When we started planning our year-long extended honeymoon around the world, we didn’t really know what to expect.
We had a lot of hopes and dreams: we wanted to become wiser, healthier, better versions of ourselves. We wanted to become the sort of people who climb mountains regularly and do yoga at sunrise every day and read books instead of surf the internet and write deep, meaningful things about life, the universe, and everything in a leather-bound travel journal.
We wanted to be the kind of travel couple you see on Instagram, their blissful lives centered around nothing but looking attractive in different places each day.
Well, none of that happened. Except we did do yoga at sunrise exactly 1 time.
But we did gain a lot by traveling as a couple for a year, we definitely came up with lots of travel ideas. Frankly, most of what we gained was stuff we never asked for and are still trying to get rid of. Here’s a list of 25 things we never asked for from traveling together for a year!
Wish you could quit your job & travel?
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We traveled the world together for a year and all we got was …
1. At least 5 friends on Facebook that we don’t remember meeting
Like, I’m sure we hit it off that one night in a hostel somewhere but maybe one of us was drunk or possibly you kidnapped my phone and added yourself because I have no idea who you are or where we met. But I’m going to keep liking all of your photos from Bali and Malaysia anyway.
2. A bunch of obnoxious anecdotes that start with “when we were in …”
Cue some long-winded story that we spend 20 minutes retelling together (complete with adorably obnoxiously interrupting each other like “no, YOU tell this part!”) to some poor friend who has to nod politely and smile while secretly rolling their eyes as hard as they can.
3. The burning need to interject whenever we hear someone mention a place we’ve been to
All you have to do to is say “I was thinking of taking a trip to Colombia…” into the mirror 3 times and we’ll suddenly appear behind you with 15 blog posts and a 50-minute long monologue about how amazing it is/where to go/what to do/where to eat/which bus company to use/a recommended itinerary/a suggested budget/what to pack/where to stay/…
4. An enormous sense of entitlement
Whenever some poor victim asks us an innocent question like “so how long are you visiting for?” and then doesn’t seem appropriately impressed with our story of quitting our jobs, gallivanting off on a year-long honeymoon, and backpacking our way through Alpaca World ™, we’re like, “ugh, that waiter/barista/cashier didn’t even seem impressed by us. What a dick.”
Entitlement rating: too damn high.
5. An appreciation for ice water
Ice water feels so f**king luxurious now. Spending months having to purify every sip of water that we drank and carefully pushing aside dangerously wet lettuce leaves has given us a newfound appreciation for ice. They just GIVE it to you in the USA. Like, for free. Amazing!
6. -10 pieces of clothing
When we started this trip, we painstakingly packed every piece of clothing carefully with an intended purpose in mind like “this is my Hiking Shirt ™” “this is my Casual Dress ™” (and made a bunch of crucial mistakes, but still) but then we had to do laundry in sinks and move from hostel to hostel all the time and somewhere along the way all of my carefully chosen clothes were lost and replaced with random t-shirts, a giant scarf with an eagle on it, and 3 pairs of sunglasses I’ve never seen before in my life.
7. +10 lbs each (at least)
We had this idea that during the course of our ~travels~ we would both magically turn into the tanned, 6-packed, blonde travel couples frolicking up mountains and lounging on beaches together that are all you ever see on Instagram (like these 50 romantic AF Instagram #couplesgoals) or in the Google Results for “travel couples”.
We figured through an intense regimen of Really Difficult Hikes, using our feet as our main form of transportation, and carrying 40+ pounds on our backs every day, our bodies would shape up into tan, sculpted Travel Bods. Instead, we both developed addictions to beer and croissants and my only tan line is from my beloved Tevas.
8. A raging sugar addiction
You know when you’re on vacation and the waiter asks if you want dessert and you’re like “F*ck it Cheryl, I’m on VACATION, so let’s DO have some creme brulee cheesecake and a wine spritzer marg!!! #YOLO!”
We’ve been doing that every day for the past 12 months.
Like we have to actually stop ourselves from having breakfast dessert or replacing entire meals with cake. RIP, Travel Bod dreams.
9. The unreasonable expectation that every hotel, Airbnb, and hostel have a pet
After befriending countless dogs, cats, alpacas, and chickens in hostels, we get extremely disappointed whenever a hostel, hotel, or Airbnb doesn’t have a pet. It’s officially one of the determining factors we use to decide which hostel to book. “This place is $100 a night for a 10-person dorm, but there’s a German Shepard puppy! Let’s book it.”
