Roo Around The World

This is a blog post title that’s been making the rounds in the travel blogging circle recently, so I was very honoured to be tagged in it  few weeks ago by the lovely Oceana over at Barefoot Beach Blonde, so I thought I’d finally get round to making a list of my own. And actually, it was surprisingly easy to compile this list of my travel regrets…I suppose in life we all do things (or don’t do them) at times that we wish we had (or hadn’t) done when we had the chance, and travelling is no exception to this rule.

To quote Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.”

1. Not spending long enough in Asia

Let me start my saying that only having 6 weeks in which to explore 6 countries is definitely not enough! Asia has so much to offer, whether it’s the bustling streets of Bangkok in Thailand, or the stunning Angkor Wat in Cambodia, you will find new and exciting things everyday, and the more of it you uncover, the more you want to explore. So if (when) I go back to that part of the world again I vow to do it slowly and take my time.

2. Not going Hang Gliding when I had the chance in New Zealand

When I was in Queenstown there was one afternoon when I almost went hang gliding. And then I didn’t. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was about 8 years old and watched my parent’s friends run and fly off the side of a mountain top. And yet, when I was presented with the opportunity, I just wasn’t in the mood. What a dummy I was…next time, for sure!

3. Getting scammed out of money in Asia

This is a pretty typical one for a lot of travellers I should think, and it’s something I wised up to fairly quickly. But this did happen a few times during my time in Asia, and it was mostly with transport. Idiot. Did I seriously think that by paying more for a bus that went on the same roads as every other bus it would actually take less time…what was I expecting? A nitro fueled engine? Unlikely.

4. Being too set in my plans

Okay so yes sometimes you need to have some idea of where you’re headed and a vague timescale so you can plan various expensive things like flights, but other times I wish I’d just gone a bit more with the flow and seen where the wind blew me. But this luxury comes with long-term travel, the kind where you have no fixed time span or destination in mind and are just going along for the ride.

5. Always wanting to be somewhere I’m not

I have this terrible habit of being too excited for the next place and forgetting to enjoy where I am. The next bar, the next city, the next country, the next step in my life. I’ve been like that forever and it’s a hard habit to break, but it’s something I’m trying to work on. I know that to really enjoy what I’m doing and get the most out of it, I need to be present and live in the moment, to stop waiting for the next thing that’s coming, and just enjoy the now.

 

And now, to continue the tradition, I’m going to tag a few of my favs to find out their own travel regrets…

Beverly from Pack Your Passport

Monica from The Travel Hack

George from George On The Go

Good luck!