Stating the obvious is needed sometimes.
Before you get caught up in the glamour of visiting different foreign cities every month, think hard about your enjoyment of travel itself.
And not just your ability to enjoy, but to endure.
Don’t fool yourself. Long term travel is one part excitement, one part enjoyment, and a whole lot of endurance.
Let me show you.
A (Very Long) Day In The Life Of Travel
There are many ways to speak about endurance when traveling.
There is the total time spent in transit.
Or the total number of vehicles used between locations.
Or even hours between sleeping in a real bed (especially useful metric when talking about taking 20 hour overnight buses in South America).
Plus, remember that when traveling with no source of income… you need to travel as cheaply as possible. Which leads to many indirect routes of travel.
For our purposes today, let’s look at our journey to Croatia from Italy.
Italy To Croatia In 22.5 Hours
After a lovely two weeks in the Umbrian region of Italy, we were on our way to rest and relaxation on the coast of Croatia.
But like any great heroes journey, we had to face a gauntlet of trials and tribulations first.
There was the train from Assisi to another train that connected to the Italian coast in Ancona. Total time in transit so far including layover at connection? 2.5 hours.
Arriving in Ancona, we had to wait to pick up the bus that would take us to our ferry. After 3 hours of watiing, we were taken to the ferry only to have to wait another 3 hours before boarding and then wait another hour before departure.
Total time in transit until finally leaving the Italian coast? 9.5 hours.
The ferry is 10 hours and overnight, but considering we are traveling cheap (as you probably are), we did not have cabins to sleep in.
We did not have comfy chairs to sleep in.
We did not, in fact, have any chairs whatsoever.
What we did have was a 5 foot couch in the departure area of the ferry.
I gladly gave Meg the couch as I took the floor… but that still did not make the floor any softer or my sleep any more possible.
Total time in transit upon arriving in Split, Croatia? 19.5 hours + infinity (or so I thought while trying to sleep on the sickeningly stained ferry floor).
But we finally reached Croatia… Yes!
But still a few hours from our final destination. We waited 1.5 hours for the next bus after the ferry got in and then we finally took the 1 hour bus ride south to Makarska where we are picked up by our landlord and driven the final half hour to our little apartment in Drasnice.
Total time in transit after seriously, finally, really, truly reaching our destination? 22.5 hours.
The Metrics
22.5 hours of straight travel or waiting to travel.
4 modes of transportation: Trains, ferry, bus, and car.
2 hours of crazy uncomfortable sleep.
What Do You Think?
We love seeing new sites and experiencing new things. We don’t always love the travel pains involved, but we do always the love the adventure.
Do you think we’re insane? Is any amount of money saved worth the hassle?
What about you? What is your craziest journey in hours, means of transportation, or any other wacky metric you have?
Quit his job to try actually following his dreams for once... and is currently loving it. He is working hard to to make this life-style permanent by writing about his adventures and brainstorming money making opportunities with his partner-in-crime, Meg.
It’s such a tough balance between saving money and saving travel time. Given that you guys have relatively endless amounts of time not being on a schedule, I would say you definitely did it right. We drove across Spain overnight once from Barcelona to Granada and got lost for a few hours along the way and both agreed a flight was in order for any future trips like this. However, there is nothing better than getting to your hotel and being allowed early check in and then sleeping until you wake up without a care int he world. When you wake up again at your destination, it’s kind of like a dream and you forget about all the travel you just went through. Well the cafe con leche also helped….
I would say to always look at flights though. It’s easy to assume alternatives to flights are always cheaper, but train + ferry + bus adds up quick and if you’re only saving 20% in costs and adding on 200% more travel time you could be making that money back while blogging during your time saved. It’s science.
Great points Kipp and thanks for the tremendous comment!
It is always a tradeoff and it always seems like there are unexpected costs the longer the journey goes. Sometimes though, a crazy travel day adds to the adventure so we don’t complain too much… or try not to at least
-Tony
I always tend to “wimp out” and take the quicker/easier/more expensive route. I’ve definitely been on more planes than I thought I would this summer in Southeast Asia. Also though, I think having a travel partner makes it easier to go the longer “roughing it” route as you have someone to keep you company and support you when things don’t go as planned. With shorter trips too I think you can make a splurge more often whereas with a longer trip you have to be more conscious of every penny spent meaning days shaved off the end of the trip.
Hi Lindsay!
You’re definitely right about the difference between longer and shorter trips. On short trips, I don’t think twice about getting those extra few beers or taking the more expensive travel option… but on a longer trip, the budget is definitely an issue.
Roughing it probably is easier with a partner… although it also makes it easier to take out your frustrations on them! If you can handle the stresses of travel though, it will bring you closer as a couple.
Where are you in Southeast Asia? We are in Thailand and will be around until September 28th until we head to Malaysia/Indonesia.
Hope your travels are going well!
-Tony
In Cambodia at the moment. Just got back from Angkor Wat. Amazing! Next up: back to Thailand and I’m so excited! 24th-30th I’ll be in Chiang Mai and then 31st-3rd Bangkok round two! Would love to meet up if you guys are around at those times!
Oh no! We are going to just miss you. We are popping back in to Bangkok on the 29th and 30th, but then flying down to Koh Samui on the 31st… too bad!
So jealous you went to Angkor Wat!!! We really wanted to go, but it just didn’t end up fitting into our plans this time around… we can always go on our next around the world trip!
Oh such a bummer! Well enjoy you time in Thailand. Looking forward to reading all about it!
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