My Travel Narrative Thus Far

My travels thus far have lead me to the Dead Sea, so I would say things are going pretty well.

Thus far, it’s been great!

I’m Alissa Murray, and this is my first blog post for In Locamotion. I am twenty-three years old at the time of this post. And for my first post ever, I want to talk about my deal, travel-wise. Where I have been, what some of my travel preferences are, and a little bit of what I want (or think I want) out of travel in the coming years.

Burgeoning globetrotter, of sorts

I have done a lot of traveling so far in my life. I am incredibly privileged to have been able to travel, and I could never have done this on my own.

So far I have been to four continents (North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia) and have visited a whole mess of countries throughout those four continents. Some of my more noteworthy adventures include: living in Spain, backpacking through (mostly western) Europe, and visiting Southern Africa (South Africa and Lesotho), the Middle East (Jordan, Bahrain, and UAE), and Central America (Guatemala). I have driven across the United States on two separate occasions, once from New York to Eastern Washington, and once from Birmingham, Alabama to Baltimore, Maryland.

Most of my trips have been on the shorter side, ranging from five days (a trip to Scotland) to six weeks (backpacking Europe, from Manchester to Madrid). The exception would be my time living in the beautiful city of Sevilla, in southern Spain, which I called my home for about five months, as part of an exchange program through my university.

I suppose that as of this moment onward, I can consider myself a travel blogger. But to be honest… travel bloggers are totally intimidating. The majority of the travel blogs that I read feature permanent nomads, people whose “About Me” pages start off with that typical narrative of “Quit my cube job, set out into the world, and who would have thought – I never came back!” I think that this is an amazing feat for the people who have managed to build their lives around travel and are happy doing so. But it’s simply not my reality (at least not at the moment!). My travels thus far have existed within the structure of a more traditional path: summer vacations between college semesters, study abroad, trips attached to work travel, travel in between jobs.

I have learned a lot about how I like to travel from the traveling that I have done thus far. Here’s what I got:

1. I prefer to travel alone.
2. I prefer to travel slowly.
3. I prefer to travel cheaply.

And many more. More details, below.

Solo (female) travel

Solo female travel in Guatemala: I went on an adventurous hike with new friends just outside of Panajachel. The guys are from Colombia and Argentina, and they definitely taught me many new (good and bad) words.

I absolutely love traveling by myself. I truly think it’s the best way to get to know yourself, come out of your shell, problem solve, meet people, and integrate into a culture. Over the years, I have had many different travel buddies. I have traveled with my family, in a large group, with friends, and with past partners. Each form of traveling has its ups and downs, but after much experimentation I can definitely say that my favorite way to travel is alone.

I love the freedom of solo travel. If I feel like going somewhere, I go there. If I feel like spending the whole afternoon sitting in a hammock and checking my Facebook, well… that’s totally fine. Because solo travel means that you only have to be responsible for your own happiness. Traveling by myself has allowed me to meet so many people who I wouldn’t have otherwise met. It has allowed me to take greater risks and focus 100% on fulfilling my goals.

Solo travel, for me, is also an integral part of language integration. When I spent three weeks in Guatemala in September 2015, I spoke very little English. Sometimes I went for days without having a conversation in English. Not because I wasn’t conversing, but because there was no need or temptation to speak English because I wasn’t surrounding myself with native English speakers. Instead, I had complete freedom of movement, sought out locals, and had uninterrupted time to practice my Spanish. There are, of course, many ways to practice language integration while still traveling with someone, but in my experience I have made the most strides with language while on my own. It pushes me to meet more people and ask more questions.

Slowing down

I truly believe that the best way to travel is to travel slowly. I definitely suffer from state-side wanderlust and trip planning leaves me wanting to see everything – it’s hard not to when the world is such a big and exciting place. But my best trips have been the ones in which I allowed myself to move slowly, not to try and fit everything in if it means that I get to see a cool site but am left with travel fatigue. I always travel with the mentality that I will return to a place eventually. Eventually I will go back to Guatemala to see Tikal. Eventually I will return to Jordan to visit the ruins of Jerash. Eventually, I will go back and do the thousand-and-one things that, during the course of traveling, are brought to my attention but I simply don’t have the time, energy, or budget for. It’s okay. I like to take my time.

