I believe we all have our own personal way to travel. What works for someone, may not be another person’s cup of tea. Some like traveling alone, while others only feel comfortable if they are with an organized group. Some like hopping from one hostel to another, while others need their privacy in a luxurious hotel room. Should we feel embarrassed if the way we travel isn’t like the magazines tell you it’s supposed to be? Of course not! I’ve always said it doesn’t matter how you see the world, as long as you go out and see it. So I’d like to share with you a few of my travel confessions today. Some were in my head for a long time now, but I never got the chance to say them out loud or type them.

I truly want to go everywhere

I am a curious person and there are a lot of places I want to visit, this always leading to the question “why would you want to go there”. My reply is always “why not”. I want to take photos in Moscow’s Red Square, get lost in the Medina of Marrakesh, explore the wilderness of Greenland and see the temples of Myanmar. However, I am well aware of the fact that some places aren’t ideal for travel at the moment (whether it’s because of wars, terrorism, or political issues) and others I may never get the chance to visit in this life. In an ideal world, people would be nicer and plane tickets cheaper.

I don’t want to go to London

Still with me? Allow me to explain, since it contradicts the previous point and I can hear your jaws hitting the floor and your eyes popping. A more accurate confession would be: “every time someone tells me how great London is, it makes me not want to go”. I’ve been to London and I’ve enjoyed it very much, but I didn’t left feeling it’s the greatest city in the world and OMG I NEED TO GO BACK, like people tell me. Nor do I feel it’s justified to pay a fortune for a shithole and be okay with it, just because it’s London. If I’m being truly honest though, I’d much rather break the bank for a shithole in Scandinavia 😛

I tend to overplan

Being a part-time traveler, my time in a new place I’m visiting is limited and I usually don’t return there too soon (see #1). Thus, I want to make the most of every moment and get a little enthusiastic (that’s my word, others might say crazy) while planning the trip. Now, I don’t have a minute-by-minute schedule (or even a day-by-day one), but I end up with a lot of sights I want to see. And without exception this leads to….

I annoy travel companions

This always happens, whether it’s because I take a lot of photos in one place, randomly stop to take photos, answer the phone instead of looking on a map, disagreeing to visit a sight I’m not interested in, making them wake up too early or getting upset if I miss a place I wanted to see. Wow, I must be awful to travel with!

(When Allane posted her travel confessions I said that it will look like I copied her, because she also has this confession. 😛 )

I want to travel alone at least once

This isn’t at all related to the previous point (or maybe it is, just a teeny bit). I want to say I’ve planned and managed entirely on my own in a new place. To walk at my own pace, get lost when I can’t figure out which way to go, or learn sign language when I try to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English. It can be fun or it can go terribly wrong but either way, I want to experience it at least once. However, I’ve been scared to tell this to my friends, because I fear they’ll understand I don’t want (or like) to travel with them. They’ll probably read this here though, so the cat’s out of the bag now.

I collect snow globes

Despite my best intentions to declutter my apartment, when I travel I always get sucked into a souvenir shop (or ten!) and I always come back home with a snow globe from the city I visited. While I know that soon there won’t be enough space for all of them, I can’t seem to stop this habit. Is there a snow globe collectors anonymous group?

I hate the idea of spending hours in museums

Look, I’m not an art connoisseur so I’ll never understand the point in spending hours watching and analyzing paintings when there are so many other interesting sights in a city. “In and out, quick like a cat” has always been my motto when it comes to museums. Yes, some are important and shouldn’t be missed, but if I don’t leave after an hour, it’s probably because I died.

I don’t care about bad reviews

If I overhear someone saying how great a place is, I instantly want to go. But if someone says they didn’t like the destination they’ve visited, or worse, they know someone who didn’t like it, I’ll completely ignore it. “Surely it can’t be that bad, maybe they had a bad day or different expectations” is what I would say. That’s why I also take online reviews with a grain of salt, especially since I’ve stayed in good hotels with terrible reviews and vice versa. So unless the review has photos of mold and/or spiders in the room, I don’t care.

I don’t want to travel with hand luggage only

I’ve never traveled with hand luggage only, I’m afraid it will be extremely stressful for me. Is everything going to fit in? Have I packed something I shouldn’t have? Is it too big for the plane? That’s why I always choose checked in luggage, you may have to pay for it, but at least you could bring a nice bottle of wine to enjoy at home. Or a knife, just because you can.

I don’t want to travel full time

While I admire the ones who are always on the road, I could never do it and frankly, I am quite annoyed how this whole “quit your job and travel” thing is promoted, like it’s something we should all aim for. I like my job, thank you very much, and I like working 9 to 5 to receive a paycheck that will fund my travels. I believe that once travel (and blogging) becomes your full time job, you wouldn’t enjoy it as much as before. Jumping from one place to the next, not having time to truly enjoy the city you’re in. It doesn’t sound appealing to me. I don’t want to go somewhere because the blog takes me there, I’ll go because I love to travel and I’m genuinely interested in that place. Then I’ll blog about it because I loved it and I want you all to visit it. Or I hated it, although I’ve yet to visit a place I didn’t like at all. This being said however, I do wish I had at least five more annual leave days….

So there you have it, my travel confessions. Please tell me I’m not crazy and you can relate to at least some of those. 😉