Live it Up Like a Local

I used to travel a lot. If you are a new reader, you probably didn't know that. You were probably wondering why this blog is called Travel Spot. You may have thought it was because I do a lot of foot travel. Well, that is true; I do, but I used to actually go to other countries, backpack on back and hiking boots (or flip flops) at the ready.

It's been been almost two years since I have been out of the country. That is a sad state of affairs.

I have friends that travel sometimes. They stay in 5 star hotels and do package tours and all-inclusive vacations. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; it's just not my style. Okay, sure, I like to put on a fluffy robe and lounge on a king sized white pillow top bed just as much as the rest of them. However, I also like to go to countries and experience them the local way. I like to ride the bus with the chickens and stay in the rattan hut with the mosquito nets. I like to find my own way. For me that is part of the fun.

Albania

When I went to the Himalayas to hike to Everest Base Camp, the fun part was slogging up the mountains (no, really!) with my pack on my back, making my own way up the mountain, without help. When I got to the next place to lay my head, I felt pride and a sense of adventure because I had done it myself. There were times when Mr. Lovely and I were all alone, without another soul around, and we could admire the majestic mountains and the endless peaks without a bunch of fellow tour members. That's how I like it. It may be more work to get there on my own, but in the end, it is totally worth it.

Nepal

I have stayed in a wide variety of accommodations. Sure, sometimes the low end route is pretty crappy. In India, I stayed in a mold infested room with mosquitoes keeping me awake all night, and it was not something I would like to repeat. I see no reason to subject myself to that! But I do like to experience some of the local flavor. Why go to Mexico if you are going to stay in an American hotel and eat American food? You may as well go to Newport Beach or Fort Lauderdale for that. 

India

I realize that everyone travels their own way. But what do you do when you are of one camp and your travel buddy is of another? A friend and I are trying to plan a vacation and she is one of the 5-star-hotel package-tour all-inclusive people. I want to get down and dirty, eat what the locals are eating, how they are eating it and I want to do what the locals do. This is difficult, as I don't want to spend $200+ for a hotel in a country where people make ten dollars a day.  She wants to stay in a place with fluffy robes and pillow top mattresses. She wants to be guided; I want to find my own way.

We are at an impasse. I ask you for help. What do you think we should do?

What camp are you in? Live it up? or Live like a local?

Uncomfortable Nights

Buy this pad from REI.

So we slept in a campervan for a while, and let me tell you, they say that the best way to get to know someone is to take a long car ride with them. How about a three week long one, is that long enough? Well, yes, yes it is.

But that is not what I am going to talk about. What I was going to say is that the campervan is also a little bit cramped. I mean, if you slide the bed out, you can’t get to anything underneath (there is storage there) and if one person is putting on their shoes, the other has to step aside. It’s not all bad, but it is a little tricky to manage at times.

The other thing that is a little hard is the sleeping situation. And when I say HARD, I mean hard both literally and figuratively. The bed is not very wide, and for a person who sleeps on their stomach with their leg thrown out to the side (me) it is not enough room for that. So you have to lay pretty much straight, if on your stomach. Or you can lay on your side. However, like I said before, it is hard. The bed is made of wood with a small pad over it. So you end up laying on one side until your hip is numb and your back hurts and your hands are asleep (yes, this happens to me a lot) and then you roll over until it happens on the other side.
However, the good news is: this is NOT the most uncomfortable place I have slept in the last year.

The worst was the tent.

The good thing is, we traded it with these nice people for a used Lonely Planet Europe (about a 30 dollar value new, so maybe 15 dollars used). The bad news is, and it’s not the tent’s fault (or S&Rs!), the ground is hard and it’s cold and my sleeping bag, which is supposed to be good down to 40 degrees, isn’t.
We went through a few stages of uncomfortable tent camping.

(1) THE WORST: No padding/mattress. Rocks beneath me. Can’t curl up in my too small sleeping bag. The wind was blowing hard. It was about 33 degrees outside.

(2) RUNNER UP: Bought an air mattress. Did NOT buy an air pump. Tried to blow up mattress with lungs. Did not work. Slept on little air. Every time one person moves, the other gets rolled off the mattress.

