Start your own adventure

The complete guide to budget travel

Peter Hogy Hoferek

Start your own adventure

Author: © Peter Hoferek, 2016

Cover: © Dominika Uličná

www.elist.sk

ISBN EPUB: 978-80-8197-102-0

ISBN MOBI: 978-80-8197-103-7

Index

Introduction

Before the journey starts

1.1 The tourists vs. travelers

1.2 Why to travel?

1.3 Why should you stay at home?

1.4 When is the right time to hit the road?

1.5 Where to travel?

1.6 With whom should I go?

1.7 Setting up the mind as the part of the preparation for long term traveling

1.8 Language matters

1.9 How to save up some money for the trip?

1.10 Pre-trip paperwork

1.11 What to take and what to leave at home

1.11.1 What photo equipment is the best?

1.12 Travel Insurance

1.13 Vaccination

1.14 Visa

1.14.1 What types of visa exist?

1.14.2 Where to get visa?

1.14.3 What do I need to obtain visa?

1.15 Bank accounts

During the journey

2.1 The transportation

2.1.1 Air transportation

2.1.2 Rail transport

2.1.3 Bus transport

2.1.4 Ship transport

2.1.5 Hitchhiking

2.1.6 Internet auto-stop

2.1.7 The other forms of transportation

2.2 Accommodation

2.2.1 Camping

2.2.2 Staying with locals

2.2.3 Guest house

2.2.4 Hostel

2.2.5 Hotel

2.2.6 Monasteries

2.2.7 Airports

2.2.8 Police stations

2.2.9 Bus stations

2.2.10 Squatting

2.2.11 Sleeping in vehicles of the public transportation

2.3 Food

2.3.1 Where to eat?

2.3.1 How to eat cheap?

2.4 Drinking water

2.5 Hygiene

2.5.1 The toilet

2.5.2 Showers

2.5.3 Laundry

2.5.4 Toiletry bag

2.6 Money matters

2.6.1 How to make extra money while traveling?

2.7 Storage of the luggage

2.8 Interacting with the local people

2.8.1 Beggars

2.8.2 Tourists

2.9 Religion

2.10 The police

2.11 Safety

2.12 Animals

2.13 Internet

2.14 Electronic adapters and recharging your devices

2.15 Books

2.16 Phone

2.16.1 SIM card

2.17 How to orientate?

2.18 Responsible traveling

2.19 Volunteering

The summary

The end

„The world is a book and

those who do not travel read only one page.“

- St. Augustine

Introduction

Hello there, adventurer!

My name is Peter (ever since I can remember called “Hogy”) and I'm just a casual guy, who decided to chase his travel dreams. One day I quit my programming job, said bye to my friends and family, packed my backpack with courage and left to see the world.

I have never had a lot of money. I was cutting my expenses, but not experiences. What I want to share with you in this book is my knowledge. My precious experiences with this world, which I was collecting for more than a year, while traveling around. This is the way I want to help people, who want to do the same– to make their travel dreams come true. The proof, that there is not just a few of them, is in my mailbox, full of questions, which I reply regularly. However, I'm convinced that the knowledge, which people can obtain from this book can help them in everyday life, as well. I would be so thankful and give the whole world to anyone, who had given me a book like this before I started traveling. At least it would helped me to solve many problems I had to face…

At first, I thought I would summarize the most important moments on the few pages, but I always felt like writing more. Now, you are holding the whole book in your hands, which is the key to solve many problems, that happened to me on my lifetime journey. Even though, I don't dare to say, that you will find everything you need to know in this book. Please, do not forget, that your trip is your own adventure and you cannot predict everything that might happen. At the end of your journey, those most complicated situations will turn into the interesting stories, your friends will want to hear.

The fact that you are reading these words right now means, that you have a strong desire to experience something new. The same desire, as I had. You will not only see the world, but your inner world, as well. I still remember the preparations for my first adventure. How I hitchhiked for the first time or how I was trying to build my tent. It was a magical moment, but I was scared as well. I was questioning myself. Why am I doing this? What if something goes wrong? Luckily, I managed to change the way I think and some things I was scared of, I take for granted now. And you will also go through process. Just you and yourself. It is going to be only better and your trip will turn into the interesting story of courage and commitment. This is the time of your life, full of adventure. You are going to talk about it with your grandchildren and they will listen, without breath and mouth wide open. You will become an inspiration for your friends and their friends, too. You will become the new you, the person who can predict, who can recognize a good idea and can appreciate a good work. The person, who will value honesty and despise fake people. You will understand, that all people are the same as you are. You will teach them empathy, to forget envy and will be happy about the success of others. You will understand, that the racism and religion wars are pointless and have no sense, because we are one big family. You will open your heart and see this beautiful world from totally different and new perspective. With this book, I would love to help you on your way. Just for the better orientation, it is divided in two main chapters:

1. Before the journey starts what can you expect and have to go through before you actually leave your home.

2. During the journey – how to travel the world on budget. I will explain how to deal with different situations and potential tourists traps. I will give you my valuable advice on how to enjoy traveling to the fullest and maximize your overall experiences.

