Travellers

Yes, another post about Kyoto. And it won't be the last! ;-)

So while I was there, I was staying in an 8 bed dorm in a hostel in Gion.

It wasn't too bad actually. I think if you are travelling alone, it's definitely the best option. You get to meet a lot of people in a short space of time because no one stays in the same place for very long.

I met this 23 year old guy who is on a round the world trip. Before Japan, he'd been travelling South America, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. When he's done here, he's gonna be going China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Nepal and then Syria if he has the money, before going back home to England.

A 10 month trip in total.

Not bad, eh? But personally, I don't think I could travel continuosly for that length of time.

1) You would have to save for such a long time to get the money together for a trip on that kind of scale. I'm a complete failure when it comes to saving and that would also mean bye bye to your social life in the period leading up to your departure.

2) I would get so sick of living out a backpack, spending time in transit - especially at airports and bus stations. Anyone who knows me well knows how I lose my temper at airports.

3) I would just get sick of being a tourist EVERY DAY. It doesn't apply so much if you're hitting the coast, because you do get your down time. But you don't have that time, say, where you'd stay at home and watch a DVD or hang with your friends. I mean, they do have those facilities in the hostels but it's just not the same. I like working in between and then jetting off somewhere because

a) it means I have money and

b) it's a really welcomed break.

The downside of that is that you have time restrictions in terms of how much of a country you can see. When I went to Vietnam last year, I was only able to see Saigon because I only went for 5 days. So you do lose out in the sense that you're gonna have to pay to go back and see the rest of the country.

Moving on, I just have to mention this 17 year old I met. He was born in South Africa, grew up in Zimbabwe, moved to Australia and is now doing a gap year in England. What interested me about him is he came to Japan for 2 weeks, and is only staying in Kyoto. 2 weeks in Kyoto?! There was no reason for it either. How rare is that? Kyoto is the best place to base yourself if you wanna see other parts of Kansai and even Kyoto - all of which you can fit into 2 weeks. But he's not going anywhere outside of Kyoto. He's on a super tight budget so maybe that's what's stopping him from going anywhere else. How insane is that? To fly halfway across the world to only see one city when you have the time to do so much more.

Hell, each to their own!

I love swapping travelling stories with people. Except the people who always try and better what you say. And I def ran into one of them. But hearing everyone else's experiences made me realise how much I've actually done - and how much I still want to do.

So many countries and so little time.

And bugger all money!

LOL!

xx