Thanks to S.D. Gates whose blog shares the most amazing true ghost stories I have ever read, I have been asked to highlight 10 things I love and hate. Oh I could go on about how I truly hate how my bangs curl up and how I love the sound of rain on the roof but oh no… that would mean following the rules (why did I think law was a good choice for me, ever?)… so, I am going to focus on my true love (sorry to Chris and my family) which is, of course, travel.
10 Things I Love About Travelling 🙂
1. I love that feeling when you have just landed and step out of the airport, ready to face a new country, never knowing exactly what awaits you.
2. I love the “ordinary” within each country – the laundry, the stores, the houses, the animals, the markets, the squares, the food. Oh how I love the food!
3. I love when my choice in restaurant/ hotel is friendly, clean and cheap.
4. I love when the negotiating is done (I am rotten at it) and I walk away with something I love.
5. I love meeting new people who brighten up my life.
6. I love when I see something and it is way more amazing than I ever could have anticipated. (Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Sahara Desert, wildlife in Africa, souks in Morocco…)
7. I love waking up very early and wandering around when there are no tourists and only locals, getting ready for the day.
8. I love trying to speak a new language and someone actually understands (or pretends they do).
9. I love people watching. If this was an Olympic event, I would have medalled many times.
10. I love reading about a place and knowing that what I am reading is just outside my door.
10 Things I Hate About Travelling 😦
1. Leaving to come home
2. Seeing that cockroach scurry behind the hotel furniture, knowing that there are a million more in hiding
3. Wondering if the person “helping” me is really “helping” me or has other intentions (I usually try to stay on the positive with this one until proven wrong a few times in a place)
4. Getting that crampy feeling in my stomach and knowing that the “western style” toilet doesn’t work (as a result, I am a fan of squat toilets that do work!)
5. Choosing the wrong thing on the menu
6. Mosquitos (having had malaria and dengue fever, these are not a girl’s best friend)
7. Sitting at the back of the bus, suffocating for fresh air and nauseated from its turns.
8. Not being able to drink the tap water and wash with my mouth open (try showering and never getting water in your mouth….not easy… or am I just challenged in this area?)
9. Trying to learn the money and how much it is worth in my currency (after years of this, I still suck at it)
10. Packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking…
As I was always the one who broke the chain letter when I was a kid, I am afraid I still do as an adult. So if you would like to write about what you love and hate, just say that I nominated you 🙂 and go for it!
What do you love/hate the most about travelling?
four camels and a coffee to go 
Grocery stores are definitely one of my favorite parts of travel – I still pine after some of the food I could get in my local grocery store in Japan. I have yet to find fruit like that (and don’t even get me started on the local fish market and their sushi…).
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It is funny because I am the same. Love grocery shopping and looking in food markets overseas but not the cooking so much!
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I love cooking – but I’ve never had what I would consider a decent place to do so while overseas!
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That will be my excuse Ha Ha. I actually did cook in Korea… even made homemade tortillas and got cheese from the black market but it was a no bug kind of kitchen. Once those bugs are there, I am turned off of cooking!
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I did it while in Japan – but my “kitchen” consisted of two burners, a mini fridge and a rice cooker. Things did not always go well there.
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Sounds just like my kitchen in Korea.
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Great list! When I first started reading, I couldn’t imagine anything I hate about travelling! Then I realised, that yes there are little things but the loves outweigh the hates by millions 🙂
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Absolutely true!
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I love all your *loves* about travelling. Thankfully I’ve only experienced a couple of your *hates* but #5 has certainly delivered a few surprises over the years.
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Yes, the “hit” and “miss” of ordering off a menu you don’t know. I just hate it when others order “better” than I do and I am wishing I could do it all over again.
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I really like to get out and enjoy that early morning feel of a new place, too. And people watching is one of my favorite things to do! People can be so fascinating !
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I so agree. Those early mornings are the best time…just life happening and me watching. People are the best, aren’t they? Find them more fascinating than sculptures or other “sites” I should see.
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The thing that I love the most about traveling is feeling like an ‘other’ in a different part of the world. Trying and failing at local customs and receiving the undeserved support of the locals.
The thing I hate the most (is the same thing I hate about being anywhere) is navigation. I suck at it. Alex does all my navigating for me.
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Oh I had forgot about navigation. I can’t find my way out of a store barely and then always… go back the same direction I came from.
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I’m so terrible with directions that I didn’t leave my apartment except to walk down to the grocery story at the end of the block for the whole two weeks that Alex was in Tokyo, when we first moved to Kyoto.
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I completely understand that.
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Great post!!!!!! I have contended with my fair share of “squat toilets” – had to do it once when I was 8 months pregnant – never thought I would be the same after that. Wow – you have had some horrible illnesses. I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever – got that in Maryland, Parvovirus from a waterpark – didn’t know how that happened (I thought only dogs got Parvovirus). But Dengue and Malaria sound so much more mysterious and exotic. I used to love travelling – can’t wait to do it again – when I have more time and the majority of my salary isn’t going to groceries.
