backpacker Archives

Tag Archive for: backpacker

No strings attached? 7 Reasons it’s better to travel single!

7 Reasons it’s better to travel single!

Travelling with a boyfriend or girlfriend has got it’s pros for sure! You’ll always have that person to chat to, you won’t feel lonely and you’ll have someone to share all of the amazing places you visit with. However, having experienced travelling with a boyfriend in the past, it does have it’s cons too! Here are 7 reasons why, (in my opinion!) it’s better to travel single:

1. Freedom

Let’s face it, our daily lives are full of doing things with other people in mind. Whether that’s planning and celebrating a friend’s birthday, picking up dinner and cooking for your flatmate or thinking about that thing someone asked you to do for them at work. Whilst most of these commitments are fun and make us happy, wouldn’t it be great not to have to answer to anyone but yourself for a while? Go travelling solo! Travelling as a single person = absolute freedom! You can go wherever you want, whenever you want, do whatever you want!

2. Experience everything!

With noone to answer to, you can experience so much more of what YOU want to do. You don’t have to feel guilty about dragging your travel buddy along to something they’re not interested in and you don’t have to waste any valuable travel time doing what you don’t want to do! With no travel partner to think about you’ll also be able to travel more spontaneously which will lead to new, fun and exciting experiences!

3. Enjoy the single life!

Travelling is the perfect time to have some fun and figure out what you want from your life and all of the relationships in it! You’ll be meeting lots of people, all with different personalities, from all over the globe so why not use your gap year as a chance to flirt, have fun and enjoy new people’s company!? Remember your time abroad is about you and what you want. As a single person you can meet all of these great people without the worry of upsetting anyone!

4. No drama!

Remember those late night drunken arguments with your boyfriend or girlfriend when you’ve both had a few too many!? They’ll be a thing of the past when you travel as a singleton! Instead your drunken nights will be spent playing drinking games with new mates, dancing on the bar and skinny dipping – no drama, just fun!

5. Meet more people

As a single backpacker, you’re more likely to chat and mingle with other people. Not only are single people way more approachable when it comes to travelling but also as you won’t have the ‘safety blanket’ of your boyfriend/girlfriend to fall back on, you’ll be forced into situations where you start chatting to strangers. You never know who you’ll meet along the way!

6. Live the backpacker life

Travelling by yourself will push you into experiencing the backpacker life rather than living like a couple on holiday. You won’t be tempted to book a double room with your travel partner for the night;instead you’ll be in a dorm room with about 8 other backpackers, getting to know each other, sharing travel stories and having fun!

7. Get to know yourself

The phrase ‘Travelling to find yourself’ is a bit of a cliche but there’s no denying that you’ll learn things about yourself along the way! Travelling single allows you to really figure out what you enjoy and how you handle situations..not with your boyfriend or girlfriend by your side..but as YOU. There may be times that, as a single traveller, you feel lonely but that will only make you more independent in the long run! You won’t have that person to turn to when things get tricky and you’ll learn to rely on yourself and trust your own instincts. Your achievements will be fully down to you!

Travelling solo can be daunting but I guarantee you won’t be alone! So many people pack their bags and go travelling solo so you’ll meet lots of people in the same boat as you! If you’re planning a trip and want a little help meeting people when you first get here, why not book onto an arrival package? UltimateOz, Ultimate Thailand and Ultimate Vietnam are a great way to meet people when you first arrive! Check out our tours here!

If you’re in a relationship and planning a trip together rest assured, travelling with someone else can be just as much fun in different ways! Check out our blog on why travelling with a partner is better than going it solo!

Got any advice for travelling as a single person or any points you want to add? Comment below!

‘Like’ us on FB for travel inspiration, photos, videos and more blogs and follow us on Instagram for travel pics!

by Bernie Augstein

Featured, Travel Tips!

40 Signs you’ve been backpacking for too long

1. You can’t remember the last time you shared a room with less than 4 other people.

2. You’ve tried all of the different Goon bags and have decided on your fave (Fruity Lexia -obvs!)

3. Eating Subway (footlong) for breakfast, lunch and dinner is the norm.

4. Finding half a bottle of shampoo in the hostel shower excites you way more than it should!

5. Long journeys no longer faze you.

6. You know all of the best drinking games..

7. ..and have become and absolute pro at the limbo.

8. You don’t know how you ever lived without your sunnies permanently attached to your face.

9. You know the happy hour of all the local pubs and wouldn’t dream of spending your booze money on a fully priced meal.

10. You’ve got used to dressing in the dark and tip toeing into your dorm room at 4am to avoid waking your dorm buddies up!