10. A deep resentment for everyone else sleeping in our hostel dorms
We’re too cheap to spend more than $20 a night on a place to sleep, but we’re also too old & too petty to not throw shade at the asshole eating a bag of chips in bed at 11 pm or the douchebag who woke up at f***king dawn to loudly changed into his f***king yoga gear after insisting everyone turn the lights out at 7 pm because his circadian rhythm had been reset at a Vipassana retreat (YES YOU, American douche in our hostel in Arequipa, Peru: YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE).
11. 10 hours of sleep every night
I’ve always wanted to be a Morning Person ™. I look at travel pictures on Instagram and they’re all captioned “arrived at dawn to take pics before everyone else showed up #butfirstcoffee” and “woke up at 4 am purely out of excitement for the day ahead #travel” and I just figured, like, that’s what happens when you travel. Your circadian rhythm like, resets, and you just wake up magically at dawn ready for the exciting day of ~travel~ to begin.
Well, let me tell you: magically becoming a Morning Person™, much like Travel Bod, is a f**king lie. Since the literal day after I quit my job right up until this morning, I have been completely unable to wake on anything less than a princessy 10 straight hours of sleep. And it’s not just me – we’re BOTH Rip Van Winkles. What is wrong with us that we need 10 f**king hours of sleep every single night?!
No art museum or empty beach or Insta-worthy photo op has ever been able to drag our butts out of bed before 9 am. I have no idea how I’m going to explain this to future employers: “sorry I’m late again, it’s just that when I was traveling for a year my circadian rhythm reset, you understand.” Ugh, do you hate us kind of? I do.
- 2018 update: I don’t have to! I work for myself now, so I’m allowed to be late EVERY DAY. Dreams do come true!
12. The loss of all of our most expensive items
Bringing something that costs more than $100 on a long-term trip is basically like signing a contract that says “this item will serve as a sacrifice to the Travel Gods.”
From the expensive prescription sunglasses Jeremy lost on our first week in the blinding Caribbean sun, to the Kindle I left on an overnight bus in Peru, to the fancy technical hiking pants that got “lost in the laundry” the night before we left to hike to Machu Picchu (probably the root cause of our failure to hike the Inca Trail, tbh) nearly every single expensive item we brought has mysteriously vanished during our travels.
13. The ability to speak Spanish conversationally to taxi drivers
I’m really proud of this, actually. When we stepped out of the airport in Cartagena last July and got into our very first ever taxi in South America, we spent 45 minutes circling around Getsemani trying to helplessly point at buildings and communicate via hand gestures to our poor, sweet driver who had no clue where our hostel was and no idea what we were trying to tell him in our terrible, broken Spanish.
Flash forward months later as we ride to the airport in Santiago, I’m in the midst of a spirited political discussion about Trump’s win and the Chilean democratic system with my taxi driver (he assured me that Trump would have never won in Chile). These days, I prefer to sit up front in taxis just so that I can impress them with my conversational taxi Spanish.
14. Lots of feelings about backpacks vs. suitcases
We’ve tried both, and at various points during our travels, we’ve loved and hated each. On the one hand, backpacks are much easier to carry around and they limit the amount of stupid, useless sh*t you can burden yourself with – especially expensive sh*t that you will definitely lose. On the other hand, getting anything out of your bag requires a 20-minute long exercise in unpacking and re-packing (thank goodness for packing cubes).
When we don’t have our backpacks with us, we feel nostalgia for their ~character~ and yearn for the days when we could simply throw our things on our backs and go. When we do have our backpacks, we yearn for the days when we didn’t have to climb 3 flights of narrow, hot stairs carrying 40+ pounds of sh** on our backs or worry about getting stuck in short doorways.
15. A maxed-out tolerance for tourist attractions (sorry, museums & cathedrals).
When I was planning our year-long honeymoon, I created this massive travel document where I researched each place we were going during our trip (before that all went to sh*t and changed a zillion times) and listed out all of the cool, fun stuff to do there. There was a museum to visit in each place we went – sometimes more than one. We’ve always been the sort of travelers who enjoy perusing art museums to learn about local culture and history. So I figured, we’ll hit up a lot of art museums. Art museums are great.