(3) THIRD WORST: Bought an air pump. Blew up mattress. Heavy wind and rain at beach turns tent into a swimming pool. (we slept in the car that night)

(4) BEST: Blew up mattress. Bought an extra blanket. Finally got a good(ish) night’s sleep. Still worse than the campervan.

I have decided that the main problem, since normally I don’t mind camping, is the gear. You HAVE to have good gear. Buy a sleeping pad (I have one at home). Thermarest makes a good one. Spend the money to buy a GOOD sleeping bag, down to 15 degrees (F). It is worth it. Buy a WATERPROOF (3 season) tent (I also have one of these at home). I guess what you could probably add to me is: AND BRING IT WITH YOU. But carrying all that stuff around for 6 months is not always feasible. But you will be more comfortable!

So, where is the most uncomfortable place YOU have slept? Do you like camping? Have you ever slept in your car?

U is for Uncomfortable.

How To Peacefully Coexist

So, I think I mentioned that we rented a camper-van and are driving around the North Island of New Zealand. 

Have you ever been in a tiny box with the same person for a very, very long time? You sleep in it; you (sometimes) eat in it; you put your dirty socks in it; you drive everywhere in it. It is not self contained, aka, it does not have a shower or a toilet or a power supply, so you spend a lot of time with your head light strapped to your head, playing rummikub inside the van (down by the river).

You also spend a lot of time fighting over who's going to drive, directions/where to go, why so and so's stinky socks are sitting on so and so's backpack, why so and so forgot to plug in or unplug the fridge, where did so and so put the cups.....and so on.

And there is no place to go. You can go and sit in the front to "be alone", instead of sitting in the back. We have made a joke about it -- the front is the study, the back is the living room.

The problem is compounded by the fact that it gets dark around 6, so there is not really anything to do after that. Also, the camping grounds often close their gates around 6 (it is going on winter here), so you can't even leave and go do something. Also, some of them don't even have lights or a table or anything! So you have no choice than to...you guessed it...sit in the van!

We have also only had one place with hot showers, so not only is it dark in the van, but it's pretty smelly! So, why do we subject ourselves to this, you are wondering. Well, despite all above statements, it's FUN! We can go wherever we want, whenever we want to. We can even drive till we drop and then sleep pretty much wherever! We have spent the night near the beach, in prime forest locations, with great views and...even in a parking lot. We have all our food with us -- I can have a ham a cheese sandwich ready in a jiff, no matter where we are! We don't have to carry our backpacks or find out when the next bus is! We can go to all the nooks and crannies that public transportation doesn't go to! It's GREAT! Such freedom!

Anyway, it's been 7 days so far -- we have 15 to go. We haven't killed each other YET (keep your fingers crossed for me). I will check back in a week or so and we will see how it's going then, shall we!

Today's post is part of the A-Z blogfest. H is for How. You can find the rest HERE. 

I leave you with a photo:

Snell's Bay

PS -- Deirdra over at A Storybook World just awarded me this. Thanks Deirdra! 

Sleeps With The Fishes

I have had many people ask me…where do you stay when you are on the road? I, along with my trusty notebook (where I [naturally] keep all my lists) am here to give you a few examples. FYI, we generally do not make any reservations; we just take what we find once we decide where we are going.

- Usually we stay in hostels. They are generally the cheapest option and almost always have an availible bed. For usually about 10 US dollars each, you get a dorm bed. Yes, you have to share a room with other people sometimes. But normally it is only a couple other people and for the amount of time we spend at “home”, we are not there enough for them to bug us. In fact, you oftentimes end up making friends with the people in your room and usually get along with them well enough to even hang out the next day! If nothing else, you get great travel advice this way.

- We also did a lot of camping. Unfortunately, we ended up going to a few countries where even the hostels were too expensive, so we traded a Europe guidebook for a tent (thanks S&R!!) and this is how we lived for a couple of months. The camping facilities where we were (Zambia, Namibia and South Africa) were wonderful usually. They mostly had great views, were in nice locations and were anywhere from $5 USD to $10 USD each.

- Guesthouses in some of the cheaper countries, such as India and Nepal (and Southeast Asia), are definitely the way to go! You get your own room WITH a bathroom (Hallelujah! In most hostels you have to share) for only about $1.50 USD - $5 USD. If you feel like splurging, you can get a room for (gasp) $8.

