Travelling vs long term relationship
Discussion
Cold said:
People back in the UK will think you're some sort of sex tourist?
Sex tourism in Asia is sick and twisted, the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable...until the first time a little brown entertainment engineer says 'I'll stay with you for one hundred, and I can bring a friend for another hundred.' Then it's sick and twisted and awesome.
sooperscoop said:
Sex tourism in Asia is sick and twisted, the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable.
Only hippy treehuggers, malcontent housewife’s and lesbians say that.sooperscoop said:
..until the first time a little brown entertainment engineer says 'I'll stay with you for one hundred, and I can bring a friend for another hundred.' Then it's sick and twisted and awesome.
So, er, where is this place you pay 100? And was it baht, peso, ringgit, pounds or dollars?Daily costs matter, when you are a backpacker.
Adam B said:
I started in Oz then went to SE Asia - Oz was a comfortable place to start but wish I hadn't bothered - a $1 in Oz goes way further in Asia and I could have extended my stay by a month longer but for that two weeks in Cairns and various Oz places
Funnily enough I felt exactly the same. Although I did SE Asia first then onto Oz and it was a complete come down from the fun and craziness of Asia. It was much cheaper back then but still expensive and just didn't live up to the hype. Still had some fun but it just couldn't compare to Asia. Edited by Adam B on Monday 30th October 11:13
OP, my advise is don't even bother with expensive countries. Go for the cheaper, tropical places.
jdw100 said:
At the age of 45 I split up with a very long term (15 years) partner. This is nearly 5 years ago.
Decided I would go off for four months. Resigned my job but was offered a sabbatical instead.
Booked a one way ticket to Indonesia and packed 30kg of stuff into an ex-army Bergen and my carry on.
Learnt to ride a scooter, went snorkelling in amazing oceans, bribed some police, shared bathroom with a snake for two weeks, got taken to a club in Tokyo suburbs by a girl I met in a bar who turned out to be quite a celebrity, eat sushi at Tokyo fish market, stayed in a traditional hotel in Kyoto, caught fish in Vietnam, went to a mud bath place, went down a very dodgy cave system in Thailand, rode an elephant, met a great crowd of Vietnamese students in a club in HCMC, nearly got in a punch up with a Chinese guy in an airport lounge somewhere in China, climbed a volcano, shared a packed lunch with a very pleasant wild monkey, rode a scooter over a very narrow bridge that collapsed a year later killing 20+ people, met people from lots of countries...drank a lot, eat amazing food, took 10 flights ended up flying back from HK to UK.
Arrived at Gatwick on a cold late March day....waited for a, delayed, train towards London. A coffee had just cost me £3.50. Stood on the platform and thought “f
k this”.
I now live in Bali.
Good man.Decided I would go off for four months. Resigned my job but was offered a sabbatical instead.
Booked a one way ticket to Indonesia and packed 30kg of stuff into an ex-army Bergen and my carry on.
Learnt to ride a scooter, went snorkelling in amazing oceans, bribed some police, shared bathroom with a snake for two weeks, got taken to a club in Tokyo suburbs by a girl I met in a bar who turned out to be quite a celebrity, eat sushi at Tokyo fish market, stayed in a traditional hotel in Kyoto, caught fish in Vietnam, went to a mud bath place, went down a very dodgy cave system in Thailand, rode an elephant, met a great crowd of Vietnamese students in a club in HCMC, nearly got in a punch up with a Chinese guy in an airport lounge somewhere in China, climbed a volcano, shared a packed lunch with a very pleasant wild monkey, rode a scooter over a very narrow bridge that collapsed a year later killing 20+ people, met people from lots of countries...drank a lot, eat amazing food, took 10 flights ended up flying back from HK to UK.
Arrived at Gatwick on a cold late March day....waited for a, delayed, train towards London. A coffee had just cost me £3.50. Stood on the platform and thought “f
k this”.I now live in Bali.
AndStilliRise said:
cbmotorsport said:
Mr. Nice Guy said:
I've just handed my notice in, last day is 2nd of Feb. Feeling pretty good 
Good for you! You will not regret it. I am so jealous. Mr. Nice Guy said:
I've just handed my notice in, last day is 2nd of Feb. Feeling pretty good
Congrats! 3 months is a long time to prepare too.I went a few years back (SE Asia, OZ, Japan). 4 years in total I was away for. I had around £10k too after selling cars. The only thing I did before going was getting a TEFL certificate so I had the option of teaching English to top up funds, and a motorbike licence for the times when I need to ride one in Asia. Both of these things weren't really necessary looking back.
