We’re seasoned travellers… Well, I am, anyway. But that doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes sometimes. So strap in for a long one and learn all about some of the [completely avoidable] mistakes we’ve made during six months of full-time travel.
It isn’t all bad, though. We’ve also highlighted the things we’ve previously learned from in order to make this trip a little less stressful!
My (Dagney) comments in this standard black colour.
Jeremy’s in this snazzy blue one.
Travel Lessons We Knew & Are Glad We Adhered To
DRESS FOR COMFORT – DON’T BECOME THE SHOP WINDOW
It’s hard when you’re traveling long term not to buy into every packing list ever and buy all the things. I’m not not implying packing lists have no merit, but they are kind of subjective. It’s all about personal preference. The kind of clothing suggested in RTW packing lists work for people like my mother who love harem pants and loose fitting long sleeve shirts.
I don’t. I like jeans. Every time I’ve tried to follow the advice of packing lists, I’ve been miserable. If you wear jeans every single day at home… you will want to wear jeans every single day while travelling. There’s no harm in bringing some backup harem trousers, sure, but don’t buy everything on sale at your outdoors shop, either.
That having been said, wear comfortable and durable shoes. Even if you’re a shoe addict, for the love of god, don’t pack more than three pairs (and that’s being very generous)!
My main point is, that you don’t need to buy into every single packing list suggestion. Be comfortable; don’t be a walking catalog for Mountain Warehouse or REI. Just be aware of where you’re going and the activities you’re doing and the type of person YOU are, and pack accordingly.
There’s a bit of an addendum here, which is that if you are going somewhere very hot and you’re unlikely to have air conditioning (and I do mean AC not a fan), there is something to be said for lighter trousers. But if you’re staying in a hotel or apartment with AC available, and you live in your jeans at home… bring your jeans. I’m not saying you have to blast the AC 24/7 to be comfortable, but stick it on while you get dressed and you’ll be fine. I find getting dressed in the heat the hardest part. If I’m already in hot clothes when I go outside, it’s hot, sure, but it’s fine.
N.B. It is of course important to know what is appropriate attire where you are going. I am not giving you permission to be an asshole and wear tank tops and hot pants in the Middle East just because you find them comfortable and wear them at home. Dress for comfort, but be respectful!
Sometimes, you just need to have a taste of home (even if it’s McDonald’s)
When I left school, I took a gap year working in Hong Kong. At the end of a year of teaching, myself and another person on the program decided to head back to the UK by land, rather than flying. We ended up getting the Trans-Mongolian train from Beijing to Moscow, and it was great. We spent six days watching the Mongolian plains and Russian towns roll by – a wonderful experience considering I’d not lived abroad before that year.
What was less idyllic was the change in diet. As we moved from country to country, the train dining carriage was detached and replaced depending on the local cuisine. The Chinese one had all the delicious flavours of the Orient; the Mongolian one was actually decorated like a large yurt; and then we got into Russia.
I don’t know if you can imagine prison chic but this compartment had it in spades. The only thing harder than the staff’s expressions was the “bread” that was my only option. Sadly, as Russia is the biggest, we had this carriage the longest.
So when we arrived in Moscow after such a long journey, and we scanned our options for a meal, I rejoiced when I saw the bright lights of TGI Fridays. That burger tasted sooooooo good.
Say what you want about diving in to local cuisine (and I’m all for that, believe me), but sometimes the subconscious mind needs to relax and be reminded of something familiar. I didn’t specifically want a burger, I just wanted something I knew to be a Meal that I was certain would fill me up.
NB: We ate local food the next day by the way, and my travel companion’s protests at having “caved” the day before seemed to lessen a little.
In case you’re wondering how this relates to our current travels… following on from severe travel fatigue (more on this below), we had a particularly bad time in the city of Meknes and to console ourselves caved and got Pizza Hut… twice.
A little animal interaction can make your day (if you like animals)
Pretty self-explanatory, really. But if you’re ever feeling down, for whatever reason – and you like animals – consider a stint pet sitting or dog walking, go to a cat cafe, or maybe play with some animals in the street.
I say maybe here because I will not be held responsible for you making bad decisions and playing with blatantly rabid or fierce animals. Or just generally for anything that happens to you. I’m strongly advocating petsitting and cat cafes over rando stray animals in the street.
Do as I say, not as I do, people!
Anyway, after nearly two months in Europe (and before heading to Morocco), we enjoyed a relaxing week in Sheffield pet sitting two absolutely wonderful cats. It was everything we needed.
Sheffield was pretty cool, too! We saw lots and lots of kickass street art.