All right, enough of the motivational speech for now, let's get the adventure begin! ;-)

Before the journey starts

„I will either find a way,

or make it!“

- Hannibal

1.1 Tourists vs. travellers

Some people just can’t see the difference between tourists and travellers. However, I think the difference is more than huge. This quote explains it perfectly:

„Tourists don´t know where they´ve been, travelers don´t know where they´re going.“

Paul Therous

However, there are many other differences between tourists and travellers. Tourist is usually a full time employed person, who is just on their annual holiday for a couple of days (rarely longer than two weeks). The main purpose of their holiday is to rest somewhere, among other tourists. After a couple of these lazy days, they are ready to go back and work again. The majority of their savings are spent on attractions, restaurants or in luxury hotels with full board service. They don’t know much about the place, where they are and their trip is mostly organized by travel agencies, friends or other family members.

I can say, that the contact with local people is usually rare. Tourist can interact with locals when they buy souvenirs in their small shops or local markets. I call it “the gold cage” or “the bubble” in which they are. They interact only with each other and ignore the local culture and customs. They may appreciate nice historical sites, but mostly with their cameras and Facebook accounts. They take pictures of buildings, that can be easily found anywhere on the internet. These popular touristy sights are usually surrounded by people with their smart phones and cameras. They share everything on the social media to make their relatives jealous about their exotic holiday. After coming back home, they don't have any clue about the place where they’ve been. Nor about the local culture, customs or traditions. Tourists remember the quality of the hotel food, which is usually miles apart from what local people like or eat.

However, traveller is someone completely different. It is a person who mostly travel long term and try to interact with the locals as much as possible. Understanding the traditions and local culture is one of the main priorities of travellers. Traveller is not blowing away his money on material things. He travels without any help of travel agency, rarely in groups, ideally alone or as a couple. The journey gives him a lot and while discovering the world, he also discovers himself as well. And this is what this book is about. There is no big gap among tourist and traveller and every tourist can turn into traveller. Of course, it takes a while, but the most important thing is to change the way tourist thinks. However, not everyone can do it... one can be scared and not willing to be changed. By now, I don't know a single traveller, who would be willing to go back. Keep it in your mind :)

1.2 Why to travel?

I'm not trying to say that traveling is for everybody on this planet. For some people, it‘s easy and comfortable to spend their holiday in the “casual” way. They don't feel like they might be losing something, when they don't travel by themselves and discover interesting places and interact with locals. They live in the roller-coaster of everyday life, under the pressure and the most exciting part of their life is to watch World Cup or two hundred series soap opera on TV. They live their comfy, consumerist life and that's alright, because that’s how all their friends and relatives live. On TV, they hear stories of other people, who made the mistake of leaving their comfort zone and always something bad happened to them. Media are often exaggerating and inform only about the bad stuff. The good staff isn't exciting enough for regular people, who want to hear some juicy stories.

Are you willing to live the life worth of living? Since you are reading this book, I assume that you are. You are in the group of people, who want to LIVE. You do not have to do exactly the same thing, what I did. You don't have to travel the world as me. Just live your dream, whatever it is. If you have travel dreams, say bye to your friends and family and just go. For a while. You don't have to travel exactly the same way as you will read in this book. Take only the best of it. Travel to feel good, to feel the life. Stay calm, enjoy every day and do not worry!

When I read the blog of one hitchhiker who was hitchhiking around Balkan for three weeks, his courage to do it blown my mind, honestly. I couldn't imagine myself to do a similar thing, though. However, I just couldn't get rid of this idea, so I got in touch with him and we met up. I wanted to hear his story and started imaging it, too. The picture of me, traveling around Europe alone while sleeping in the tent appeared so unreal to me. Like I was Indiana Jones. My knees were shaking any time it came back to my mind over and over again.

Before I went hitchhiking for the first time ever, I had already been on some Europe trips with my friends, but as a regular tourist. Even though it was such a blast for me back then. I flew on a plane just to see Paris or Scotland, sailed the fjord in Norway, hiked the Alps or spent the night on a train, heading across Scandinavian countryside. All without help of any travel agency, just my friends and relatives. Suddenly, I had to take care of myself, to communicate in the foreign language with strangers. I didn’t want to get lost, but to get back home safe and sound. I was responsible for myself and I enjoyed it the fullest.