Well, f**k that. We went to like 3 art museums before we were like “let’s just f***king Google the history and culture.” Or better yet, take a food tour and learn about the history and culture while stuffing our faces.
Museums are great when you’re not going to one every f***king week. Nowadays, if it’s not free, and it’s not rated 15/10 on Trip Advisor, it’s not happening. In a similar vein: statues, churches, and cathedrals that aren’t world-famous, Arc du Triomphes, and ruins that aren’t literally Machu Picchu.
- Ahem: a notable exception to the Museum rule is Brussels, Belgium, where we f**king BINGED on museums. Brussels has rad museums.
16. Snobby insider knowledge about various alcoholic drinks
Before this trip my opinions on wine could answer the question “red or white?” and that was it. Beer? Gross, no thank you. Pisco? Literally no idea what that is. Then we realized how much we love booze travel.
Turns out, we LOVE going to distilleries, breweries, and wineries. We LOVE doing guided tastings, food tours, food pairing tours, you name it. And through our newfound obsession with booze travel, we’ve gained a huge amount of snobby insider knowledge about booze.
Wine? Well, we’ve been wine tasting in 4 countries, so which terroir are you referring to? Beer? Let me tell you about the 9-step pouring rule for Belgian beers (or just read this entire Belgian Beer guide we wrote). Pisco? We’ve tasted it straight from the barrel AND learned how to make Pisco Sours from scratch.
It’s like all of our douchey travel stories have converged with all of our drinking habits, turning us into absolutely the most irritating drinking partners of all time.
17. Several pending insurance claims
I’m so grateful that we bought Traveler’s Insurance because it turns out that we’re incredibly accident and bad-luck prone. Sure, we managed to get rescued off of a waterfall and horribly lost in the Andes, but we also had more expensive accidents. Like the time someone handed us the keys to a BMW in France and within 20 minutes of this incredibly expensive car being placed in our care, the front headlight managed to somehow smash itself – and then somehow got stuck inside a medieval castle. Insurance claim #1.
Although our insurance claims aren’t all due to our own bad luck. At one point we had to cut a portion of our trip short to take care of my ailing 93-year old grandfather, who is fine now and also, it turns out, possibly immortal (but that’s another story, which you can read about here).
- 2018 Update: Literally a month after writing this post, on our VERY LAST adventure, I got a massive ear infection. We were in Costa Rica and our flight home was in 2 days and I was like “hey, you know what doesn’t sound like a terrible idea? White water rafting!” …. Spoilers: it was terrifying, and it also gave me the world’s most painful ear infection. I had to get a painful shot in my butt and push our flight back. Insurance Claim #3. Seriously guys, DO NOT skip out on Traveler’s Insurance! We got THOUSANDS of dollars back from our various disasters thanks to World Nomads.
Not sure if travel insurance is worth it? We’ve got a detailed guide to travel insurance that will help you decide.
18. Whatever the opposite of “a routine” is.
It’s been so long since we had anything resembling a routine that I’m worried about our ability to re-integrate into society in the future. There’s the “unable to wake up before 9 am” thing. There’s also the “we made plans, but then we didn’t feel like doing them so instead we bought plane tickets to a different country” habit that we seem to have developed.
And then there’s this Boy-Scouts-esque thing where we feel like we have to prepare for every possible situation each day “just in case” we feel like changing plans midway through the day and end up needing a jacket/snacks/computers/cameras/nail file/lip balm/our passports/cell phone chargers/raincoat/etc/etc.
Every day, each of us carries a fully packed day bag, as if we’re going on a hike to somewhere that has WiFi and outlets. One day we’re going to find ourselves standing in a grocery store or a bank or some other totally ordinary place with giant packs on our backs like “why the f**k did we bring all this sh*t?”
19. Sooooo many pictures. Too many pictures.
We haven’t even had a chance to look through our wedding photos yet (ugh I feel so bad but they all got sent to us after we left and we just haven’t had time but ugh they were so expensive) and by now we’ve easily amassed another 20k+ pictures of sh*t like random cute dogs on the street and every plate of food we’ve eaten for the past 12 months.
I have no idea if any of this stuff is even remotely usable, but we have to document everything Just In Case one day I get desperate and write a blog post like “all the dogs we took pictures of in South America” or “every plate of food we ate for the past 12 months.”