Want to petsit, too? We don’t blame you. Check out this guide to housesitting as a digital nomad.
Sign up with TrustedHouseSitters using this link, and get 25% off your membership!
We’ve had lots of other great animal interactions over the last few months. Other than petsitting in Sheffield, here are the highlights: (1) Hanging out with all the cats in Morocco; (2) Oli the adorable french bulldog, who belonged to our AirBnb host in Prague; (3) after a particularly ridiculous day getting out to the Monoliths of M’Soura, I was greeted by a very friendly dog at the train station in Asilah; (4) trying to convince one of Jeremy’s family cats not to live on our laptop.
It’s tough. The laptop is warm and the centre of my attention – both things a cat wants to be.
USE ATMS RATHER THAN A BUREAU DE CHANGE & WHEN PAYING WITH CREDIT CARD, PAY IN THE LOCAL CURRENCY
So admittedly, the ATM one I feel can be controversial. Everyone has their own opinion here. I personally dislike bureau de changes. In my experience, regardless of the extra charges you get these days from banks when using your card abroad, it’s still cheaper to take money directly out of an ATM.
But maybe I just have a really good bank. So check your rates, yo.
HOWEVER, the second point is 100% true. I find this happens most often from the UK to Europe. But it’s happened to us in Morocco, as well. Basically, if you’re paying for something with a debit or credit card and you’re asked (whether by a teller/waiter/etc or by the machine itself) if you want to to pay in local currency or your home currency – ALWAYS CHOOSE LOCAL CURRENCY. Otherwise, you will get fucked by your bank on exchange fees.
Also note that in some countries, like Morocco, there are two forms of local currency in most places that accept card, namely Moroccan Dirhams and the Euro. If you only have the option of paying in Euros or your home currency (and it is not Euros), still choose Euros: it counts as local currency. If you’re in this situation and you’re home currency is the Euro, then congratulations, you win nothing.
A good way to enjoy a place is to just hang out there (when in Zagreb…)
You know how at home you generally just hang out with friends in your free time? Whether that’s in cafes or going hiking, it’s what you do.
Travelling is no different. Often the best way to learn what a place is all about is to just chill out. In Morocco that means drinking lots of mint tea, or going for a stroll in the park. Whereas in Zagreb we spent hours sitting in cafes and learning about the coffee culture in Croatia. While in Warsaw, we hung out with some friends over Pierogis and mulled wine, followed by hot chocolate and discussing Polish history.
(And movies …)
Despite all our struggles with travel fatigue, we still managed to just be sometimes. It may not make for a great story, but it beats stress and mental breakdowns. And with luck, you may even make some friends!
Travel Tips We Knew & Shouldn’t Have Ignored
You (really) don’t need everything you’re carrying
As I write this, my backpack lies next to me on the couch, its contents spread out for ease of reach. Among the clothes, charger cables and toiletries is a foldable three-tier pouch. It contains creams, ointments, band aids, tissues, various bottles of eye drops, as well as all manner of pills. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, codeine, caffeine and codeine, antihistamines … all for any and all emergencies imaginable.
Folded up, it is about a foot square in area, weighs about half a kilo, and to this date we have used absolutely none of it.
We originally put it together for emergencies, in order to cover all possible medical situations. In hindsight, that was of course impossible. You can be prepared, but you’ll never be ready for EVERYTHING.
We put this collection together with the intention of being in Africa for a number of years. Looking at it now, most of it is stuff to make small things easier, rather than to solve big problems. Two different kinds of pills for headaches? Overkill.
(Especially as we already have a mini medical kit. Shhhhhh …. )
Sometimes you can just walk
This one still hurts a little. We’d just arrived in a city on a day trip, with our intended destination located somewhere outside its walls. We didn’t know exactly where, so rather than wander aimlessly in the hot sun for hours we decided to get a local taxi.
After some haggling and language restrictions we were in the cab and on our way …
… and four minutes later we arrived.
Not only had the taxi been unnecessary, with our target being very visible once we left the city limits, but we had paid more than twice what we should have paid for a journey of that length, due to our not knowing the area. What we had thought was an arduous slog when we reviewed a map before we set out was instead one of the simplest walks we could have hoped for. So now, if we’re a little unsure of how to proceed, to begin with, we will walk.
A private room in a hostel is still a hostel room (#1stworldproblems)
Our first few nights in Tangier, we were booked to stay in a private room in a hostel. I should clarify by saying, we don’t like really like noise and we do actively try to avoid hostels where possible. But we booked last minute, and it was one of the few places available [in our budget] our first few nights. We planned to leave ASAP.
