GO OVERLAND!!!! GET YOUR OWN TRANSPORT.
Ok, this is a long answer, but if you have a true traveler spirit read it, it might change the way you travel and see the world...it did for me when I discovered this secret...
I spent years backpacking and using public transport, trains, buses, hitchhiking, etc. I loved it. Still do. Its a great way to put yourself in touch with people, veg-out and read a book while the scenery flys by. Then I discovered the amazing freedom of having your own transport. First experience I bought a motorcycle and drove it from Seattle to Mexico, years later I bought a VW bus and drove 8000k through Brazil. I think that was when I was hooked. Then I bought a car for 700eu in Germany and lived in it for months through 10 countries in Europe, then a motorcycle in Europe. Most recently I bought a vintage motorcycle in India and drove it through 20 countries, 20,000k to Spain.
What I learned is that with your own transport (car, van, bicycle, motorcycle, donkey...whatever). You find yourself so often in places you (and every other traveler) would never normally land...some random little village in Uzbekistan, or Bolivia where the people stare at you like you were an alien until you flash a smile and make a beautiful little human connection. If you traveled the normal backpacker trail your bus would have passed right through that town I promise you. It will give you truly unique memories and experiences. And you are just completely free, driving down a highway in Armenia...see a random little dirt road that looks interesting...Whoooope! Quick left turn and off you go...into the wide unknown.
The other reason I fell in love with this way of travel is that it will surely, eventually, put you in a position where your trusty steed (be it a car, motorcycle or donkey) will take a dump and you will find yourself at the mercy of the kindness of strangers. This doesn't really happen on trains, buses, planes etc. All of a sudden you are on the side of the road in God-knows-where thinking the sky is falling and you are completely %#&ed! But then, ALWAYS, some stranger will swoop in and next thing you know you are sipping tea in their hut or penthouse suite while their cousin's uncle's brother fixes your motorcycle. Want to restore your faith in Humanity? Take an old beater on a roadtrip through a foreign land.
The other reason it is great is that you actually SEE and FEEL the change of culture as you put more and more miles and border behind you. Not just getting off a plane and it hits you in the face and you have no understanding why the people are the way they are. I loved traveling from Kyrgyzstan where the people have chinese/mongol features and as we crept further west into Tajikistan, Turkmenitsan, Armenia etc....slowly seeing the faces turn from Asian, to Persian to European....along with the cultures, habits and food. You FEEL how the world became the way it is.
Also, in general, (And this can be seen as a hindrance to this form of travel or a blessing...but for now lets just call it fair warning) Traveling with your own transport is f$#&ing hard. Its no cakewalk. You are challenged everyday. A breakdown, a border crossing without proper papers, a flat tire, lost again for the 10th time that day, what? you need 20W50 oil? fat chance in this part of the world...better start making new friends...so off you go in the rain, snow, heat, whatever to solve yet another problem (Which will, I almost promise, turn into an great adventure worth telling over a glass of wine with your friends someday in the comfort of your own culture) Point is, you do way more problem solving and your patience is tested to the point of breaking, but hey? Why do we travel? to learn about ourselves, to evolve in a personal and spiritual way, to challenge ourselves. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. And an obscure border crossing on motorcycle will get you there real fast I promise. So for me, obviously, I see the added challenge as all the more reason to turn in your airline ticket, and saddle up old Rocinante.
As for cost, if you are real adventurous and take advantage of the extra possibility that your own transport affords you to camp occasionally and/or sleep in your vehicle. Often times it is MUCH cheaper even when you include the cost of petrol. Anyways the cost thing depends on LOTs of other factors, (mostly where you are in the world and the price of public transport). If anyone has specific questions about that feel free to ask me, Ive traveled with my own transport in just about every continent.
Content Source : Nomader
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