Travel

I like to read on the backpackers on-line forum and one of the discussions is about travel companions. A lot of people agreed that there's no bad travel companions, just incompatible travel companions. Well, that is so true.

There are all kinds of travellers out there, some are into relax mode, some just want to go shopping, some are budget travellers, some of them need rice for every meals, some don't eat beef (like me!), some are vegetarian, some want to go to all the tourist attractions in a very short span of time, etc.

Well, I have never travel alone. For all of my trips, the minimum headcount was two, the maximum was ten. I had only separated with my travel companions for maybe half a day when we had different targets during a long trip. And I had been the planner for a few of the trips. I wouldn't say that all the trips went without a glitch, but it all ended well. 

I don't know whether I am a good travelmate to my travelmates, but so far the only comment from them was I am a very picky eater. However, whenever anyone chose any restaurants, I would tag along and paid for my share, I just left out those that I didn't fancy eating. And I know that I am a very talkative person, so I tried to restraint myself, not to talk too much!

If I am just a follower on a trip, I would read the plan before the trip, if there's anything not suitable, a little changes to the plan would be easier. It would be very rude to complaint during the trip. According to the comments in the forum, the people who said that anything goes are the one that will complaint later. A seasoned backpackers wrote that if anyone wants to tag along in his trip, he would ask the person to buy his own air tickets and book his own room. That would make the money part easier and the person who tag along couldn't complaint because he bought the tickets himself. 

Well, I helped to book hotel rooms, bought air, train and bus tickets for my travelmates before. The only thing that we had to order ourselves was the promotional discount air ticket. That's really depends on luck and internet speed! So, whoever that got the cheaper air ticket, congratulations! Whoever that got the more expensive air ticket, nevermind, there's only a few thousand yen more, still ok. Hahaha!

In my travel, I have eaten in big fancy restaurants, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, etc. I had never have instant noodle for my travel though! I would save on accommodation, but not the food. For accommodation, I would look into the location first before price. After that, I would choose the cheapest place to stay. I don't normally care about the rating though. In Japan, some business hotels are really cheap, around 3000 yen per person plus breakfast. However, some of my travelmates like to stay in the dorm type hostel, where a lot of people share a room. They think it is important to mix with others although sometimes, the dorm type accommodation is more expensive at 3500 yen. Well, we will follow the preferences of the planner!

In terms of itinerary, most of my trips would have a pack schedule because in case something fail, we could always do something else. Of course, if we could go to all the places, that's good. But if we couldn't, it's fine too. Improvisation is really important in a trip. Sometimes, not everything can go as planned, a natural disaster like typhoon or man-made disaster like the US shut-down can make a plan totally useless. That's no use to blame each other when something bad happen. Compared to solo traveller, at least a traveller with travelmates still have each other to lean on, to figure out another plan, to ..........

Conclusion, I don't want to travel solo. The only important thing is to find a compatible travel companion/s.