20. A weirdly high tolerance for time spent in transit
After a zillion miserable 18-hour overnight bus rides on cliffside unpaved roads while watching poorly dubbed Fast and the Furious 18: A Series of Fast & Furious Events and trying desperately not to hurl, anything shorter seems like a walk in the park.
Spending 8 hours cramped and thirsty on a budget airplane? Pssh! Ain’t no thing. Bring it on, Ryanair. 6-hour drive to go see some random roadside attraction I found on Atlas Obscura? Reasonable day trip. Our transit time tolerance is insane.
21. A weirdly low tolerance for when laundry needs to be done
Back at home it was pretty common for us to re-wear the same pair of jeans for a couple of weeks straight. Now? It’s everything. Laundry day isn’t even the day we run out of underwear anymore. It’s several weeks past that.
You may call it gross, but we call it economical – laundry costs money when you’re traveling! Precious money, that could be otherwise spent on things like croissants and beer. But don’t worry, showers are free.
22. Strong opinions about carbonated water
While backpacking South America, without realizing it, we suddenly found ourselves completely addicted to agua con gas. Gas water, as we lovingly call it, costs the same amount as buying regular bottled water – which you have to do anyway if you don’t feel like spending almost 2 minutes purifying your water with a Steri-Pen, which I’m not ashamed to admit we were sometimes too lazy to do – and so we found ourselves craving the bubbly, room-temperature bliss of a grocery store aisle gas water.
And what’s more, we became brand snobs. We’re like those douchebags who refuse to drink anything but Evian and Perrier, only our brand of choice is only sold in Ecuador: nothing comes close to Guitig, which is snow-melt filtered through the Andes and naturally carbonated in mineral caves deep under the earth and then hand-bottled by tiny herds of magical alpacas. We long for the sweet, bubbly bliss of Guitig as much as we yearn for the marshmallowy finish of a perfectly poured Westvleteren (see: #16).
23. 5+ years of marriage
Through various incredibly scientific calculations, we’ve deduced that the amount of time we’ve spent together as newlyweds (all day, every day, for the past 12 months straight) versus most normal people who have other things to do (jobs, friends, errands to run on their own, lives, etc) has given us the equivalent of roughly 5 years of marriage in an 11-month span.
I can actually count on one hand the number of occasions when we’ve been not-together for more than 10 minutes in the last 12 months. And it shows. When we started this trip, we were that sickeningly cute couple that does sh*t like play-fight over when to hang up or who gets to eat the last bite.
Now we’re like that sad mid-40’s couple who has run out of things to say and is so exhausted by raising children and paying bills that conversation is actually too much of a hassle to even bother. All of our conversations start out like “How was your day? … never mind, I was there.”
We stopped actually talking months ago, finding that vague hand gestures and eye contact are just as effective.
- Side Note for concerned family & friends: obviously, this is a humorous exaggeration. We do occasionally get crankier with one another than we used to and we are greatly looking forward to not spending every waking minute up each other’s butts, but don’t worry, you won’t be getting your wedding gifts back anytime soon.
24. A burning need to “nest” somewhere, anywhere, everywhere
Picking up our stuff and moving every few days to go explore a new place is as exhausting as it is exciting. And so while we’re not lamenting the massive quantity of wonderful places we’ve had the privilege to explore, we’re also physically craving a home base with every travel-spent fiber of our beings.
We’re at the point where we casually browse Craigslist apartment listings like we used to shop online for our next travel destination. We read blogs mocking overpriced McMansions and secretly wish we could have one even though they’re awful.
We hate-watch HGTV and quietly rage every time Tammy or Linda or Bryce says something like “this basin sink is just a real deal breaker for us” or “we really need a big backyard for Jayden and Brayden to play in, and this 1,000sq foot plebian dog patch just isn’t cutting it” or “we’re really looking for a home with character.”
If there’s so much as a solitary shelf in our hostel room, we carefully arrange our packing cubes on it and then snap at each other when we inevitably leave our s**t strewn everywhere like “that shirt needs to be put back on the shelf where it belongs.” We’re THIRSTY for somewhere to live.
