When you’ve been on the road longer than you remember, sometimes you forget what the ‘real world’ is like. If the following statements apply to you then you, like me, have gone past the point of no return!
- You think 2 meals a day is standard practice
- You start every conversation with “so, where are you from?”
- Doing your laundry counts as your productive activity for the day
- You get anxious if you’re not sharing a room with at least one stranger
- You spend 20 minutes bartering for something you don’t even want, just to save $0.20
- Getting a Subway, McDonalds or Burger King is a big treat
- You have developed an strange accent and way of speaking for when you talk to people with little English
- You can’t remember the last time you did any ironing
- You celebrate when you find an internet café with both Skype and working earphones
- You start every story with “When I was in..”
- Your expectations of cleanliness drop so drastically that you think a room is clean when it only has one of the following: fleas, lice, cockroaches, bugs
- You find yourself wearing more than two bracelets
- You know how to say “hello”, “thank you” and “one beer please” in more than 3 languages
- Changing into a clean pair of underwear is a special treat
- You know exactly which section of your lonely planet contains what information
- You add people to facebook and find you already have one mutual friend from another point in your travels
- You know the different prices and options of international post, FedEx and DHL
- You count a night sitting on a bus for 12 hours as ‘one nights accommodation’
- You regularly freak out and think you’ve lost your passport
- You understand that wild stock and people can, and do, travel in the same mode of transport
I’m sure you guys have a few more to add, i look forward to reading them =)…
As you know, blogging changed my life. I left Ireland broke, with no plan, with just a one-way ticket to Thailand and no money. Since then, I started a blog, then a digital media company, I’ve made more than $1,500,000 USD, bought 4 properties and visited (almost) every country in the world. And I did it all from my laptop as I travel the world and live my dream.
Number 5 is so true
especially while chosing a room in a new city: can take a few hours to negociate with all Guesthouses from the neighbourgood!
Good memories, thanks for this post!
– it feels weird to speak in your own language again (if that’s not English)
– your original set of cloth is almost completely broken and you need to buy new cloths
You wash your socks and underwear whenever you take a shower… or maybe it’s just me, haha
i’m right there with ya mate 😛
Good list, but #13 doesn’t normally apply to non-anglophones, I would say at least five 🙂
this is very true! us native english speakers aren’t blessed with the language skills of our european brothers :S
or sisters
You know you’ve been travelling too long when your own mother hardly recognises you!!!!!
thanks mum! remember a beard is only temporary, bloodlines are forever 😛