For all intents and purposes, our room was perfect. It was large, had a private bath, french doors that opened onto a balcony with a great view over the old town. It was even on a totally separate floor from all the dorm rooms.
Sweet isolation!
Except that our room was in the communal area. We were surrounded by common space where people could come and hang out and chat until all hours – including a space on the roof above us. One person in particular liked to sit up there and tap their foot while they played a beat up ukulele left up on the roof.
Not only could we hear all this, including the constant tapping of his foot, but it was as if they were in the room with us.
We got very little sleep.
By the time we left, we were very happy to be leaving. But the real cherry on top was that our last morning there, following a night of listening to several guests and staff sat outside our room until 3am giggling non-stop as they were high, we found the door to the roof (where we were), locked. They’d literally forgotten we were there.
Hostels are for community, and that’s great. But if you’re looking for a private room, just remember that a private hostel room is still a hostel room. Some are great, I’ll admit, but you do roll the dice every time.
Sometimes you just need a break from each other
I said I would do this one.
I feel like it’s going to be difficult to convey this without coming out of it looking like a bad person.
It’s cool, I’m fairly certain I feel the same.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Just ask the people who have to taste-test chocolate for a living. If you hang out with the same group all day, every day, no matter who it’s with, it can become a strain.
Dagney and I spend close to 100% of our time together. Working, walking, exploring, eating, sleeping, all done as a pair. And it’s great – there’s no one I’d rather be doing everything with.
But we’re both natural introverts, and often enjoy just doing our own thing. So sometimes in the thick of things we forget to take some time just for ourselves. Not only is it good for your mental health to have some variation of company (even if it’s swapping one person for no persons), but if you’re apart then your brains can focus on different things, which can help fuel creativity or inspire fresh ideas when we approach a new project.
Also, we watch very different things on the internet.
Charge your iPod
To be fair, this is more my issue than Jeremy’s because Jeremy never forgets to charge anything. But me? Well let’s just say it’s a good thing my brain doesn’t rely on being plugged in every night.
Anyway, in case you haven’t cottoned on, I’m a massive introvert. And it’s not that I don’t like Jeremy, but both of us would rather spend long bus/tram/train/plane rides with our headphones in and the rest of the world out. But due to my inability to check my iPod battery regularly and recharge it when necessary… Jeremy bought a headphone splitter.
So actually this isn’t a problem for me anymore. Except that I’d rather listen to my podcasts than Jeremy’s music. But in case you also dislike long rides and no means of distraction and you are unfortunate enough not to have a thoughtful, incredibly organised, bordering on compulsive partner… Charge your damn iPod.
Travel Tips We Wish We’d Known
I think it’s fair to say, one or both of us were actually aware of all these (and I’ll probably repeat this sentiment). However, whereas the travel lessons from the previous section are all things we knew were possible and consciously chose to ignore, these are all things we totally spaced on.
Downloadable google maps are your friend
I’m probably about to sound like an advert for Google, but please just bear in mind that a) I’m sometimes as technologically aware as a smart dog, and b) I’m easily pleased.
I’ve been using Google Maps for years (hasn’t everyone?) but I’ve always relied on 3G or wifi for it to work on my phone. More recently I’ve not had access to 3G, as it costs way more if I’m abroad, so I’ve been restricted to looking up routes when I’ve had wifi and taking screen caps to refer to while out of range of the internet. You know, like a CAVEMAN.
But that’s all changed now. I’ve discovered that you can download a map for a city (it’s hidden under a few dots in the details page of the location) ahead of time, which can be used just like regular Google Maps. And the best part is, you can see your exact location at any point regardless of whether or not you’re connected to the internet! Amazing!
Just tap those little three dots up in the top right and the option to download will appear! 
It definitely helps us get around confusing, maze-like areas, such as Moroccan old town streets where there are no straight lines and frequent dead-ends.
I actually did know this. Which is why I set up our resources page, and not Jeremy. But Jeremy does all our navigating since it turns out I can read a physical map like a pro, but can’t find my way out of a room if that map is on a phone. Therefore, this tip is new.
Plans change, and that’s ok
Again, I did technically know this, and I’m kind of contradicting my own rules for these categories since I chose to ignore the possibility. It won’t happen to us. I insisted. But then I genuinely forgot about it entirely.
Our original plan was to circumnavigate Africa. A few months in Europe to see some friends, and then off to Africa for 3 or more years!
It didn’t really work out this way. We went to Europe, and very quickly decided our main niche would be dark tourism. A topic very close to my heart. Europe is overflowing with dark tourism.