Nowadays, maybe it‘s a pity. Those feelings were blowing my mind then, but now, I take it like a normal thing. It probably is normal, human being wants more and more. Slovakia, Europe... it‘s nothing for me now, comparing to the rest of the world. I am tempted by sunsets, which are more intensive, nature, which is wilder, people, who are more welcoming. Suddenly, you even doubt, whether your home is the best place on Earth to live at. After travelling, home will not be the same anymore. It will not be only the apartment, where you live or city, where you grew up. Suddenly your home is the whole country of Slovakia, later Europe and at the end, maybe the whole world. You will be the citizen of the whole world and the world will turn into a small place. You will still realize how huge the globe is. You will find out, that it is impossible to see it all. But you won‘t need it anymore. You will see yourself and this is the biggest treasure, you are going to discover.

Even though you might still be tempted by pyramids in Egypt, Taj Mahal in India, Cambodia's Angkor Wat or Colosseum in Rome, you will find out, that the best things in life are for free. More important than tourist attractions are humans of the world. Humans you will meet and you will talk to. These humans will change you and the way you think. The understanding of different cultures will move you forward and maybe thanks to this, you will finally understand your weird neighbor or others, who are different.

Can you do in at home? Living in a stereotype, being influenced by media? Definitely not... But by being in a different, unknown place, by having to solve unique problems everyday that require your full attention and concentration, it’s possible. You will see the reality and feel in on your own skin. You will understand, how others think and for me, this is the main purpose of traveling.

I’m not attracted to tourist attractions anymore. Visiting them doesn‘t make me happy anymore. As the best parts of my travels, visiting unknown places with my girlfriend, wild nature, small villages, where people are friendly, honest and unique are the greatest experiences of mine. Places where money aren‘t the most important thing in the world. I found places like these in the Indonesian part of Borneo (Kalimantan) or West China, or Iran and Armenia.

What is your purpose of travelling? What do you expect from it? Before you continue with reading, please, try to find your answer.

1.3 Why should you stay at home?

If you have already answered my question why to travel, ask yourself, why haven't you already left? Is the only reason just the fact, that you haven't actually thought about it that deeply? Or you have to finish your studies first? Do you have a career, children or you just don't have enough money? Are you missing the courage? Yes, I must admit, these are serious problems, when full time traveling might be tough. But later on in your life, you may not benefit from what you would learn on your travels. Now you're young and everything goes easier. Dreaming is great, but you should chase your dreams too. Life is a change, but people don't like changes. Does that mean, that people don't like living?

I could not exclude my favorite words written by the most known Czechoslovakian hitchhiker, Jiří Svoboda, in one of his first travelogues “Hitchhiking around the world”.

„I actually wonder, why am I not sitting at my home. After a while, traveling gets tiring, uncomfortable, dangerous and monotonous. All the same scenery: deserts, seas, lakes, forests, meadows, highways and animals. Dogs, cats, cows, bulls. People with the same nature, as in China, as well in New Zealand. They wake up in the morning, have breakfast, take shit and nap. Then have snack, sex, watch TV or opera and then go back to sleep. Diversity? No! You can find it in your mind, when you start with the soul searching or in your surroundings, village, nation. You don't even have to travel to write the book about travelling. Or just a politician cogitation from watching people around. Or a novel.

Travelling is the waste of time. Clever man sits at home and lets the mountains to come to him, rather than chasing them. Socrates and other philosophers needed just a simple public square and brilliant brain to understand the whole universe and moved with it. Feel free to stop travelling.“

- Jiří Svoboda

1.4 When is the right time to hit the road?

Generally, the most difficult is to make the first step and to say: I go now and nothing can stop me! Better than keep postponing the trip is to have the exact date, when you leave. Then tell it to everyone and from this point, there is no way back. Visit travel festivals, collect information, buy the right equipment, plan the trip and find the company (but be ready to go alone, as well).

I started thinking of the long term travelling right after finishing my studies. Within the four months I hitchhiked through eight countries in Europe and experienced a lot of new. I fell in love with hitchhiking and from that moment I knew, that I wanted to see more, beyond European borders. However, winter was coming and I suffered with the lack of funds. I was forced to find a job and postpone my travel dreams for later. But I knew I wasn't going to stay for a long and soon, I was hitting the road again.