- Thanks to my job, which forces me to stay in a hotel about 9/10 of the year, we have hotel points**. Although using them is about 1,000 times faster than gaining them, we did get a few free nights at a nice hotel, which we saved for special treats OR places like Venice, where a simple hostel is about 25 Euros each!! (that’s about 32 dollars…EACH!) **if I have not blogged about these before, which I am sure I have, let me suggest that even if you only stay in a hotel a couple nights a year, make sure you sign up for these programs! You will eventually get a nice reward out of it.

- One time we slept in a car, which fortunately we had, becuase we were staying in a tent and it was pouring rain and everything was soaking wet. This was not the most comfortable night, but it was an adventure!

- Lastly, although we would not pick this on purpose, once or twice we could not get accommodation (like I said, we do it all on the fly, without reservations) and we had to pay for a night in a regular old hotel. We saw it as a treat, although that was not our first choice.

So, this is where I sleep. Some of the places are nice; some are not. None of them were downright scary, but some definitely were not super clean. All of these are great places to find out about the area, meet other travelers and hopefully get some laundry done.

Where do you stay when you travel? Do you splurge on accomodation? Or do you sleep in your car on the side of the road? What is important to you? A clean bathroom? A pool?

Arcação!!

If you go to Brazil, you absolutely have to stop at the Bells Company Hostel. Even if you are not staying there, have a drink and chat with the lively owner, who´s name is Gecko, yes, like the lizard. This hostel is situated on the Praia (beach) da Arcação, which is on a little island called the Ilha da Santa Catarina which is in the southeast part of the country, about 12 hours south of São Paulo. The reason I say that is this: Gecko is great, the hostel is RIGHT on the beach, there are surfboards, body boards and a kayak just waiting to be used, internet and breakfast come with the room rate, AND if you are lucky, Gecko will drag out the karaoke machine and you can embarrass yourself as much as you want.

Chris and I arrived here on Wednesday after a long bus ride from Iguaçu with plans to stay for two nights. Two quickly turned into four as we met a great group of people, practiced our surfing and honed our karaoke skills. Today we board an overnight bus and go to São Paulo, where we will meet up with my friend Mira, who has decided to come down and meet up with us for her Spring Break. She will stay for about two weeks and we will probably hit up a few different places while she is here, including Rio and a couple of other smaller towns near it. After that, we continue to travel north.

Break Me Off a Piece

Happy New Year everyone! Well, 2008 has already been quite an exciting year here in the big city. Let´s see...First we will start with New Years. The clock struck 12, we had a toast, danced the congo, watched the fireworks and then split into two groups - the early crew and the late crew. You know me, grandma, went with the early crew. We got to our apartment and when we tried to open the door, we couldnt. There are two locks, one on top and one on the bottom, but when the lady gave us the keys she said that we would only need to use the one on the bottom. So, we could turn the key in the bottom and we could hear the lock disengaging, but from what we could tell, the top lock was still locked. We thought that probably Kaylen, who had the other set of keys had maybe locked the top one for some reason. Well, we knew that the late crew was going to be gone for a while, so we went up to the roof to hang out for a while.

When the late crew finally did come home, they tried to open the door and had no luck either. So, we were tired and a bit cranky, so we broke into the apartment. Good times. Luckily we were able to do so. I guess. Hopefully it is not that easy for burglers.

So the next day we decided to go to a cemetary quite like the ones in New Orleans with the above ground graves...after that we wanted to take a new train home, one we had not tried before. However, when we got to the station, there was a barbed wire fence between us and the station we wanted to be at. So, KE and S decided to cross over a train bridge to try and climb down the other side. They got about half way across before a train came. These trains don´t move as slow as cargo trains either. Kaylen made it to the end of the bridge, but S had to climb to the side and crouch down in between two support beams. He made it. He is still alive, but I think he is going to have grey hair soon.

So. Yesterday and today were uneventful. We just explored the city a little more, went to the beach, went to the park... Tomorrow our plan is to go to the Casa Rosa, which means pink house. It is apparently a lot like our White House. And that´s all for now... Let the good times roll!