Tips for the Young & Inexperienced

I have been traveling since 8 and at 18 I started my first "unsupervised" travels. Since then, I went on 2 Europe Backpacking trips (including my current one), countless of short trips to Malaysia & Thailand and trips to China & Japan. I don't claim to be even close to being experienced but I hope these tips I have picked up along the way will be useful. Here goes:




1) Mindset: This is the most important advice that I can give to any inexperienced travelers. Always assume that you will get the chance to re-visit the place - your first is not definitely your last. Many people tend to treat their first visit to any cities as their final visit there and will squeeze in as many things to do or see in their itinerary. You get things like attempting to "cover" Paris's Louvre, Eiffel, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame, etc... in just 3 DAYS. Rushing 3-4 attractions a day gives you hardly enough time to fully enjoy any place. The rush makes fatigue set in earlier, making future destinations not as pleasurable. Worse of all, what most don't realize is that in the midst of all hustling and bustling, you miss out on the most important experience - the "local" experience, where you understand, learn and live about the true culture of the place.

Note: Assuming that you will get a chance to re-visit doesn't equate that you definitely will. Let the place decide for you. Make the decision after leaving the place and not before. In this way, you will not feel hard-done if you end up missing out on certain sites, unable to attend certain events or can't try certain local food. Furthermore, with new innovative ways to make traveling so much more convenient and cheaper, there shouldn't be a reason why you can't re-visit certain places again. So take your time, fully enjoy the experiences and bask in the true reflection of the city.

2) Set your objectives before the trip & adjust the attitude accordingly: What do you want to achieve from this trip? Do you want to see as many sites as possible, meet new people or party all night? Experience local cuisine, live like a local or simply to unwind? I could come out with more possible objectives but ultimately you got to ask yourself why are you on this trip. From there, set your expectations and adjust the pace, look for places or experiences aimed to meet those expectations, tailoring your plans accordingly. Many travelers just dive in without even giving a thought about the objectives and come out disappointed ("Everything looks the same after awhile" or "I don't even know what I'm looking at after awhile"). You obviously can't achieve anything without even setting what you want to achieve. On top of that, travelers in a group tend to get along better if their objectives are similar.

3) Expect Mistakes: In any trip, no matter how meticulous the planning was, hiccups will happen. It can be bad weather, inaccurate maps or directions, strikes, unexpected closure, etc. EXPECT THEM! Be flexible and be ready to plan on the go. One wrong turn doesn't mean the destruction of the entire trip. Remember Tip #1: there is always a chance to come back if you choose to after the trip.

4) When travelling in a group, get everyone involved: Besides allowing everyone to sync their expectations, being involved in the planning simply makes the entire trip more rewarding and enjoyable. Be involved, know what is happening and have a stake in the ultimate outcome of the trip. Even if its a small part, at least you know you played your part and can enjoy the fruits of your labour when the time comes. For the leader of the group, no matter how minor a part is (even like in-charge of coming out with cooking/cleaning schedules), make sure everyone gets one.

5) Open your mouth and ASK: This saves time and reduces unnecessary errors. Enough said.

6) Be sociable but not imposing: This is especially for travelers staying in hostel or couch-surfing. Don't let the usual stereotypes stop you from socializing but at the same time do not impose yourself on others. Know when to stop the conversation. Gauge the situation before asking personnel questions. Do not make the people around you uncomfortable. The worst thing is to have to come back to a group of uneasy house/hostel-mate.

7) Don't be lazy, do your research: This goes in line with Tip #1. How do you know which are the sights and experiences that can truly reflect the spirit of the city? What to eat and where to party to be able to sample the local culture? All these have one simple answer - R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H. There are enough guidebooks (to buy or borrow), blogs, websites and forums for you to make an informed decision. Even asking locals online is considered good research. Research can save you time and money too. Of course, I don't mean doing detailed research that boils down to every single minute of your time. General research will suffice, allowing you to have an idea of what to see and do given the time you have.

That is all for now. I will go into the details about each advice as time goes by, giving a clearer idea on how each piece of advice will fit into your travels. Feel free to comment or contact me (via email or twit) if you have more to discuss regarding this. I love to discuss travel issues. Stay tuned for my Swiss Experience.