I stayed a year and half in the company I worked for at that time and within this period, I was focusing on my dream. From each salary I received every month, I saved seventy percent. Nothing could stop me at this point. Six months before the trip has started, I was sure that I was going to leave. The beginning of the summer of 2013 was the perfect time for my plan. I resigned from the company, said bye to my colleagues, friends and family. On the first of July 2013, I left my hometown. I stepped on the road on the edge of my town and with the thumb up, I got the very first driver of my trip. This was the beginning of my holiday, which took 14 months in total. During this trip, I met many awesome people, including my beloved girlfriend (we met in Australia). And the very important is that I also met myself.

Are you worried that you will not be able to make it? Test yourself! Go on a trip alone, for a week or two and shake all your worries off. Shoot me an email and I will be glad to help you with anything you might need. When I was about to leave, I got many useful tips from more experienced travellers. Therefore now is my turn to help others, to help people with the same state of mind as mine. (This part of the book I’m writing from Zurich, where I came with my friend from Slovakia. Here, I will show him more of my way of travelling).

So what‘s up? When are YOU hitting the road?

1.5 Where to travel?

Honestly, it´s up to you. Open your eyes, open your mind and smile. Maybe you have your dream destination, but if not, don't worry, just go and you will find out. I like it the most this way. You're absolutely free everyday. Get inspired by people, who you are going to meet. Go to a place, where your driver goes. You will visit the places, where casual tourist would have never gotten to. Or just open the map of the world and go to a place, you will see at first. Or just point your finger on a blind place on a map and check what you can find there. And the venture is guaranteed!

Generally, it is said, that there is no bad weather, but unprepared people. Even though I don't like planing, talking about the weather, it‘s good to have at least a simple backup plan. I'm one of those, who don't like winter and I always run away from it to the other side of this world. I never bring any winter clothes with me, which makes my travels even more simple. I also enjoy longer days, so I can see more in that day. But if you are a fan of skiing, you can enjoy skiing in a course of the whole year, too.

1.6 With whom should I go?

Picking the right company for travelling always influences the overall experience. You can go alone and be your own boss when making decisions. In my opinion, when you travel alone, you are forced to interact with locals more. On the other hand, having a company helps you to sustain on the road longer, you can share happiness, sadness and the whole trip can be more fun. You won‘t miss home that much, as well.

Your travel partner should be a person, who will go along with you at any times. Both of you should be “on the same wavelength.” You are going to face different situations and problems together and you can be surprised how you actually behave. Suddenly, you might not be the same, easy going person, as you think you were. Very few people will find great travel company among their friends – good friend doesn't have to necessarily mean a good travel company. Make the deal before you leave: Each of you need to have a backup plan, knowing, that you both can split anytime.

If you spend too much time together, you can get sick of each other, as well. However, thanks to environment you are in, the chances are smaller. If you both are suffering with this problem and can’t stand each other anymore, give it a test shot and split up for a couple of days. Each of you go somewhere else without contacting each other to figure out, whether you are going to continue on this journey together or not. In the past, one of my co-travellers left after four days. She said to me that I wasn't a gentleman. I’m not sure, what she was expecting, but we definitely had different views on travelling.

On my 14 months long journey, I traveled with a girl from Czech republic, who I met on the internet. She was six years older than me. She taught me a lot, but we split after four months. A month later, I found another travelmate on the internet. She was from Austria (later she became my girlfriend) and we traveled together for five months! Then she left and flew home. Not because it wasn't going well with us being together, but her parents wanted her to come back after a year on the road. For the remaining four months, I traveled alone, again. Even though I was traveling alone, I was not alone at all. I met so many local people, with whom I was in contact even more, when I travelled with someone else. Thanks to those people, who travelled with me or those, whom I met, every single part of my trip was different and unique.

Where can I find a good travel buddy?

- at the travel portals like globetrooper.com, helpx.net, couchsurfing.org...

- at the meetings for couch-surfers

- at the travel festivals

- in the hostels

- on the streets (talk to people with backpacks)

- on the internet (for example, this smartphone app – heyu-come.com will help to discover new friends)

- at many others, usually unexpected places

If you find a fella on the internet, it would be the best to meet up before the journey itself starts. To figure the other person out, exchanging just a few emails wouldn‘t be enough. I'm talking from my own experience. Just don't forget to make the deal, that you can split up at any times.

Public meetings for couch-surfers are great, because you might find a potential company for travelling there. You can check their references on the internet. Coming to hostels and talking to strangers in your hometown can come in handy at times, when you have the trip already planned (you have been through all vaccinations, you resigned from work, etc.). Why? None of those people at hostels want to stuck at one place for too long. You need to be ready to leave with them immediately. They're not going to wait, until you do your formalities and per-travel preparations.