25. The realization that we’re actually basic as f**k
We traveled around the world for nearly a year, living out of backpacks, hitchhiking through the Andes, catching rides on chicken trucks to cross borders, road tripping through French wine country, living the f***king dream life … and we realized that what we really want now is a house, a couch, Netflix, and maybe like, a dog. Long, boring walks at twilight. A daily gym habit. A regular coffee shop where they know our order. Wine glasses. Pieces of reclaimed wood with decoupaged maps and inspirational quotes plastered all over our walls.
You know what? It turns out we’re really f**king basic after all. And after this crazy, amazing, exhausting adventure is over, we can’t wait to settle down, pop out a bunch of kids, go on weekend trips and family vacations, and then – once the kids are gone and we’ve had a good long rest – pack up our old, worn-out backpacks and do it all over again.
- 2018 Update: We now have a very nesty house (WITH A BACKYARD) but instead of going back to work like a regular person, I made travel into my full time job. Read more here!
Hey, do you need something to distract you and suck you into a (mildly) entertaining reading hole? We’ve got just the thing! Grab a cup of coffee and get ready to blow off whatever you’re supposed to be doing for the next several hours.
- 30 Things Nobody Tells You About Quitting Your Job to Go Travel
- Our Year-Long Honeymoon: What Happened & How Much It Cost
- 25 Things Nobody Tells You About Traveling While Fat
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christine says
This is one of the BEST entries on long-term travel out there! I can’t even express how much I appreciate the honest (and FUNNY) truth about what you both have realized about traveling. It’s a reminder that traveling is not about the “perfect” lifestyle that social media portrays. I have saved this in my “read later” bookmarks!!
Lia Garcia says
You’re so kind! Thank you, Christine 🙂 We’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Sondra says
Great read! I traveled only for a month, but I chuckled knowingly down the page. By the time we got to our final country, I was wanting to nest hard. I couldn’t wait to get back to my own bathroom. Or wash my clothes in not-a-sink. But none of that stops me from dreaming of traveling again.
Practical Wanderlust says
We know exactly how that goes, but just like you said, the wanderlust never stops!
Riana Ang-Canning says
This was amazing! I know I’m about two years late to the game on reading this but I just found you two on Twitter (thanks for the follow!), read this post and laughed my way through the entire thing. I’m talking full on grinning and chuckling like a psycho as I scrolled. I love the honesty and the humour! You’re inspiring me to start planning a yearlong honeymoon and I can’t wait to read about more of your adventures!
Lia Garcia says
That makes our day, Riana! Thank you for your kind words!
Heather says
OMG my husband and I are a little over four months in to our around the world trip (also newlyweds from SF!) and found this so hilarious/relatable. It also made me feel better to not be the only one who thought I would become some sort of profound yogi/artist/all around better person on this trip only to find that it doesn’t quite work that way. Thank you for sharing!
Lia Garcia says
Yesss you totally get us, Heather! That sounds like an AMAZING trip, hope you’re having a blast (despite not becoming eat/pray/love levels of enlightened).
Helena says
Just need to put it out there that I would read a post about the dogs you took photos of in South America. You know. Just saying. For the future.
Lia Garcia says
I’ve been thinking about it and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna do it, actually. It’s time!
PS: There are also cats, llamas, pigs, and a cheeky rooster too 😉 stay tuned!
Clazz - An Orcadian Abroad says
Haha I love all your anecdotes and analogies!! I can relate to soooo much of this from our 18 month trip (not newlyweds but we did actually get engaged on the trip!). Although I actually lost weight from all the walking I did, especially in Asia! And I 100% relate to the pictures!!! Oh my God. Sometimes I go through them and think “maybe I should make a post about crazy things I saw on bikes in Vietnam” or “stupid signs I’ve seen around the world” etc (both of these may actually come to fruition lol). And I totally agree about settling down – she says while moving to Canada, 18 months after coming home – we were surprisingly ready to come back and get a hoooouse and we want a dogggg. Long-term travel has so many crazy and amazing quirks but it is nice to actually have stability and a routine sometimes. Anyway, wonderful post! 🙂
Mayuri says
I have read this post 4 times in the past one month. And it’s so wonderfully written. I have been debating going the nomad route and with all that you have mentioned, I don’t think I’m ready yet
And I like how you can still travel a lot when a steady job. My current job allows me to take ample time off and I’m happy that I’m able to enjoy best of the both worlds!
Thanks for writing this!