You would think Africa would be, as well. You know, considering the incredibly dark history the entire continent has endured. But here’s the thing, dark histories aren’t the same thing as dark tourism. While more and more places in Africa are opening sites geared at educating us on these horrible histories… they’re just not in the same league as Europe. At least not yet.
But honestly, that wasn’t even the real problem. I’m a pro, I can find the weird, dark and macabre anywhere. And anyway, we like off the beaten path travel, too. No, the real problem was that when we were truly honest with ourselves, when we really looked at our options… Eastern Europe was actually cheaper than a lot of Africa. And since we’re still baby bloggers, this matters. A lot.
Unfortunately, we realised this a bit too late, already finding ourselves in Morocco. And it turned out to be pretty expensive to get out of Morocco (at least with all our stuff). If traveling through Mauritania wasn’t even more expensive, or at least on par, we would have just kept going south.
Travel fatigue is real and can cause problems/ruin a place
Following directly on from the previous point… Upon realising this, we became so determined to make the most of a bad situation, we then tried to cram as much as humanly possible into our time in Morocco.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. One of the things I loved about my first time in Morocco was just hanging out and drinking mint tea.
We still drank mint tea, but we moved every few days and started going on ridiculous out of the way day trips in order to do as much off the beaten path as we could.
As a result, we burned out fast. And it left us feeling less than keen on staying in Morocco. In the end, we’re leaving earlier than intended, and we won’t even tick off all the things we wanted to see – some of which were initially higher than those we went out of our way to see (and spent a pretty sum on, too).
I’ve been slightly travel fatigued before; but as I normally travel slowly, it’s never been something one good lie in couldn’t compensate for.
So, travel slowly, folks. I’ve always preferred this method of travel, and I shouldn’t have tried to abandon that just because we’re travel bloggers. In fact, it’s negatively affected our blogging game, as well (more on that below).
PS: It is a privilege to be able to travel full time, and we are well aware of this. However, we still advocate slow travel where possible for full time travellers because travel fatigue is real and it can cause real problems with your physical and mental health.
Know when to call it (& know that it’s okay to walk away)
Ironically, we started off wanting to travel slow in Morocco. We booked to stay in Imlil, a small town in the Atlas mountains, for one month. Partially because we wanted time to work and recover from our whistle stop tour through Europe (yes, we were already feeling fatigued). But also because everything we read and saw about Imlil indicated it would be quiet and peaceful and probably inspiring. We’d been inspired in Bhutan, why not Imlil?
Unfortunately that just wasn’t the case. We knew almost immediately that we were in for a long month. But having already paid for the place, we were determined to stick it out and not lose our money.
The thing is, the place we were staying was totally fine. The family who owned the guest house were lovely. It was cheap and all our meals (which were tasty!) were included in the cost. If we were only there for the great outdoors, it would have been ideal.
But the internet didn’t work. Or, it did, but it was painfully slow. And when you’re taking a month off to wind down and focus on your online job, you kind of need the internet. Five minutes to load a page, especially when it still doesn’t even load the photos half the time – let alone trying to upload photos – really isn’t ideal in this line of work.
So, begrudgingly, we bit the bullet, took a hit on some of the costs (our host was nice enough to give us some back), and packed up.
Despite the fact that we were both down on Morocco, we don’t hate it. We want to return (with a much better itinerary). But more importantly, regardless of the travel fatigue and burn out, we are still glad we left Imlil when we did.
You don’t have to go completely against the grain just to be different
When we started our blog, we knew a few things. We knew we wanted to blog about travel, but we knew we didn’t want to be a carbon copy of the many current travel blogs out there. “Italy’s Most Instagram-able Spots”, “Top 10 Romantic Cities of France” or “The Best Restaurants in Barcelona” were not pages we wanted to create. We knew we wanted to find our niche.
What we didn’t know when we first set out was what that niche was. When we worked it out (Dark Tourism, Weird and Alternative Destinations and Street Art) we started to go in deep. We spent hours researching obscure locations of lesser-known historical events, and planned our trips accordingly.
However, following our new mission statement has occasionally proven to be costly. There have been a few times when we’ve found ourselves in a place that has little or nothing to do with any of the above, purely from trying to out-obscure ourselves. Turns out that sometimes places are expensive and difficult to reach for a reason. That reason being: there’s nothing there.
Things We Learned from Traveling & Blogging Full Time
Focus on a few Social Media platforms at a time rather than all at once
This is kind of just an excuse to say that we deleted Instagram and couldn’t be happier!