The internet has moved on a lot since I went (smart phones mostly), so it must be a bit easier now. I used coach surfing in expensive places where I could and hostels in the cheaper places. Hostels aren't always the default choice either, you have AirBnB everywhere now. In Thailand I found guest houses were better value than hostels. I stayed at one place a 3 minute walk away from the usual backpacker hangouts and it was something like £3 a night with internet, own shower room, and a dude outside selling Pad Thai for 50p that would do for a dinner or lunch. The hostels were something like £6-7 a night in a shared room and had to pay extra for internet access.
Mr. Nice Guy said:
I've just handed my notice in, last day is 2nd of Feb. Feeling pretty good
Good!Life isnt a rehearsal. Some times you f
k up, some times you don't.Take every opportunity life throws at you.
Good luck and enjoy.
Dont forget to post some pictures on your way on this thread and to lread back that you nearly considered not going!
DoubleTime said:
Funnily enough I felt exactly the same. Although I did SE Asia first then onto Oz and it was a complete come down from the fun and craziness of Asia. It was much cheaper back then but still expensive and just didn't live up to the hype. Still had some fun but it just couldn't compare to Asia.
OP, my advise is don't even bother with expensive countries. Go for the cheaper, tropical places.
Was 20 years ago for me - my budget was £10 a day, = 500 baht per day. 50B (a quid!) for hut on beach in Ko Samui, 100B covered lunch and dinner (slept through most breakfast) an the other 350B drinking in the evening (beers or mekong was 50p)OP, my advise is don't even bother with expensive countries. Go for the cheaper, tropical places.
still go back to the region every year but will never get that magic back - seeing dragons in Komodo, jungle trekking in irian jaya, handful of beach huts and bars on gili trawangan
well done OP
Edited by Adam B on Thursday 2nd November 15:32
Xaero said:
Congrats! 3 months is a long time to prepare too.
I went a few years back (SE Asia, OZ, Japan). 4 years in total I was away for. I had around £10k too after selling cars. The only thing I did before going was getting a TEFL certificate so I had the option of teaching English to top up funds, and a motorbike licence for the times when I need to ride one in Asia. Both of these things weren't really necessary looking back.
The internet has moved on a lot since I went (smart phones mostly), so it must be a bit easier now. I used coach surfing in expensive places where I could and hostels in the cheaper places. Hostels aren't always the default choice either, you have AirBnB everywhere now. In Thailand I found guest houses were better value than hostels. I stayed at one place a 3 minute walk away from the usual backpacker hangouts and it was something like £3 a night with internet, own shower room, and a dude outside selling Pad Thai for 50p that would do for a dinner or lunch. The hostels were something like £6-7 a night in a shared room and had to pay extra for internet access.
Even here in Bali it’s possible to stay cheaply.I went a few years back (SE Asia, OZ, Japan). 4 years in total I was away for. I had around £10k too after selling cars. The only thing I did before going was getting a TEFL certificate so I had the option of teaching English to top up funds, and a motorbike licence for the times when I need to ride one in Asia. Both of these things weren't really necessary looking back.
The internet has moved on a lot since I went (smart phones mostly), so it must be a bit easier now. I used coach surfing in expensive places where I could and hostels in the cheaper places. Hostels aren't always the default choice either, you have AirBnB everywhere now. In Thailand I found guest houses were better value than hostels. I stayed at one place a 3 minute walk away from the usual backpacker hangouts and it was something like £3 a night with internet, own shower room, and a dude outside selling Pad Thai for 50p that would do for a dinner or lunch. The hostels were something like £6-7 a night in a shared room and had to pay extra for internet access.
We have a place we use in Amed that has AC, access to the pool, breakfast (toast and fruit) for £12 a night. Homestay in Munduk - great place near amazing waterfalls and includes brekkie for £15 a night.
That said just down the road is the Bvlgari resort. Goes up to £15,000 a night, which might put a dent in our young traveller’s budget!
In fact if the OP ends up in Bali he can stay with us for a few days if he likes. We’ll take him out for beers as well!
