people see me as an irresponsible, lazy boy. That I just play, entertain myself while my friends are trying every days to build their future.
There’s some moments I’ve felt a bit regretful, that I should turn back home, and become a normal boy, living a normal life, 5-to-9 jobs in cubicles, earn enough money to buy a house, get married and feed kids…
And at that struggling time, I always wondered, what if I lived that life. So at the last day when I looked back all memories, would I feel regretful? The answer, surprisingly, was “no” – definitely.
I love travel because it’s in my blood vessels, my joys are on roads, waking in strange hostels in new destinations, making friend with guys from every corners in the world, no one will push me but myself, I control my life, I strive for my freedom and treasure it.
Death makes you aware what is your primary priority, the real life you should belong to. All it requires is to have courage to follow your heart. So if you know the last day of your life, all beautiful memories were wanderlust time. Then step out of your safe zone and make it come true. You only live once, so live it your way, don’t turn back.
4. Stay hungry – stay foolish
The last words in the speech are to keep you joyful and faithful in long-term travel life.
At some points in your journey, you feel like there’s nothing likely to amaze you anymore. The new places has similarities to the last ones. Food tastes normal and dorms are just NORMAL dorms.
Keeping a spirit of “stay hungry – stay foolish” can guarantee you always in full curiosity to explore a destinations or cuisines. It push you to search for various aspects of a certain travel experience and complete you every days.
As long as you feel hungry and foolish to new things, you do feel loving to expand your experience, ready to leave out of comfort zone to live your life then every days will be amazing. Trust me!