Lia Garcia says
Thanks for reading it so many times, that’s so cool! Personally I’m glad I did the nomad thing for a while… even just enough to allow me to appreciate the non-nomadic life and stop feeling that “all I want to do is ~~~TRAVELLL~~~~~~” itch. It opened a lot of doors for me and changed my life … but I probably won’t do it again for a good long time 🙂
leanne says
I can definitely identify with lots of these! Especially the ‘friends’ on facebook. I have no idea who they are!! One reached out to me recently for advice because shes moving to my city. I felt like i ought to offer to meet her but equally i couldnt for the life of me remember who she was so I probably wouldnt recognise her anyway. And that would be super awkward. “so ermmmm, where did we meet again?!!’
Maartje says
Oh my gosh I laughed my ass off, SO RELATABLE! Thanks so much for sharing. We might steal this brilliant article format one day!
Lia Garcia says
Happy to make you laugh! If you do steal it, we’d love some credit as your inspiration 😉
Kyntra Strickland says
My husband and I are planning on traveling for a year after student loans are paid off. Loved this list so much! Thanks for sharing.
Lia Garcia says
Oooooh exciting! And practical. We accidentally defaulted on some student loans during our trip thanks to a mixup with our mail (because getting mail in a timely manner while you’re traveling for a year is NOT easy), sooooo don’t be us.
Monica says
I can relate to #2 and #3 so badly hahaha! I live in Korea now but I lived in Japan for three years and whenever anyone mentions Korea or Japan I want to stand up and say, “That’s where I live(d)!” I actually did that a few weeks ago when I was visiting my hometown in the U.S. I had to sleep in a hotel for a night due to a long layover, and in the hotel lobby we were waiting for our shuttle to the airport to arrive and three men were talking close by about visiting Korea and I said, “I live in South Korea!” and they completely ignored me. Looked at me like I was an idiot. And I just grumbled about it because I thought, “What jerks! I’m the expert! I’m married to a Korean citizen and I’m fluent in Korean! Don’t they know I’m a wealth of information and experience? Why would they dare talk about Korea without consulting me first?” hahahaha thankfully that was the only time I was ever ignored – most people who sat next to me on the plane and learned that I live in Korea wanted to ask me about it and I had a lot of really cool conversations with people who traveled to Asia or who wanted to. You just have to sort through the snobs to find the real travelers I guess haha!
Mary-Lee says
Wow. You are hilarious.
I’m torn, after reading your story, between wanting to do the same as you, or wanting to go back home and never go out again, but surely, seeing you guys all day (yes, I’m the French Canadian girl you babysitted all afternoon) was really inspiring. I don’t think I realized- even though you told me! – before reading this post, that you just spent the last 12 months together, 24/24h in hostels, transportations, and your backpacks. It JUST kicked in. RESPECT.
(And now I feel stupid suggesting you where to buy “souvenirs”… As if you were going to buy souvenirs at every single place you visit..)
Anyway, thanks for sharing your stories, it’s really funny (and reassuring… I tend to expect so much from myself when I travel. It’s good to hear other travelers stories)
Take care, and long live to you two! You are great. X
– Mary-Lee
Lia says
Haha you’re so sweet! It was awesome hanging out with you 🙂 We actually really appreciated your suggestion because we never buy souvenirs and we realized that we had pretty much nothing to show for our year abroad other than a lot of blog posts and a few photos 😛 so we’re looking to stock up while we can! I hope you had a safe trip home (and I hope you didn’t get sick! Did you? I got really sick when we got back to the hotel and I think it was because of the water in the cenote)!
OneBlondeBrit says
Ahaha I can’t cope with this, it’s just too relatable. Apart from possibly the laundry one – but that could be because I’ve been back in the normal world for too long ;). So funny though, you’ve inspired me to release a post I wrote about the kind of people you meet traveling but my boyfriend said the internet would hate me if I did. You gotta do what you gotta do! Seriously though, love the honesty of this, and I totally get how it feels to be constantly in each others company, which I loved…but also cherished the alone time I had when washing my hair (literally the longest we were ever apart haha)! Thanks for sharing!
Lia says
I’m glad you could relate! Please don’t judge us for our laundry habits. I’m sure when we’re back to reality that will change…hopefully! I’d love to read your post, I’ve considered writing a post like that myself 😛
Chloe says
I love your style of writing, so funny! I’d have to agree with the taking too many photos thing.