Time for Part II of Euro Summer'11

Its the day before I fly to Switzerland for the second part of my Europe'11 Summer Backpacking trip and I'm simply thrilled by the prospect of travelling once more. For the past 7 days or so, I have been in Stockholm "taking a break". The real reason behind this hiatus is for  Dawn to study for her final exams, happening on the 14th and 15th of June.

This break, though too long for my liking, have turned out to be quite useful. I managed to:

1) Sort, edit and post my photos
2) Start this blog.
3) Research and bookmark online travel sites (which I'll review as I go along). This will keep me updated all the time with travel news.
4) Join the various travel community and update my profiles and officially be an active member in the said community. For now, I'm active on Couchsurfer, Vjvlounge & Triptrotter. More to come!
5) And obviously, planning for the rest of the trip.

These are the things I wanted to do but have not quite managed it:

1) Clear the backlog of blog entries for the previous half of the trip.
2) Do post-production on my photos.
3) Complete the detailed itinerary for the rest of the cities I am in.



All in all, I'm now truly connected to the travelling world and will be always on the know of the latast in this industry. Thats not bad for a start. For all the uncompleted tasks will done during the trip itself. I'lll be regularly updating travels experiences both "live" and also "repeats" from my past travels. So don't be surprised to see 2 blogs entry in a day.

So now its off to packing and ready to jetset for Zurich, Switzerland!

Welcome To My New Food & Travel Blog

Me with my grilled platter in Greece

Once again, a big HELLO and WELCOME to all. Travelling has always been my passion and it wasn't till recently that I came to a realization that I simply can't live without travelling. A simple reevaluation of my life and I set my dreams and life-goals in this sector, starting this blog brings me one stop closer to the ultimate dream. As for the exact details of the dreams and goals set, I'll slowly introduce it throughout my time blogging.

Beyond the grandeur of sights and sounds of my travels the lowdown of my escapades, here are the few other things that you can expect from here:

• Evolution of Travels: Currently, I'm a student that has zero pay and living off my limited savings. Obviously, best part of my trips will be based on frugality. You'll more or less get a backpacker's perspective of things for at least the time being. This is bound to change. As the years go by, I'll be exposed to different travelling experiences, ranging from my frugal backpacking trips to the luxurious high road travels. I'll include everything inside. However, one thing that I can promise is that  from time to time, I'll still go back to my backpackers roots and do it one more time.
• Thoughts Sharing: This is fundamentally still a blog. A compilation of what I want to say out in a public space. This will not only include my experiences, but also my thoughts on pertinent travel topics, the latest travel news and other travel-related updates in the travel world. Please take my commentaries with pinch of salt as whatever's in here will still essentially be just my opinion and nothing more. I welcome all comments (non-offensive) and I'll try my best to reply as much as I possibly can.
• Gastronomical Experiences: One thing which can rival my love for travelling is F-O-O-D. I'm all for visiting the grand colosseum or the magnificent great wall of China, but ultimately travelling is more than just the accumulation of the sights that you have seen. It is the wholesome experience of living "locally" that counts too. The fact that I'm not the party-animal type of person, I have chosen to enhance this experience through living out the gastronomic affairs that the locals have with their cities. Thus a strong emphasis, besides the typical sights, will be on the food I have tried (regardless how unusual) along the way.
• Timeline: I try my very best to keep this blog as "live" as possible. However, due to no small part my lack of time and a wee bit of procrastination, I still got a lot of backlogging of the first half (and my previous leg) of the current trip to clear. So you might see the dates jumping here and there, but once this is clear up, a clear timeline will be made obvious and you can track where I am anytime.
• History of the places: I'm sorta of a history buff myself and always make an effort to read up on any place I visit. Thus I'll add them in here too for those interested. If you aren't, just skip over and move on.

Obviously, from the title of the blog, you'll figure that this is not just a Travel Blog. This is also a foodie blog. I'll definitely not be travelling 365 days a year, so when I'm back home, this blog will still be active for the sharing of the second love of my life - the taste of Singapore. So stay tuned for more recommendations and experience sharing even when I'm not globetrotting.

Alright, that's all for now. Its getting too lengthy so I'll just end here and if anything else comes to mind, I'll add it in my future entry. So time to start cracking!