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Yes, groceries are putting a real dent into your travel budget! Parvovirus… our dog had it and it was the worst smelling horrible thing ever…. thought she wouldn’t make it through the night. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever??? I have never even heard of it. And no I have never done squat toilets pregnant and can’t imagine what that is like. Getting up again… oh boy!
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That was the problem, was getting up, center of gravity was not it’s best at that point with the elephant sized protuberance.
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Hilarious!
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Loved this post, hated hearing (or reading) about dengue and malaria. How awful!
When you love to travel, you have to live with the downsides as well. Glad you’re ok after the unfortunate events!
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Oh yes, it proves to be a very effective weight loss scheme as well as a “lose your hair” scheme. Depending on what you are looking for 🙂
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I love the way you’re able to joke about it! 🙂 Luckily there are so many more positives on travelling than negatives!
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Thanks. It is funny only once it is long done. Not during at all…
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Lovely post!! 🙂 I can’t believe you’ve had both dengue and malaria?! How was it, were you very ill? And does that mean you’re now immune? I’m always over-careful about health etc, but when we went to Iguazu Falls in north Argentina (jungle) we didn’t take any precautions (coz we only went for 2 days) and I was pretty freaked out. We got bitten a lot. They had those 2 mosquitos plus yellow fever ones but I seemed to have survived alright! Anyway, I’m like you on your #2 loves: when abroad, I LOVE local supermarkets/grocery stores. Just looking at all the everyday foods & stuff, the different packaging, brands, spices etc… you really get a feel of what is popular and how the locals do it.
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That is actually one of the things I do first… hang in grocery stores and little shops to see what snack food they have etc. I love their packaging and their labels! I got bit in Cambodia during the day (dengue) and at night (malaria). I was on meds and had a net as well but my area of Cambodia had some pretty strong little buggers that I guess, got me good. I have no immunity either. So I still am pretty careful when I travel. I wouldn’t recommend either malaria or dengue fever… was very sick… and the repercussions of both lasted for a long time. All my hair fell out!!
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Oh wow! What about your family, were you the only one who got sick? Hope you’re completely recovered now. And to think that it didn’t stop you from still keeping on traveling and enjoying it! Good for you!
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It was before the family. And no, that didn’t stop me. I begged to stay and keep on working in Cambodia when they thought I should go home and heal. I didn’t want to and it turned out fine.
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What kind of work were you doing? I guess I’ve been lucky, I’ve never really been that sick abroad.
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I was working with the United Nations setting up our district in Cambodia for its first democratic election after the Khmer Rouge (Killing Fields) years.
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Oh, that explains a lot! 🙂 If you wrote a book about your life, I’d be so excited to read it! (I’m planning on reading all your blog posts too, little by little)
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Ahhh what a sweet comment. You make me smile 🙂
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Sorry darling I didn’t get to your love/hate list before adding you to mine. I agree about food. Great good in expected places and the “oh no”stomach thing.
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No worries 😉 Yes, the stomach thing sucks but it does at home as well. Just more likely for me to happen when I am travelling. I have to go now and check out your list.
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I love setting out – the sense of adventure! I hate the unpacking and laundry coming home. Sorry I can’t do lists or follow requests so thought I’d share as per your final thoughts on here!
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Coming home is such a drag.. the excitement wears off so quickly and then you are left with chores to do and errands to run!
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Number 8 hate is just too perfectly said… I am another one who is challenged at this apparently! And of course number 9 is a huge struggle especially when you go to multiple countries in a short period of time. Cheers!
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Good to know that I am not the only one who can’t keep her mouth shut and out of water!!! And the money… I am useless and I would be terrible with multiple countries in a short time. I need a travelling partner for this reason alone.
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Squat toilets rock. Funny and universally appealing loves and hates. Cheers —
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Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Funny to know I am not alone in the squat toilet world 🙂
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First time here, tell you I am also a lover-hater traveller. I love the smell and strange feeling of a new country/place. I love meeting new people. I hate packing, crowded bus/railway stations, airports, organising trips, food I can’t eat etc, etc. But I hate the most is coming back home and unpacking myself 🙂
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I so agree that the smells and feeling of a new place are just amazing 🙂 I hate coming home too! Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Happy travels to you too.
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hahaha hate number 4. Beeeeeen theeeere!!!!! I actually prefer “squat toilets” in most instances for hygiene, but sometimes you need that western loo! I may make a list of my own now…
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Do that and I will check your’s out too!
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The squat toilets are healthier 😛
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I so agree 🙂
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Reblogged this on Plucking Of My Heartstrings.
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Thanks Cheryl!
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You are welcome Cheryl!
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Now I really wish to be 5th camel!!!
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It is not comfortable at all though! In fact, riding one really hurts the butt!
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Hehe…I would enjoy that other four with me also hurt..!! haha..though it is a hard journey which U R travelling but I would love to travel it!!!
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Ohh just lovee that!!!!!!!!
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Thanks!
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