11. You’ve mended your flip flops more than once.

12. You never thought you would become a ‘roller’ but you’ve started rolling all of your clothes to avoid creases..or..

13. ..you’ve completely given up on worrying about creases in your clothes and have started shoving your stuff back into your backpack.

14. You’ve been wearing the same anklet for the last 11 months & you can’t count how many bracelets you’re wearing.

15. You’ve accumulated so much stuff along the way, you have to have a ‘backpack spring clean’ at least once during your travels!

16. You get excited about small things. Having a clean towel brings you so much comfort & happiness.

17. You’ve got a million new friends on FB..

18. ..and added a million new travel photos to your account.

19. You’ve lived off Pot Noodles, beans on toast and some simple yet effective pasta combos (tuna & pasta, tomato & pasta..the list goes on)..

20. ..so walking past someone handing out free food/drink samples without stopping becomes an epic fail. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

21. You’ve learnt to get changed anywhere & in front of people whilst maintaining your modesty…most of the time!

22. You’ve sat inside McDonalds or outside the Apple store for hours using their WIFI.

23. You can sleep anywhere. Your mates floor, the airport, in a bar..backpacking can be tiring, people!

24. You’ve tried sneaking into clubs by rubbing your mates stamp on your wrist. Do people actually pay $30 entry to get into clubs these days?!

25. You started a blog/journal but have forgotten to post/write for a few weeks now- you’re just having too much fun!

26. Clean toilets & hot showers become a luxury and you can’t even remember what a hot bath feels like!

27. You’ve been carrying around the same water bottle for 3 months and refilling it at any opportunity.

28. It’s strange to you when people don’t wait for their change at the bar. That could buy you half a schooner of beer!

29. You’ve got used to the heat and now anywhere with air con feels like the Antarctic.

30. You’ve heard someone having sex no more than 3 feet away from you. Oh the joys of hostel living!

31. You’re constantly battling your room mates for the free plug to charge up your phone.

32. You have constant tan lines even though you haven’t been sunbathing in a while.

33. You’ve got $9.70 in your account but still go out on the piss – where there’s a will there’s a way!

34. Your backpack is so heavy, you’ve started dragging it as much as you can and are seriously contemplating fashioning some backpack wheels.

35. When you aren’t going bare foot your, flip flops are your best friend.

36. Luxuries such as perfume & aftershave are a distant memory.

37. You memorised your passport number a long time ago but..

38. ..You still feel guilty walking through customs at the airport no matter how many times you’ve done it. Did someone plant something in my bag!?

39. Sleep is no longer a necessity. You’ve learnt to survive on 4 hours a night. You can sleep when you’re dead right?

40. You agree with most of these!!

Can you think of any more? We want to hear from you. Comment below!

Like us on Facebook for more blogs, travel inspiration and competitions and follow our Instagram page for travel photos!

by Bernie Augstein

Featured

Travel is…

Travelling isn’t about getting from A to B using the quickest route possible, it’s about (as corny as it sounds) the journey. It’s about experiencing that countries culture, eating their food and trying out local specialities (scorpion in Thailand anyone!?!), chatting to the locals, meeting fellow backpackers, using public transport, learning their language (at least enough to ask for a beer!) and checking out local events/festivals.

Here in Ultimate HQ, we’ve been chatting about what travel means to us. Here’s what we came up with:

#travelis using a goon bag as a pillow – Becca

#travelis like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get – Danny

#travelis being out of your comfort zone – Ollie

#travelis always saying yes to new experiences (within reason 😉 ) – Gayle

#travelis never missing out on a new experience- Craig

#travelis getting lost and being okay with it- Holly

#travelis knowing every happy hour in town- Max

#travelis getting excited for the bottom bunk- Charly

#travelis feeling free as a bird! – Karin

What is travel to you? Comment below with your #travelis ideas! Share your travelling stories and pics with us! Like our Facebook page for blogs, travel inspiration and travel pics and follow us on Instagram. Tag your #myultimatemoment pics – we will repost our faves!

by Bernie Augstein

Featured, Southeast Asia

Ultimate Travel Max does Ultimate Thailand

Are you planning a trip to Asia? Have you thought about booking on to Ultimate Thailand but not sure you want to commit? Want to get an insider’s point of view? Having never travelled to Asia, we sent our Ultimate travel guru Max on the 10 day Ultimate Thailand tour. Here’s what he thought..

So Max, you’ve just got back from 2 weeks in Thailand… Nice tan! What was your favourite part?

