Less Fuss

A coach trip will eliminate every element of stress right from the start of your holiday as the vehicle will pick you up from your airport on ferry port on arrival. You can also enjoy the luxury of being picked up from your own home or a nearby spot if you are travelling around the UK. The holiday will continue to be stress-free as you journey around your destination as there is a professional driver in charge of the vehicle. You also don’t have to worry about public transport and taxis eating into your holiday budget as you have paid for a coach as part of your holiday deal.

A Multitude of Tourist Spots

A coach tour enables you to cover great expanses of land quickly – this means that you are able to visit a whole host of the top tourist spots within your destination. As travelling mostly occurs early in the morning or late at night, you are not eating into your holiday hours as you are still able to spend your days enjoying the towns and cities along your tour. Whilst travelling around your destination, you are also able to observe the natural landscape that exists between each town. The tours tend to have an itinerary which they post on their website. You can view these before booking your holiday as this will help you choose one that fits your holiday requirements. There are tours where you can stroll around old cities and ruins, view varieties of foreign architecture and even visit the top night spots on offer. The large amount of tours on offer means that there is something to suit every possible taste.

Making New Friends and Memories

This type of holiday is perfect for people for are looking to make new friends. It also a great break for those who simply enjoy being sociable and spending their time with like-minded people. Many solo travellers also go on coach tours as they are guaranteed to have company during their holiday. When the couch stops off in towns and cities, you can enjoy meals and drinks with the others on the coach. You may also find that they have invaluable information about the destination and will provide you with tips regarding the top restaurants, bars and tourist spots within the area.

If you want some alone time or prefer to spend your holiday with your family, coach holidays are still a convenient way to see a country. The amount of time you spend on the coach is minimal and many tend to spend those hours catching up on some much needed sleep. When you exit the coach, you can explore the city away from those you have been travelling with. Each person will have different sites they want to visit, so it is the norm for tourists to travel around an area separately.

Friends I met whilst Travelling, Backpacking in Laos!

Sometimes relaxing by the hotel poolside or on the beach doesn’t cut it, and people want more out of their holiday experience.  Some people look for adventure and a way to meet new like minded people whilst exploring a new destination and learning a different culture.  If this sounds like you then perhaps you ought to consider backpacking.   Backpacking holidays are a great way to experience adventure whilst exploring and meeting interesting people.

Often backpackers learn much more when travelling alone. Although it might sound like a cliché, travellers often set out on a track of self discovery, and to properly discover oneself you have to experience something on your own. Though travelling alone may seem at times daunting, once you have taken the plunge into the deep end all that is left to do is sink or swim.   Once you have jumped in and learned how to swim, like a kid at a swimming pool you will keep climbing out and jumping in again.  Soon you will want to travel further afield and discover more places.

There are many destinations that offer backpackers different experiences.  If you want to experience isolation and wildlife, the Australian and American outback offer a perfect opportunity to do so.  If you want to experience foreign languages and diverse cultures then backpacking in South East Asia and South America is ideal for you (presuming you aren’t from these places). Either type of experience will give you time to reflect on yourself as well as well as learn about the destination you travel.

Won’t I get lonely backpacking?

Often people think travelling alone means you will get lonely.  Though at times you might wish you had someone familiar with you to share your experiences, as long as you keep an open mind you will soon make friends. Wherever you travel you will not be far from other backpackers, as it turns out many people pursue similar journeys and you will soon meet like minded travellers along the way.  Don’t be surprised to find yourself forming friendships with people you wouldn’t usually expect to be friends with.  But that is not a bad thing, meeting different people helps widen your social understanding and helps you see the world from a different perspective.

For me, some of the bonds I made with people I now call my close friends are stronger than some of the bonds I had with previous friendships from my childhood.  This is because I experienced some life changing moments with people facing the same situations as I.

There is so much to discuss about Backpacking but in a nutshell you will discover much more about yourself as well as the destination if you keep an open mind and give it a try!

What about you? What are your backpacking Experiences?

On the plane to Australia developing square eyes staring at the TV monitor on back of the seat in front of me dreaming about what awaits me down under, I am feeling an entire list of emotions: anxiety, excitement; optimism; happiness and nervousness.  After all, it was my first trip abroad and I had bought a one way ticket and wasn’t planning on returning for a year.  I had no idea what to expect but was excited at the prospect.

With no accommodation planned on arrival I had dreamt about jumping on the back of a kangaroo and riding into town and finding the nearest and safest hostel to Sydney city centre

With no accommodation planned on arrival I had dreamt about jumping on the back of a kangaroo and riding into town and finding the nearest and safest hostel to Sydney city centre. In reality, I jumped into the back of taxi and headed to a suburb north of Sydney.

After handing over the money to the taxi driver I suddenly felt out of my depth and comfort zone. Faced with a hoard of drunken Aussies and homeless aborigines I gulped at the prospect of walking past them to reach the little hostel that lay in wait a little beyond them.  I found this hostel online prior to departing but heard it wasn’t necessary to book.  I had hoped for a nice single room with a view of the city. No luck, all singles were taken, instead I got lumped with an 8 bedroom dorm which looked as if it had been ransacked and with pants and socks strewn about the place it looked like one giant sock drawer. And instead of a view overlooking the city I was faced with a window overlooking the drunken street people. Welcome to Australia!

It was fair to say I didn’t sleep a wink my first night, my expectations of how my first night would be were far from the reality I faced, but nevertheless, I was excited about the adventure and couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning to start exploring.