The more that I travel, the less I try to do in my allotted time. In January 2015, I spent one week in Jordan, an incredibly short amount of time to see such a phenomenal country. (I was a big fan of Jordan, definitely recommend it, definitely intend to go back.) In that week, I planned to go to only two destinations: Amman and Petra. It just so happened that I went on an impromptu camping trip to the Dead Sea the first night with some friends that I made, so I ended up getting an unplanned, third destination. But the point is, there is always more that you can do and see, and I barely scratched the surface.

The amount that we don’t know and haven’t experienced of our own countries is astounding, so the though of going abroad and trying to see everything in some short amount of time is pretty crazy to me. Every person has a different energy level when it comes to travel. For me, I know that I prefer to do less. Those in between moments of down time can be equally rich as seeing a site or doing a tour. They can be an opportunity to talk with a local or sit in a cafe and people watch, journal, and reflect.

Slowing down in Coffee Bay, South Africa allowed time for some stunning coastal hikes, such as this one to Hole-In-The-Wall!

Travel on the cheap

When I was living in Sevilla, I made most of my friends through couchsurfing. And yes, that is chocolate on our faces.

I consider myself to be a fairly budget-conscious traveler… within reason. I don’t stay in hotels, and I rarely book private hostel rooms. I don’t eat all of my meals in restaurants, nor do I necessarily eat three meals a day. On the flip side, I don’t sleep in bus stations or camp or hitchhike. As a solo female traveler, I’m quite safety conscious, and recognize that sometimes I need to pay more for my safety than a male traveler may have to pay.

I’ve had really rich travel experiences while keeping a tight budget, and have found this to be possible by utilizing resources such as couchsurfing and cheap public transit. (Couchsurfing 101: Search a city for hosts, read some profiles and references of hosts in the area, send out a couch request to the host(s) of your choice, and if accepted sleep on said host’s couch.) I love couchsurfing because not only does it give you a (free!) place to sleep for the night, it basically drops friends into your life, locals and travelers alike. Staying with couchsurfers means you get to learn about a place from a local, hear their recommendations and perspectives, and make friends. More on couchsurfing here.

Side note: I have and will continue to use couchsurfing as a solo female traveler, both being hosted and hosting others, and I have never been in a situation in which I have felt unsafe. Couchsurfing has been good to me and has really enriched my travels, but I always thoroughly read reviews before I request to stay with someone or accept a surfer in my home.

Otherwise, I am a big fan of taking the cheap public transport when I travel. In many countries, I have found that there are forms of luxury travel (tourist shuttles and the like) but there is something humbling about traveling as the locals do, and its usually a fraction of the cost. In Guatemala, for example, the contrast between taking a tourist shuttle and taking the local buses (called ‘chicken buses’, and they’re super glam) was quite striking. I took a tourist shuttle between Antigua and Panajachel, which consisted of a minibus filled with other white tourists. All of my subsequent transportation occurred on chicken buses, in which you’re crammed onto an old, retrofitted American school bus with the other passengers, mostly Guatemalans. On the chicken buses I talked to a lot of my seat mates, saw presentations by street vendors hawking medicine and snacks in between stops, and watched wide-eyed as the boys who collect the money would hang out of the open door as we sped down the highway, as cumbia music blared from the speakers.

I find budget-friendly travel to be less comfortable but richer in experience. Sometimes it is accompanied by greater risk, and the more I travel the more I understand which risks are right for me to take.

So now what?

Good question. I’m trying to figure that one out as we speak.

I know that travel is an immensely important part of my life. I learn so much from traveling, and my travel experiences have been some of the richest parts of my life so far. I have many dream trips and language goals. I want to backpack throughout Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. I want to perfect (as much as is possible, anyway) my Spanish. I want to become conversational in Arabic and return to the Middle East. Eventually I would like to learn French. Some dream countries (in no particular order) are: Chile, Mexico, Morocco, Cambodia, Slovakia, Nicaragua, Malaysia, Lebanon, Brazil. I dream of taking long trips and traveling for a year or more. I’m immensely terrified to do so, but I dream of it and I’m working towards making that happen.

This is all just the tip of the iceberg. I plan to go into (much) more detail on these topics and more in future blog posts. And thus continues my locamotion.

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