First-time Travels of Travel Bloggers

September 8, 2010 at 10:22 am | Posted in Asia, Europe, Lebanon, Mexico, North America, Philippines, Solo travel, South Korea, Thailand, US, World travel | 13 Comments
Tags: travel, Philippines, first-time travel, Thailand, Malaysia, blogsherpa, Europe, US, United States, Amtrak, spain, world travel, blog carnival, train travel, lonely planet, Switzerland, Austria, France, England, South Korea, New Orleans, family travel, Fairbanks, Alaska, Denmark, Cusco, Mexico, Beirut, Lebanon, blogsherpas, Hawaii

Jetsetters and seasoned travelers may be “experts on the road” but they also started out learning the ropes of traveling. They now have something to advice on the subject because they have a rich resource of firsthand travel experiences. Some of them, when they were newbie travelers, also listened from those who were ahead of them in the traveling landscape.

I may be able to easily give instructions to taxi drivers or haggle with vendors in Jakarta because I lived there for seven months, but I also struggled during my first weeks trying to decipher the map and learning the local language by myself. I can roam around Bangkok or Hong Kong unguided because I have visited these cities more than once, yet I also shamelessly asked for directions during my first visit there. Although I credit travel books and websites for pointing me to the right direction, my experience on the ground has provided me with more insights any literature could give. Dealing up-close with the locals and getting lost have made me street-smart, something one does not learn just by researching and armchair traveling.

"Do not step on the red carpet." That's what I learned in my first trip in Bangkok.

My first trip outside of my home country, the Philippines, was in Thailand. Friends shared my excitement as they gave me lists of tips and places to visit. I was excited on what was in store for me at my destination that I never realized the more practical things to do in embarking on a journey, like packing lightly, paying the travel tax, getting in line at the immigration, exchanging my local currency into US dollars and Thai baht, etc. Like in any other Asian city, bargaining is a skill a traveler should learn when shopping in Bangkok. We visited the Royal Palace and there was a special occasion at that time. I accidentally stepped on the red carpet reserved only for the King and his entourage that a guard scolded me for doing so. Now, I’m more careful whenever I visit a palace or a temple that I don’t break any of their rules or disrespect any of their traditions.

The Lonely Planet blogsherpas walk down memory lane as they share stories of their first-time travels outside of their home country or their innocence when they first stepped into a foreign land. Who would ever think that these travel bloggers also had their moments when they first boarded a plane or when they finally made that big leap out of the comforts of their home? I feel privileged to host this blog carnival, which gives us a glimpse of the joy, frustration, fears, and milestones of the first-time travels our blogsherpas made.

Quillcards team David Bennett and Tamara Colloff-Bennett have their share of their travel experiences. It was a European adventure for David on his First-Time Travel Off the Map when he joined a school trip abroad, which later led him to more trips to other countries outside of his home.

Barcelona, from the Quillcards website.

“Our journey that summer took us through Switzerland and Austria, down the length of Italy, and back up through France. We got lessons in hitchhiking etiquette in Austria and got sunburned like lobsters in Genoa. We changed the course of our holiday and for me it changed the course of my life.”

Tamara, on her article Time Travels In the Real World, instantly thinks of the guitar belonging to the elder sister of her friend Judy, named Marilyn, whenever the topic of traveling overseas comes up. The Spanish songs Marilyn sang while strumming the guitar had inspired her to travel. She narrated her first trip from coast to coast until she finally went outside the US territories and beyond America towards the continents of Europe and Asia.

“However, the romance of traveling around ‘the Continent’ then never left me: England, Holland, Italy, Spain some years later – I adored the architecture, the foreignness of the people, the sheer differentness of it all. I was also influenced as well by my parents who traveled to so many places. They brought back mementos from New Zealand, Turkey, Romania, and many other places. I salivated when I heard about their travels, and I vowed that I too would hear more foreign tongues and interact with other peoples and tread on the soil of their countries.”

Photo taken from Lex Paradise's blog site.

Lex, of Lex Paradise, is from Malaysia. Visiting Korea for the first time brought a different thrill to him. In fact, he documented his first day in this country.? From the moment their plane touched down in Korea, Lex showed the things he saw and experienced in this foreign land.

“At last, I manage to post the 1st day that I step on the Korea ground!! It was really amazing, that time I really still can’t believe that I was in Korea!! It was like a dream!!!”

Anne-Sophie, of Sophie’s World, is based in Norway and has lived in the US and in New Zealand. She shares how time has changed, especially in terms of traveling: her daughter took her first trip when she was 11 weeks old while Anne-Sophie’s ventured on her very own first trip abroad when she was already 11 years old.

“Back in the 70s, Mum took my brother and me to New Orleans to a visit her cousin – Aunt Hanna, we called her – who had emigrated and made tons of money. It was quite the journey, involving 4 different planes and 5 airports. We switched planes in Copenhagen, New York’s JFK and in Atlanta, Georgia. But I didn’t mind one bit. I was 11, my brother was 9 and neither of us had ever been on a plane before. Nor had Mum. In retrospect, I see she deserves some credit – admiration, even – for setting out on such a long, complicated journey with two raucous kids and no travelling experience.”

Photo taken from Indian Bazaars' blog site.

