How fortunate of me! Sometimes I think.
My life style is based on Traveling, and how lucky to be born with things that are not in the way of my traveling. If I think about my friends…. Few of my closest friends have many points that are opposite of me. They are extremely sensitive about where, when, who they sleep with, physically can’t drink any alcohol, hygiene is something they can’t give up and picky about food. Of course they have so many different things that I can’t possibly have. It’s just different but if I am in their shoes, it will be so hard to travel. In that case I might find another occupation that will keep me alive. Maybe.
So, I feel lucky to have all that. And I feel, and I know, that I was born to travel.
An Easy Sleeper
This is one of the reasons why I like red eye transportations. My first overseas plane ride was a 12 hours red-eye. My favourite train ride is Seoul to Busan, 5 hours red-eye. Do you see patterns here? I literally can sleep anywhere. On moving vehicle, bus station bench, airport, karaoke, open field… countless places I’ve slept on. This had been great quality of me when I studied. But didn’t know this is going to be the best thing for travel! Most of all, of course it’s great for a hostel life. I’m a heavy sleeper as well. It could be bad if someone is stilling from me while I’m in bed, but that didn’t happen yet. And I prefer a top bunk, so that helps too. Also I can trade a comfort bed for about everything else, like decent food or exciting adventures. It’s budget friendly and stress-free!
Not picky about Hygiene
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that I’m dirty. I think this means just I can cope the whatever situation and don’t feel stress about it. One day, we lost water for few days in Melaka, Malaysia. We had to clean up with baby wipes (and this is why I never travel without them), but I was okay. It’s just few days, not a big deal. Of course I’m careful about it if it could compromise my health. However I don’t think I have to be perfectly clean all the time. Once I wrote this in my guest post on Downtown Traveler, as a city girl’s guide to adventure travel. Some dirt won’t kill you. Maybe I have a great immune system so I don’t get sick so easily. In that case, it’s fortunate of me as well. Oh! and I don’t have to use shower like 45mins everyday, so that helps me to stay in hostel without any sorry feeling.
Easy Stomach
Happy to say, I didn’t have any problems with food so far. Actually food is one of the reasons why I travel. It gives me unmeasurable joy! During my travels, one food I had to turn down was a bowl of oatmeal cooked with (a lot of) sugar and milk. Maybe because I’m not a sweet tooth, it shocked my head and gave me a headache. Next day I tried with salt later and I liked it. Phew! So I’m good with oatmeal. Other than that, I’m good with everything. I haven’t been to many places yet and I’m willing to try every food on the way. Food is the most important factor on travels to get to know the place, people and a whole culture. I’m happy for myself because I can appreciate good food.
Optimism and Sarcasm
These two are not exactly on the list of ‘things that go well with’. But I think this is another great thing of me to be a traveler. I am quite an optimist. Sometimes way over the top, I can feel that. However, at the same time I am sarcastic. I appreciate humor and jokes and especially sarcastic jokes. I don’t get disappointed because I’m optimistic. Even if something is objectively bad like bad weather, but it’s just what it is. We don’t get clear sky all the time. When I was in Hong Kong, I didn’t have a chance to see the famous big Buddha because of the most thick fog I’ve ever seen, but that was okay. I liked it. On the contrary, when I’m being sarcastic, I make things funnier. My friend Meaghan and I accidentally visited the worst botanic garden, and we had a blast making fun of it. Sarcastic-harmless little jokes, has been a great buddy on the road.
Drinkable Liver
I’m so glad because I can drink. Strong liver is not for get wasted all the time, it’s for enjoying the moment. Along with food, alcohol is another great factor to enjoy other cultures. Often it goes well with a great meal. Hypothetically, if I’m in Chile right now but I have a liver that can’t resolve alcohol.. I would be really sad. Monteith lime-flavoured beer is one of the best I’ve ever had, but if I couldn’t taste all seven beers from Monteith brewery, I would be really sad. If I can’t drink, I didn’t have a chance to have my the worst hangover! And didn’t have a good time at the legen-wait for it-dary Angkor What? bar! All the beer that helped me relax on the road, great mojito in Cambodia, cheap but great wine in New Zealand… I feel lucky to have well functioned liver.
What do you think? Do you think you were born to travel?