But also, seriously, just know yourself. We are not social media pros. Before we started blogging, we barely went on Facebook, and we didn’t even exist on any other platform. (Well, okay, I think Jeremy had Twitter once upon a time and I had MySpace… does that even count anymore?)
The point is, we struggle to keep up with all of them. Partially because it’s hard work to be on all the time – and we’re introverts. But also because we’re never sure what to actually post on each one. Sometimes we spend so long discussing and debating it that the appropriate time to post something has long since passed.
Or, sometimes, we sleep in and forget. Like when I woke up to Jeremy saying, ‘Happy International Women’s Day!’ And I responded with, ‘Woohoo, I’m sleeping in!’
Jeremy thought it was hilarious… but couldn’t remember our Twitter password. And I genuinely did go back to bed for so long we’d both forgotten about it by the time I woke up.
It’s hard to do both full-time (slow travel is good travel)
Yes, we travel full time and it is a massive privilege to be able to do so. But it is hard work travelling and travel blogging full time. Travel becomes work. You are constantly on the lookout for good photos, things to see and write about. Your brain never stops.
(I mean, it shouldn’t ever stop anyway, but you know what I mean!)
You are constantly on. New experiences stop being quite as novel, and feel more like work (What angle can I take on this? Is this worth it if we can’t blog about it? Do we have enough here for an article, or does it fit in with something else?)
But on top of that, you then need to go put those thoughts and feelings to paper. It’s draining to not only take in new experiences all the time, but to process them and share them and be vulnerable with others.
Plus, the more you travel, the more you have to write about. Eventually you’ll feel like you have too much content and never enough time to write it all down and catch up.
Add in the fact that our main niche is dark tourism. Yes, it’s a topic we are incredibly passionate about, but after your tenth hard hitting death site in 4 days, you not only feel emotionally and physically drained, but you start to feel uncomfortably detached.
Travel slow, take your time. Your brain and your blog will thank you later.
You are Wifi’s bitch; but sometimes an internet detox is a good thing
When you work online, you live online. And when you’re a newbie blogger, it’s important to be online promoting and tweeting (etc) all the time.
Blogging requires a steady internet connection. And when you’re new, you want to be out promoting and blogging as much as possible.
Not that we do any of that. But remember, do as I say, not as I do!
We have paid more for a good internet connection and then totally stressed out because it went down the day we were supposed to publish. You just can’t control the internet, so learn to take it all in stride.
(As a side note, literally every time it’s publishing day, something goes wrong for us. Right now there’s someone drilling and hammering next door, they’ve been at it for hours. WHY?!)
Nevertheless, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, just take a break. Don’t stress out if your next location has good internet – or internet at all. It’s incredibly freeing to be disconnected for a few days. It may even help get you feeling inspired again.
If you don’t get posts out as regularly as you’d like, don’t beat yourself up (quality over quantity)
Would we like to post more regularly? Say twice a week? Yes, yes we would. And we have more than enough material to do so. But shady internet connections, travel fatigue, doing all the things and just generally being overwhelmed dictate our schedule right now more than we do.
Currently, publishing every other week has been working for us (previously it was once a week). Have we taken some hits on views? Yeah. But we’ve been around long enough now, that we’re ranking for keywords on Google and pins on Pinterest. So it kind of evens out. We’d rather publish less often and get out good material than every day with shit articles.
If you need to step back, step back. Your blog is a business and you have to treat it as such. While this does mean publishing at least semi regularly, it also means publishing helpful, well written articles. If you can’t do that, don’t.
So long as what you’re doing when you’re not publishing is helpful to your blog (learning SEO, getting more material, editing photos, mastering Pinterest), then it doesn’t matter. If you’re laying on your ass all day, though, then get the fuck up and do something.
(That’s not to say we don’t all deserve a break from time to time. If you need a break from blogging for a week or two and you can afford to do that, do it. Only you know what’s best for you and your blog. Not gonna lie, we took a week off to recuperate and watch the entirety of the Marvel films and don’t regret a thing.)
Have business cards just in case
It doesn’t matter if it sucks, just get these done before you go travelling! It’s not even that we’ve used them that often (or nearly as often as we should/could), but they have come in handy more than once to casually hand to people we’ve met who were curious. More importantly, they made it much easier to register for Travel Massive, which we opted to go to last minute in London just before we left. We’ve heard that this applies to other travel expos and conferences, as well.
The one downside is we literally have hundreds, and they all have our IG on them… Whoops!
Want more posts about life on the road? Check out our posts about one month on the road, the struggles of travelling as a short person and our 2018 year end review.
Any other full-time travellers and bloggers out there? What have you learned from full time-travel and/or blogging? Any lessons we missed/have yet to face?