Lia says
You’re so sweet, thank you!
Emily says
I found myself alternating aggressive head-nods with outright giggles at this post – you’re an excellent writer my dear! And I’ll definitely be back for more 🙂
Lia says
Omg that’s so sweet of you to say! Especially because we LOVE your blog. We used your South America posts to plan like 75% of our trip! And while we were down there we met some people on the Quilotoa Loop who’d done the same, so basically y’all are famous. You’re total #bloggoals for us!
thelifeofasolivagant says
First of all, love this. Read through it all and want to read it out loud to my boyfriend later. I appreciate your honesty and realness! This was so good. I can totally understand the need for ‘nesting’ after a year of traveling. I live abroad and appreciate the mix of travel and staying put, cause I think I would be spent after a whole year.
Lia says
Living abroad strikes the perfect balance between constant travel and nesting, I think!
anupriyabasu123 says
This one’s a brilliant post! I normally don’t have the patience to read through a long post, but this one had me glued! And, the things you wrote are so true unlike all those travel blogs where you are happy to be moving all the time. I love traveling, but I look forward to my couch and Netflix after every trip! Thumbs up for true thoughts!
Lia says
I’m honored that we held your attention for the length of the post 😛 Thanks so much!
Jen Ambrose says
Ooh, even after just 2 months of full-time travel, many of these are ringing true! I’m definitely still holding out for my Travel Bod and becoming a Morning Person. 😉
Campfires&Concierges (@leighlwilson) says
Hilarious and disappointing…I’m taking a career break later this year – I was quite sure I’d become a morning person (and maybe thin, too) after 41 years of snooze button abuse. I’ll let you know how that works out, haha!
Lia says
I don’t want to burst your bubble, so I support you and wish you the best! But also just so you know I’m going to be even more pissed if you become thin/a morning person on your travels and we’re just the only assholes who fell off the wagon entirely.
Shauna says
Hillarious! Relate to many of these points, reminds me of the laundry showers I took in Santa Marta!
Lia says
I learned the ol’ Laundry Shower (and the ol’ “rolling up your clothes in towels and stomping the shit out of them”) tricks from my mom years ago on my first trip overseas. It’s stuck with me ever since, except I’m too lazy for even that amount of effort so I just carry around bags of dirty clothes from hostel to hostel until I find someone else willing to do my laundry for me.
Laura says
This is hilarious I love it! I’ve only just started travelling with my boyfriend and so far so good! We’re talking about getting a van and driving around Europe for a year… so let’s see how that goes!
Lia says
That sounds fun, Laura! I wish you the best of luck!
Ressa says
I could not stop laughing when I was reading! This was such a great post, and it brings so much joy to hear that you two have been through so much as newlyweds! What a great journey! Thanks for sharing!
Lia says
Thank you Ressa! It’s been a pretty awesome first year of marriage. Probably the rest of it will be really boring in comparison, which sounds lovely 😛
fouronaworldtrip says
I LOVE your post! It’s really a great piece 🙂 But don’t be too sure of getting that rest.. we are planning a trip like that; WITH our kids 🙂 Take care
Lia says
Wow, that’s a whole other level of ridiculousness! I admire you – we’ll see how we feel in a few year when we have itchy feet and a few toddlers running around …
Probe around the Globe says
This is hilarious and all but too familair although I never travelled that long. Excellent list and I can’t wait for the one that says: screw it: we’re moving to London or something similair.
thewaywardwalrus says
This is so spot on it’s fantastic! Although the longest time I’ve been able to travel so far has been 3 months in Europe, I related to sooo many things on here (i.e. weight gain, need for sleep) especially the new Facebook friends I have zero recollection of actually meeting. It got so bad that even one started messaging me to meet up and I was just like uhhh… hey youuuuu about that
Lia says
I feel so bad, especially because like what if they think of us as lifelong travel-buds and then they see I de-friended them and they’re like OMG how could she we were totally planning to visit each other in 10 years for a reunion of that one really fun night we all got drunk together? But also like who are you and how did we meet lol
Karin @ GirlAstray says
Hahahaaa, this is hilarious! Hmmm, we’ve been on the road for seven-ish months and what i have is: basic Turkish vocab, a broken backbone, longing for other clothes (i’m a fucking materialist after all), incredibly hairy legs (well…), addiction to Baklava, dislike for every spot with an entrance fee…also lost any interest in washing dishes or cleaning. (Like, we´ve been in this rent for two weeks but we don´t even have a mop – and it is obvious by the white floors, but meh). Loved this article, I want to pin it like 50 times.