On her post The Quiet Train, Kiran, of Indian Bazaars, shared that she has never experienced boarding a quiet train until her first time travel outside of India. Her Amtrak ride in the US reminded me of my very own experience. But her Amtrak travel experience brought to her memories of traveling by train back in her home country and seen the differences in train travel in both countries.

“I looked out of the window as the train pulled into a station and wished people wouldn’t queue up to enter the train, wished there would be more than the five people that I saw. I thought then of the Indian train and all its chaos. I wanted to be home again – just to listen to familiar sounds of ‘chai, chai’ with the vendor stopping by the window to sell a cup of steaming hot tea or a fruit juice.”

Alaska, taken from the Travelogged site.

Liz, of Travelogged, felt disoriented when she first arrived in Alaska. Since she left New York at over an hour past noon and traveled for about 14 hours, she was prepared for nighttime, but not Alaska. Her first-time travel to this US State has brought many surprises to her.

“Arriving in Fairbanks, Alaska, was one of the strangest arrivals I’ve ever experienced. There was nothing wrong with the landing – it was a smooth (if cramped) flight on Frontier from Denver. But when I arrived at 9:37pm on time to the minute (OK, that was also a little strange), it was just so incredibly bright! I felt as if I had arrived somewhere in the morning on a red-eye flight. It was that identical disoriented, groggy feeling, and yet it was nighttime.”

A photo of Paris taken by Jennifer of The Turkish Life.

Jennifer, of The Turkish Life, left her San Francisco home for a great two-week European escapade. She did her solo travel in an American backpacker style which brought her colorful travel memories, like eating Indonesian food for the first time while she was in Amsterdam.

“I was 23 years old and being laid off from my second job in less than a year. Instead of calling my mother, my best friend, or my boyfriend for a sympathetic ear, I picked up the phone and dialed a travel agent. I was planning my first trip to Europe, a visit with my then-boyfriend to see his family in England and Denmark, and with those pesky limits on vacation days suddenly a non-issue, I wanted more time. I had my passport, my Western Europe guidebook, my Eurorail pass, a kabillion rolls of film, and a borrowed backpack that was way too big for me. I was ready.”

Swimming practice. Photo taken from the Alpaca Suitcase site.

Jason, of Alpaca Suitcase, recounted the first swimming practice for his daughter while living in Cusco. Being in a different place is an adjustment, especially to children. The language may sound strange and the need to be accepted is inevitable. At the end of the practice night, Jason was glad to see his daughter smile.

“While living in Cusco both of our kids had settled into a regular routine with the Cusco Swim Team. Three to four times per week at 6:45 p.m. they’d stroll in to the Piscina Municipal de Wanchaq and jump right in with the other swimmers. I’m sometimes amazed at how easy they blend in. I have to remember, however, that the first practice was very difficult for my 12-year old daughter.

My daughter and I came down to Cusco 6 weeks before my wife and son (my son wanted to graduate from middle school), so she was the sibling that would pave the way for the other.”

Photo taken from the Ginger Beirut blog site.

Georgia, of Ginger Beirut, grew up in England and moved to countries like France, and later, Lebanon. In her post, she states that people, depending on whether they are tourists, expats, or immigrants, may have varying perspectives on Lebanon, which she believes has a thousand faces. She even shared an old joke, which now takes a whole new dimension to her as she lives as an expatriate in Beirut.

“The Lebanon has a thousand faces. On my first brief visit, it could have very well deceived me. I might have left my caring, protective hosts believing that Lebanon was all about dinner parties, warm hospitality, excellent food. Or I might have stayed indoors for two weeks, on the phone to concerned family and friends, listening from the balcony as gun battles took half the city hostage, and come away with the impression that Lebanon was not for tourism, let alone for settling.

But it didn’t. After nearly a year, I can attest that for that short stay, Lebanon was true to its diversity.”

Her first travel in Hawaii. Photo taken from Barefoot Inked site.

Coming from a family of travelers, Sash, of Barefoot Inked, was used to traveling during her childhood. But after hibernating from all those trips across the world, she was able to set foot again outside of her home country but, this time, on her own. Read how her first solo travel has brought her challenges along the way, which only intensified her love for traveling.

“I landed in Hawaii, it was my first stop on a long journey of self discovery – a young adult still very much a child, venturing out into the world to find clarity and experience the world outside my backyard. But as exciting and thrilling as solo travel is, particularly your very fist time, it is terrifying and scary and pretty daunting too.”

“And so began a love with travel… there have been many mishaps along the way… but every one is an adventure. Every hiccup in a well planned trip has?led to something more wonderful than could have ever been planned for…”

For me, a place takes in a different kind of image when I see it for the first time. Everything seems too interesting that I’ve always wanted to preserve the memory. Often times, I refuse to doze off to sleep as I look out the window of my moving vehicle, afraid that the moment would just pass me by. That’s why I take delight in remembering my first visits to a particular place, absorbing all I see, feel, smell, hear and taste like an innocent babe. The novelty of the place drives me to go out and travel to more destinations because once I come back to the same place, it will be a totally different experience once again.

So, what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and hit the road! And enjoy your first trip to that place you have always wanted to visit.

The previous blog carnival on Love On The Road was hosted by Sash at Barefoot Inked, and our next Blog Carnival is on the topic of Favorite Place on Earth hosted by Anne-Sophie from Sophie’s World.?Take delight in the colorful stories of our Lonely Planet Blogsherpas as they share their travel experiences with us.

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