Edited by jdw100 on Thursday 2nd November 04:30
Adam B said:
DoubleTime said:
Funnily enough I felt exactly the same. Although I did SE Asia first then onto Oz and it was a complete come down from the fun and craziness of Asia. It was much cheaper back then but still expensive and just didn't live up to the hype. Still had some fun but it just couldn't compare to Asia.
OP, my advise is don't even bother with expensive countries. Go for the cheaper, tropical places.
Was 20 years ago for me - my budget was £10 a day, was brilliant- 500 baht [er day was 50 (a quid!) for hut on beach in Ko Samui 25-50 for lunch and dinner (slept through most breakfast) an the other 350 drinking in the evening (beers or mekong was 50p)OP, my advise is don't even bother with expensive countries. Go for the cheaper, tropical places.
still go back to the region every year but will never get that magic back - seeing dragons in Komodo, jungle trekking in irian jaya, handful of beach huts and bars on gili trawangan
well done OP
I thought it was about time to update this thread 
I did eventually leave for Australia, I left my job on the 2nd of February and arrived in Melbourne on the 14th of February. Being alone and staying in hostels took some getting used to but I was soon enjoying myself and had made a few very good friends, after a few days I could notice a difference in myself and I felt more confident than I ever have before I stayed in Melbourne for about 3 weeks, did a lot of drinking and partying, bought a car and saw the sights.
Since Melbourne I have been road tripping my way up the coast aiming for Cairns and eventually Darwin to work. I’ve made some really good friends on the road and travelled with a lot of other people and have been having a blast, I stayed in Sydney for a few weeks with a friend and made it up to Brisbane. I’m currently in Bali relaxing with a friend from home after spending a week with my family. I’m flying back to Brisbane to continue my road trip next week and I can’t wait to get back to my car
The car is a Mitsubishi Challenger (Pajero Sport in the UK). I’ve got a huge V6 and a proper low range gearbox so I’ve been having great fun getting it muddy :biggrin: I’ve also got a double bed in the back and everything needed to go “off grid” for weeks at a time, I’ve stayed in some amazing places and all of them have been free
It’s not all great though, I’m burning through money at an alarming rate and had a few lonely/st nights and plenty of setbacks, but the pros easily outweigh the cons and I would recommend this to anybody, it’s like a permanent weekend
Cheers for all of the comments on this thread, I feel like I would have eventually made it but the replies to the op gave me the final push I needed. Also big thanks to loquito hermoso, I read your entire blog and finished it the day before I flew, it looks like it was an amazing trip and definitely inspired me and showed me that there is so much more to see
If anyone is interested I have documented most of my travels on instagram, just send me an email
I did eventually leave for Australia, I left my job on the 2nd of February and arrived in Melbourne on the 14th of February. Being alone and staying in hostels took some getting used to but I was soon enjoying myself and had made a few very good friends, after a few days I could notice a difference in myself and I felt more confident than I ever have before
I stayed in Melbourne for about 3 weeks, did a lot of drinking and partying, bought a car and saw the sights.Since Melbourne I have been road tripping my way up the coast aiming for Cairns and eventually Darwin to work. I’ve made some really good friends on the road and travelled with a lot of other people and have been having a blast, I stayed in Sydney for a few weeks with a friend and made it up to Brisbane. I’m currently in Bali relaxing with a friend from home after spending a week with my family. I’m flying back to Brisbane to continue my road trip next week and I can’t wait to get back to my car
The car is a Mitsubishi Challenger (Pajero Sport in the UK). I’ve got a huge V6 and a proper low range gearbox so I’ve been having great fun getting it muddy :biggrin: I’ve also got a double bed in the back and everything needed to go “off grid” for weeks at a time, I’ve stayed in some amazing places and all of them have been free
It’s not all great though, I’m burning through money at an alarming rate and had a few lonely/s
t nights and plenty of setbacks, but the pros easily outweigh the cons and I would recommend this to anybody, it’s like a permanent weekend Cheers for all of the comments on this thread, I feel like I would have eventually made it but the replies to the op gave me the final push I needed. Also big thanks to loquito hermoso, I read your entire blog and finished it the day before I flew, it looks like it was an amazing trip and definitely inspired me and showed me that there is so much more to see
If anyone is interested I have documented most of my travels on instagram, just send me an email
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