The best bit of the tour for me was chilling out on the floating bungalows in Khao Sok National Park. After a few days partying hard in Bangkok it was the perfect chilling spot! I spent my days kayaking in the lake, searching for wild monkeys and eating fresh fish from the lake! It was awesome to wake up in the morning to the sound of silence and a still lake- I actually felt like we were in paradise!

What was it like travelling with a group of people on a guided tour? How would it have been different to travel alone?

Before I met the group I had travelled for 4 days by myself through Northern Thailand. It was a completely different experience compared to travelling with the group: it was my first time travelling through Asia and by myself, I found it a bit daunting and hard to meet people. I don’t normally have any problems with this but I just didn’t meet that many solo travellers where I was! As soon as I’d met the rest of my group, I had 15 other people I could instantly talk to and spend time with. It was great to meet other people on the same wavelength as me and to share travel experiences with people that I probably wouldn’t have met unless I’d done a guided tour.

Would you recommend it?

I’d 100% recommend it to anyone looking to meet people instantly and experience Thailand stress free- the tour guides are experienced and have the knowledge needed for us to feel safe on the tour and just be able to focus on having fun!

Was Thailand as you had imagined it? In what way?

No. To be honest I thought Bangkok would be similar to Sydney and other Western cities. It was a bit of a surprise to be surrounded by lady boys in Bangkok! It was much more of a party place than I thought- so much fun- just not what I had expected. The hostel in Koh Phangan where we stayed was one of the best I’ve ever stayed in! The National parks we went to (Khao Sok) and Thai countryside was so much better than I expected! The photos you see just don’t do it justice!

Did you encounter any animals along the trip?

I went to visit an elephant nature park which I’d highly recommend to anyone! They focus on rehabilitation for elephants instead of using elephants as a tourist attraction (as unfortunately so many do in Thailand!) so it’s great to see those charities first hand helping injured elephants recover. We also saw LOTS of wild monkeys! I was actually surprised how close up to you they’re happy to get! You can feed them bananas and they’ll come and sit on your shoulder – way more interactive than I thought. Just a word of advice.. If you buy bananas to feed them, don’t let them out of your sight- they’ll be gone within seconds!

What is your best/funniest memory from the Ultimate Thailand tour?

Total Wipeout! Have you seen the TV show? It’s basically an obstacle course on the water with loads of inflatables, rolling barrels and rope swings. It’s in Koh Phangan and you get the option to go there for about 400TBH (Appox £8) Had such a fun day- it’s definitely my most memorable moment in Thailand!

Would you recommend others to go to Thailand? Why?

Definitely! It’s amazing to experience travelling around an Asian country, experience Asian culture and customs and gain new experiences. If you’re planning a trip and Thailand isn’t on your list, you’ll be missing out!

What experience did you have with Thai people?

Before getting to Thailand, I had heard that Thai people were really friendly and I definitely noticed it, especially outside of tourist areas. Everyone I met was really helpful, very friendly, polite and always smiling! At one point I had actually left my wallet near the street food stalls by accident and the Thai guy who owned the stall came running after me to give it back to me!

Would you go back? If so, where? Or another Asian country?

Yes! I’ll definitely be going back to Thailand at some point. I’d love to go back to Koh Phangan for the full moon party and I’ll definitely make sure I go back to the floating bungalows in Khao Sok National park. Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam are also still on my bucket list!

Did you eat anything weird? Did you enjoy the food in Asia? Street food?

I tried a scorpion in Koh San Rd in Bangkok which kind of tastes like crispy chicken. I definitely didn’t enjoy it but it was an experience! I loved trying all of the Thai food, especially the street dishes like Pad Thai and chicken satay with rice. It’s all so much cheaper than the western food you can get and tastes awesome! Some restaurants do better food than others- the trick is to see how many locals are eating in the restaurant – if it’s good enough for the locals…!

Any other moments/events you want to talk about?

We had so much fun tubing near the jungle village in Khao Sok! We spent 2 hours tubing down the river, drinking beer and chilling! Also the temples in Bangkok were another highlight- it was great to experience some of Thailand’s history.

Got any tips for travelling to Thailand?

Learn to haggle! Haggling is expected in Thailand and haggling when buying things in markets will make sure you’re not getting ripped off! Ask the vendor what their price is and if it seems too much, tell them. Be polite, keep it light hearted and never get angry. You can usually get down to about half of what was originally offered and pick up some bargains!

Check out the 10 day Ultimate Thailand tour online and get in touch with us for more info!

Like us on Facebook for travel inspiration and follow us on Instagram for travel pics!

by Bernie Augstein