Hit 50 countries on a shoestring and it felt hollow

Everyone talks about country count like it means something, but crossing #50 in Laos last March taught me different. I spent $28 a day for 3 months straight, eating street food and bunking in hostels, just to rack up numbers. Turns out visiting 5 places in one province taught me more than stamping passports in 50. Anyone else find that slowing down beat speeding up?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora53523d ago

I read something just last week from some travel blogger who said they spent a month in one small town in Vietnam and learned more than they did in two years of hopping around. That really stuck with me because I've been there myself. When I was younger and first started traveling, I was all about the numbers too, thinking that hitting more countries meant I was somehow more worldly or something. But after a while, all those airports and bus stations just start to blur together, and you can't even remember what was special about that one temple in Cambodia versus the one in Thailand. I think the hollow feeling comes from realizing you've been collecting stamps instead of collecting real experiences, you know? Slow travel forces you to actually sit with a place, get to know the local baker, learn how to say more than just hello and thank you. That's where the real richness comes from, not from some total on a map.

nora53522d ago

Yeah that Vietnam thing hits hard lol. Slowing down in one spot and just letting the place soak into you is where the real memories come from, not rushing through a checklist.