"A travel story"
First of all, anyone bored of these yet? Anyone still reading these? Maybe I should stop and go back to only posting when something exciting happens in our lives.
Today's post is interesting because... let's face it, we've got a LOT of travel stories. And sadly, the first and only that come to mind are incredibly awful stories (hilarious to us now of course), but awful at the time. They all include: impossible to control things, running things, smells (not good ones), sounds (not good ones either), sick beyond imagination, pestilence, famine, corrupt cops, unbelievable bad luck, and "funniest home video" material.
Really. I'm trying hard to think of a magical time while traveling that didn't include the things mentioned above. (Only because we spent most our travels backpacking on a shoestring. And I AM exaggerating to be funny).
OK. Foreign places that we've been to that do NOT have the above involved:
China
Jamaica
Haiti
Tanzania
Kenya
Alright, I'll do one good travel story and one bad one.
Good one:
Best trip we've ever taken (and I can't imagine topping) was our 11-day African safari to the Serengeti in Kenya and Tanzania. Best. Trip. Ever. It was definitely magical. It should be on ALL of your bucket lists. There is this crater at the top of this mountain (caved in volcano), and now it's this lush game reserve with thousands of wild animals (you can see pictures here). You come over the mountain and drop down into the valley and it's like Land Before Time, at the end when they get to the "valley." We saw so many cool things there. Lions (right after a kill), hundreds of elephants & zebras, cheetahs, hyenas, and even flamingos!
It was just amazing. Just go look at the pictures. They speak for themselves.
It was just amazing. Just go look at the pictures. They speak for themselves.
Bad one:
India. Period. Am I done? Ha.
To preface: India a very rough place to backpack in. Not really any middle-ground places to stay, eat, and tour. It's either luxury (over $200 a night) or misery (under $2.00 a night).
I'll keep it short. Those who traveled with us know all the full stories. We found a place for $2 dollars per person to stay the night. It was filthy. The mattresses, (well, they weren't even mattresses) were damp, moldy, and smelly. One small torn up sheet. Over 100 degrees. No fan, no A/C. Nothing. Can't leave the windows open because of mosquitoes.
Needless to say, Ben and I didn't sleep a wink. We had the worst mosquitoes and bed bugs I could even imagine. I'd put the sheet over myself and would DIE of heat, but any part of me that was open to the air was IMMEDIATELY attacked by mosquitoes. We finally turned the lights on at like 3am and went on a killing frenzy. The walls, our hands, and our sheets were covered in our own splattered blood from killing the mosquitoes. We killed at least 50. I've never seen so many. Our bodies, especially mine, were covered. I had 381 bites (and this is an under-estimate). Yep, we counted. Ben got a lot of bites too, but his thick hair is quite a defense mechanism.
Good times:)
(You can see our Southeast Asia posts here)
To preface: India a very rough place to backpack in. Not really any middle-ground places to stay, eat, and tour. It's either luxury (over $200 a night) or misery (under $2.00 a night).
I'll keep it short. Those who traveled with us know all the full stories. We found a place for $2 dollars per person to stay the night. It was filthy. The mattresses, (well, they weren't even mattresses) were damp, moldy, and smelly. One small torn up sheet. Over 100 degrees. No fan, no A/C. Nothing. Can't leave the windows open because of mosquitoes.
Needless to say, Ben and I didn't sleep a wink. We had the worst mosquitoes and bed bugs I could even imagine. I'd put the sheet over myself and would DIE of heat, but any part of me that was open to the air was IMMEDIATELY attacked by mosquitoes. We finally turned the lights on at like 3am and went on a killing frenzy. The walls, our hands, and our sheets were covered in our own splattered blood from killing the mosquitoes. We killed at least 50. I've never seen so many. Our bodies, especially mine, were covered. I had 381 bites (and this is an under-estimate). Yep, we counted. Ben got a lot of bites too, but his thick hair is quite a defense mechanism.
Good times:)
(You can see our Southeast Asia posts here)
1 comment:
I would LOVE to hear some more travel stories!! I love reading your posts and think it's a fun way to get to know more about you :)
Lisa Sunderland Robison
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