Lia says
Girl, you could write your own post. “I went travelling for 7 months and all I got was LITERALLY A BROKEN F**KING BACK.” You win, but I’m not sure that’s a competition you really wanted to win D:
Wanderlustingk (@wanderlustingk) says
This made me laugh SO hard. I also thought I’d lose weight moving to Europe …but I’m maybe 5lbs down, but way too content eating chocolate every day. I’m actually considering applying to House Hunters, but it’s probably a terrible idea. Anyways, even after you settle down, you two will be awesome and I hope that I see you along the way anywhere else 😉
Lia says
Haha I think Europe is probably where we gained most of our weight! We were walking everywhere but also … Belgian Chocolate, Belgian beer, French everything … oh man. So good!
Amanda Lee says
I’m quite literally obsessed with this! I want my husband and I to be best friends with you and yours. This was such a perfect post, so funny and gave me a real sense of what your adventure was.
Me and my husband have been to a couple of different countries, most recently eloped in Thailand so that was definitely a trip that was amazing. But we need to travel way more, thank you for this!
Lia says
Let’s be besties, Amanada! 😀 You’re so sweet!
Megan Indoe says
Haha, what a cute idea for a post! I love it! There’s so much that we can relate to!
Lia says
Thanks Megan 🙂
Tanmaya Godbole says
Lolol this post was hilarious!! I loved the concept and the honesty behind it! I guess I won’t book a year of travel with my new(ish) husband, coz I do like our basic life with regular travel interruptions
Lia says
We are so excited for the return of basic life. It’s really underrated.
Aarti Kamath says
Hahah… Very well said!….And especially point No. 8 is so true !! :D… Replacing actual meal with a cake 😉 :)…
Lia says
We do it way more than I care to admit. It’s a problem.
Julianne says
I don’t even know where to START because I love this post so much. So I’ll just say: bloody brilliant. 🙂
Lia says
You’re so sweet 🙂 and I see that you’ve done something else we’ve picked up on our trips: using foreign slang.
Meg | MeanderWithMeg says
This is too perfect, Lia! I’ve been right with you on the several death stares I must have shot at the annoying hostel roommates over the years and have also puzzled over many a missing item from my backpack. I’ve been travelling and working abroad on/off for five years so I am definitely concerned at how I will transition into a ‘normal’ life once more. But your last point reassures me that you’ll get there. As long as there are pets, clearly!
Lia says
Yeah, that’s really what matters. When we’re normal, basic people with regular lives again, we can have our OWN pets!
Kassie- The Fly Away Life says
This is so TRUE! I honestly relate to so many of these points. At least once a month some rando shows up on my Facebook timeline and I turn to by fiance and ask him if he remembers them and we both shrug. We came home to nest as well. Not sure we’ll wait until retirment to do it again but having a home and a couch waiting after every trip is wonderful!
ps- Would actually love to see a blog post featuring all the photos of adorable dogs you took in South America! Who doesn’t love cute dogs?
Lia says
Like, I was secretly hoping that someone would actually say that just so we’d have a reason to do it. So thank you for giving me the validation that I needed!
Kayla says
We hate-watch HGTV too much lol. Excuse me, their budget is HOW much? Are you kidding me?
Lia says
RIGHT?! And they’re always like, professional dog-walkers and shoe-shiners with 1mil budgets. Like HOW?!
Telma says
Lia,
This is so funny! We have been travelling for nearly 1.5 years, and decided to come home for two months to see friends, family and to sort some things out.
As much as we are looking forward to go back where we left, instead of going to Sri Lanka from India, we flew back home, I am not going to lie that being back at home is bloody great!!!
OMG, drinking tap water, not worrying about finding accommodation every couple of days, no more 16 hours train journeys, no more noisy roommates, being able to cook and eat whatever we want, WHEN we want it, watching tv…and the list goes on.
I completely understand why many travellers after a year or so of travelling cannot wait to go back to their old life. We are giving it another year or so. Let’s see what happens next 🙂
Telma