#tbm2015

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Travel Connections: The Best and the Worst

Another one of our speakers at the Travel Bloggers Meetup (#TBM2015), Zarah aka Jard, gives us a brief overview of some of her most memorable travel connections. 

written by Jard

Even as I venture out alone on many of my overseas travels, I never once felt I’d be alone. Lonely? Sometimes, but never alone. I knew that the world is full of people who are friends just waiting to be met and made. With the help of the world wide web and couchsurfing, I have stayed with numerous locals during my excursions to South Korea, India, Europe and Indonesia. I don’t really have the luxury of months of work leave to enjoy extensive stays in the countries I’ve been too. But it is totally made up by staying with locals and enjoying their help in times of need. Here are some of the best moments I’ve experienced with my travel connections.

The Best:

Taj Mahal, India

Delhi and Agra, India: I managed to enter some of the main attractions by posing as an Indian wife to an Indian looking friend who is actually from Maldives. All I did for my part was wear a colourful ladylike Punjabi suit and a pashmina covering all but my eyes while my posed husband paid for the tickets. The difference between the prices of a local and a foreign ticket is exuberantly ridiculous! Haha.

Varanasi, India

Varanasi, India : Stayed with a host there with two of my other friends and he brought us to attend an authentic Indian wedding. Loud music, crazy dancing and wild crowds!

Jaipur, India

Jaipur, India : Lived with a Indian Muslim family who keeps an elephant right inside their house! Divided from their living quarters by just a wall!

South-Korea

South Korea : Stayed with a host in Jeju for three nights and the host brought us to Udo island with her car. We also got to visit various places there with her.

Helsinki, Finland : Stayed with a host who helped me to plan my trip there and suggested I do a daytrip to Tallin via ferry. She helped me understand the Finnish language ferry site and also helped me purchase return ferry tickets. Much appreciated!

Batam, Indonesia

Indonesia : Am now confident to say that I can go anywhere in Indonesia and will meet friends who are willing to bring me up mountains, visit the less visited regions and plan local trips together to almost anywhere.  I sometimes plan a visit here once every month due to my strong travel connections there.

 The Worst:

I have yet to experience a negative experience with my hosts. But once in awhile, from pure curiosity, they’ll question about my religion and why I wear a scarf to cover my head. So be ready to have an open mind in answering them! The most bizarre question was why I was still virgin at my age and why wait till I get married! They’ll argue that it is supposed to be natural. Gahhh!

Tibet

Traveling has taught me many things and helped me to be more open minded on things in my life. For half of my life, I have mostly led a cluttered life, knowing only things in my own backyard and being strictly supervised by my pious parents. But once I started traveling and meeting this colourful variety of people who lives so differently from me, I began to realize that life is more beautiful and peaceful if we respect and accept one another’s differences. And only with that, will we be able to fully enjoy the foreign places we visit, through its people.

Jard has been travelling since age 3 and is a frequent traveller. Having had a nomadic upbringing, this has cultivated her zest of travelling. Read about all her travel stories here >>

[seduniablog]

7 Reasons Why Travel Connections Matter

No we’re not talking about which flight connections to take to get you to your end route. Connecting with other human beings, having a connection with a place and connecting on a spiritual level with yourself, this holy trinity of travel connections is what’s important.

1.      To better understand the locale

There’s no better way to get better acquainted with a new place than with the company of a new face. Without a doubt, learning about a new place with a local will get you more in tune with the local culture and all its rhythms and beats of the city (or countryside). When I travelled to Denmark, I stayed with a Danish friend whom I had met many years ago. She guided me through Aarhus, and we walked the paths that she and other locals did. We went to the local supermarket, we visited local bars, we ate hot dogs from a popular vendor; with all these local experiences, I felt I was visiting this city through the perspective of a local of Aarhus instead of that of a tourist.

Singaporean man who found me wandering around lost showed me around the rooftop of his apartment complex

2.      Maintain and strengthen bonds

They say nothing makes (or breaks) relationships better than travelling with the people you know. Whether you choose to travel with friends or family, doing so can either strengthen or weaken said bonds. I’ve been on many family vacations, but the two week long trip around London, Vienna and Prague I took with only my parents sans the siblings, enlightened me to a new dynamic relationship with my parents. This was the first time being alone with only my parents (well before my two younger brothers were born, but I can’t remember that time); there were times where they got on my nerves but also sweet moments when I felt pampered and like I was the only child.

 3.      To build lasting memories

There’s something impersonal about whizzing through a place, just taking snapshots, reading a bit of the local history and simply leaving it at that. Though visiting a new place makes for a great memory as you’re venturing somewhere new, but to me doing so in this manner seems a tad bit flat. Round, rich, full bodied travel memories are made even better when there’s an internal connection or external connection made. Although I was with a friend and a local in Bali, which made it all the more better, Bali left a lasting impression on me. I felt connected to my own state of being, the place and the people. This holy trinity of connections made that holiday that much better.

Connections can be made with animals too - Adorable puppy which belonged to a road side vendor in Luang Prabang, Laos

4.      Make all those discoveries so much better

Whilst nothing can take away the feel good feeling of making a new discovery, I believe that discoveries are better enhanced when you have an interpersonal connection to go alongside that. One of the main facets of travel is to make discoveries; whether it’s unearthing the best gelato in Florence or stumbling across a hidden street in Melbourne, doing so with a familiar face or a new found friend creates a special bond. When I travelled to Dublin with some friends, one of our friends who was studying there recommended this popular tea shop. It was the best scones, cakes and hot chocolate I had ever had, and sharing that experience with my friends simply amplified this amazing discovery.

Visiting my host parents in Milan, Italy where I was an exchange student 10 years ago

5.      Make new friends

This is the most obvious reason of course. Travelling is another gateway for meeting new people and possibly making lifelong friends. Whether it’s the taxi driver who chatted with you or fellow travellers at your hotel, all these people could become potential friends if you make the extra effort. When I went to Phuket for work, the staff at the hotel which I stayed at were so welcoming that we exchanged contacts and we do occasionally ‘whatsapp’ each other. Fellow other travellers have become part of my roster of international friends, simply because we shared that common bond of being on the road together and exploring a new place.

A night out in Phuket, Thailand with new found friends - fellow travel bloggers/instagramers from England (Doyoutravel) and Philippines (TiaLacson)

6.      Widen your horizons

One of the best ways to broaden your horizons is to immerse yourself in a new culture. Not only being an observer but experiencing another culture’s way of life certainly makes for an eye opening experience. Where and how else can you broaden your perspective if you don’t experience it from the point of view of a local themselves? When my family and I went to Sri Lanka, we visited a sacred Hindu temple in Kataragama; this particular temple’s rituals were far different from the Hindu temple goings in Malaysia. We took part in the ceremony with fellow locals and got to experience first-hand a different way to pray even though we were of the same religion. It definitely was an eye opening experience for me.

 7.      You don’t have to connect with only locals

In this globalized world, when you travel to a different country, that country isn’t simply going to be made up of just ethnic locals. Each place is a melting pot of ‘locals’, foreign workers, global backpackers, international jetsetters and what not. With so many different kinds of people out there, there’s so many opportunities to make a connection with any one of them. A memory that sticks with me is a chat my brother and I had with the bed and breakfast owner in Laos which we stayed at. He was an Englishman who had lived in Laos for over 30 years. His views on Lao and English culture and the reason he felt a sense of belonging to Laos was very intriguing.

Montage of connections made with friends, family and new found friends on my travels

Come join us at our Travel Bloggers Meetup 2015 #TBM2015 and learn and share all about travel connections with fellow wanderlusters. Get all the details here >>