Some travel hacks after exploring 50+ countries in 3 years
- Travel alone for psychological growth and enjoyment. Travel with 2-3 people for pleasure. Don't travel with 3+ people
- Go to the Philippines
- Carry a ukulele. You can learn to play dozens of songs in an afternoon, and it will get you tons of friends and happy moments
- Mingling with locals is the essence of travel. Rent a bike and get off the track. Don't visit the touristy spots. Go to the sketchiest bar instead and start a conversation with a stranger
- If you are spending $100 on a bed, and bargaining 10 cents with a taxi driver, you may be doing something wrong
- Travel as light as possible. I usually do 5-7kg regardless of duration (including several books)
- Buy a local SIM card with internet upon arrival - it's more efficient and cheaper than getting lattes looking for WiFi
- Be the last one to check-in the flight to increase your chances of an upgrade due to overbooking
- Use Revolut to avoid commisions and getting the best exchange rate. If you use a standard bank, chances are you are getting destroyed with hidden fees or expensive rates
- If I stay at a small hotel, I always check online but book on-site. Commissions payed to online travel agencies are usually 18-30%, but even higher for small hotels
- Use Couchsurfing to meet and stay with locals for free
- Come back to the Philippines
Adventure is life
It keeps the mind active and creative. Here're some things I have done, if you're looking for ideas:
- Guinness World Record for visiting more UNESCO sites in 24 hours, with my good friend turned internet-superstar Drew Binsky
- Living homeless in London for 36 days at the age of 19 to learn English because I could not afford a language immersion program
- Buying a motorbike in Luang Prabang (Laos) and riding it to Ha Noi (Vietnam) across remote mountains for 3 weeks. That was the first time I rode a bike and had no driving license, which may explain why I ended up crashing with a truck
- Walking half the Korean peninsula (from Seoul to Chuncheon) with no money, carrying only a sleeping bag and 200gr of nuts
- Living for 2+ months in Surulere, in the outskirts of Lagos (Nigeria) while helping a technical vocational school
- Retiring at buddhist temples across the Himalayas, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, and the United States
- This caption is a summary of my 2016: :)
Goodbye year!! 20+ countries. What a year!! 😊✈️ Rode a motorbike through the Indonesian forest and a donkey through the ancient city of Petra 🏇🌴 Surfed in Sri Lanka surrounded by elephants and dived the waters of Miami Beach 🏄🏼🐘 Contemplated sunsets in sacred Asian Buddhist mountains and in the world's largest infinity pool in Singapore 🌅🌌Explored Chinese hidden treasures in Shanghai and celebrated the anniversary of the Ukranian revolution in Kiev 🎎🌏 Listened to a classical music concert in Vienna and to David Guetta in Ibiza 🎭🎉 Partied all night in Tokyo on a Santa Claus costume and played the guitar in la feria de Sevilla 🎅🏼💃🏼 Had dinner in the best restaurant of the world, and on the floor during a wedding in a remote Tamil village 🍷🍝 Contemplated Da Vinci's artwork in Paris and walked his steps in Florence 🎓👣 Melted in the Qatari sun and froze in the Bulgarian cold ☀️❄️ Achieved a @guinnessworldrecords, and many more things that don't fit in these lines!!! 😊 Next... here we go 💪🏻😎
Do you have any original adventure ideas / proposals? Text me! :)