Of course, the gender and the number of your travel fellas can significantly influence your overall experience, too. It is generally more complicated to travel in a large group and go along with all the people in the group. Even the interactions with locals are not very common and you might have a problem to stop a car while hitchhiking. It happens pretty often, that the group splits into smaller groups. Traveling in a small group is worth it, since you share price for gas, accommodation or ferries. In Laos, I sneaked into a group of seven people and we drove to waterfalls, I was unsuccessful to stop any driver only by myself. However, the long term travelling in a group doesn’t entertain me enough, so after this day, I said goodbye to them, even though our travel plan was similar.

Travelling alone or as a couple is very adventurous and I love it the most. If I travel in a couple, it has to be the person I can go along with very well. When there are any problems, it is necessary to split up, otherwise it can destroy your trip. The priority is to feel good and feel that the journey gives you something back. Something spiritual.

If you are a man and go on the trip with your male friend, there is no need to be worried about the security. The problem might happen, when you will be about to interact with locals. The chance is lower even when you will want to catch the car - it can take ages. Therefore, I mostly prefer to travel with female travellers. I even know few girls couples, who travel together and have awesome stories to tell. As they said, they have never been feeling insecure or unsafe while travelling.

However, the greatest would be, if you could find the courage to travel alone. You would meet travellers and after a couple of days later, you might find the great travel company, who has similar travel plan as you do. Or just parts of it. Finding the company while travelling is good even because each of you has been through something. You can learn from each other and there is also a big chance that you will be on the same page with things. Personally, I prefer this way of engaging in a contact with fellow travelers the most. Great place for these meetings are hostels.

The chance of finding the great travel company also depends on places you are about to go to. The highest chance to find “the one” is more like in non touristy areas. Why? Because people, travellers, who are there, are already mostly adventurers with similar travel style as you have. Anyway, you can go travelling even with animals, your dog, hamster or hedgehog. Hop on the horse, camel and go. However, traveling with animals can be quite uncomfortable and problematic. Often, the flight ticket for the dog costs more, than for you. Especially on the flights to Australia. They can keep your dog in the quarantine for almost six months! Therefore, the most convenient way is to take a toy, which will be your company and doesn’t cost a single cent. I remember two female hitchhikers from Poland, who were traveling with a large coconut. The coconut had a simple face drawn on its skin.

1.7 Setting up the mind as a part of a preparation for long term travelling

I bet it‘s clear to you that even with good experiences, there will be also those bad ones. These situations may seem complicated at first glance, but as you will be collecting valuable travel experiences, you will know how to deal with them more easily. You need to realize that when you aren‘t putting your life at risk, the situation is not that bad. Do not panic when you miss connecting flights, when someone is acting rude, when you lost your favorite sunglasses or hat. This shit happens and you have to cope with that, either you like it or not.

With the help of others, many situations are solved easier. You will discover that nothing is as serious as it seems and you have to think positive. You are the most precious thing you can have. The value is inside of you. You are free to travel and discover. You can be anything you want to be and when something goes wrong, so what? Don’t feel desperate. There isn‘t going to be the nice weather every day, but it doesn’t mean you cannot be happy all those days. All you need to do is to want to be happy and to know how to appreciate little things. Don’t search for the reasons to be sad, find reasons to be happy. Get inspired by others and learn from them. Get the most of them. Your family and friends will always wait for you at home. I’m not trying to tell you to forget them, no way! Stay in touch with them on the regular bases, so they won‘t be worried about you. However, don’t waste your energy on missing someone. Focus on what is here and now.

Before you actually leave, learn how to be kind to others (even to those, who you don’t like). Act nice, so others will like you. Coping with people will be the key to your success in long term travelling. You have to respect people, regardless of their race, politic or religious opinions. Of course, you don’t have to agree with everything, just be diplomatic. Learn how to say your opinion without hurting feelings of other people. Even if you have three university degrees, abroad, you will be the one, who will need information and people, who are not educated as you can help you too. Don’t be shy to ask for directions, but be thankful for everything you get. I strongly suggest you to read the book by Dale Carnegie „How To Win Friends And Influence People“. This book is the masterpiece and works perfectly for everyone, anywhere. Why? Because people are all the same.

1.8 Language matters

Your language skills should be appropriate to the places, you are going to go. But clearly, for travellers, the most used language is English. With its knowledge, you can travel almost all over the world. However, in many countries, English is not enough, at all. Therefore, sometimes more than English, you will probably use gestural "hand-foot" language. For this type of conversation, you better keep smiling. Then you will be able to talk to almost anyone on this planet. This gestural language rescued me during my three weeks in China, where I needed it the most.

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