Today’s post, it’s a bit of an unusual one. I wanted to talk about the one item that. I’ve brought with me on three years of continuous traveling.
And pretty much my entire life, this is it right here it is my raggedy Canadian passport this fearless little piece of paper right here has been with me through South America. And Asia through pretty much everywhere. I’ve been it has been right there by my side in my pocket in my backpack.
SAYING GOODBYE TO MY TRAVEL PARTNER Photo Gallery
And today, it’s kind of sad because. I have just experienced my last trip ever with this passport right here it is time to retire it because out with the old in with the new, this is my brand new Canadian passport. I just got a issued.
I’ve been at home now for a little while catching up on all the admin work that’s required. And the reason. I’m moving on to a new more beautiful passport is not because we didn’t have a bond or connection in fact.
I feel a little bit sad leaving her behind, but, it’s just that she ran out of papers. I had one more page left and. I didn’t want to find myself in Southeast Asia where.
I had no stamps left. And the Thai immigration office is like yeah we can’t let, you in because, you can’t stamp your book. So that’s actually a real thing make sure, you have pages available when you’re traveling otherwise, it’s not gonna be fun but.
I wanted to go through my passport. And kind of reflect on what have been some of the coolest adventures of each of these stamps because each of these stamps are memories they’re experiences that were once had whether it was the beginning of my school exchange when I left during my last semester of university to do a semester abroad.
I actually went to Bangkok Thailand or whether it was that first ever trip where. I went to Myanmar. And experience what it was like to be a backpacker going on a bus for 14 hours through the countryside of somebody threw up next to me because they were getting sick from the motion.
And the person in front of me started to smoke a cigarette these are the funny experiences. And memories that are tied with each of these stamps. And so.
I thought. I would go through this booklet. And kind of do a little bit of storytelling some funny things some cool things some nostalgia, you can’t really go wrong with it because this right here well, this is pretty much my past three years right in here before.
I start. I will say if you’re wondering what, this is this has been my home studio for the past two months. I’ve actually just been home, it’s been fantastic.
I’ve been catching up on the Philippines on big posts like the top ten to Southeast Asia the top ten to the Philippines. And a few other projects that are in the works. I’m gonna open it up see what we got what is the first stamp in this here booklet.
I actually like. I was just thinking about this. I don’t know how much of, this is confidential like or certain numbers on here like secret am.
I not supposed to share all this that right there was my education stamp. So that was the one that allowed me to do my four months of schooling at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok which by the way was one of the coolest experience of my entire life it was such a breath of fresh air after having worked. So hard throughout university.
And when I went to Bangkok yes. I was there for school, but really this was time to relax to put my feet up.
I had nothing left other than electives. So the courses that really didn’t matter that much to my GPA and. I treated it that way.
I always at school maybe two days of the week at most the other days. I was either just hanging out on my residency working out in the pool hanging out with friends or planning. And going on trips to surrounding places around Thailand first trip that.
I did as an exchange student to get away from the school to do my first real backpackers trip was this stamp right here. And it brought me to Burma Burma is also known as Myanmar. And this was actually a very difficult stamp to get it was not one of those that, you can just stamp upon entry.
I actually had to wake up super early one morning in Bangkok me. And my friends there was three of us all guys we went. And got in a taxi went to the Myanmar immigration office.
And we had to stand in line. I think from like 6 a.m.
to 7 a.m. to make sure that we were one of the first because we had school later that day.
I think we spent about 2 hours in total. And then two days later we had to come. And collect it.
So certain stamps were harder to get but I think that for all the work it was to get that stamp it was 100% worth it it was one of those trips where it really put me through the challenge as a traveler. I remember it was the first time.
I ever experienced eating food that was sold to me by a vendor who just used their bare hands to grab the fruit all of us got sick on that trip all of us experienced discomfort using outhouses that would kind of make, you cringe a little bit, but this was the real travel and. I will never forget one of the most incredible travel days of my entire life was in old McGann we just rented out these ebikes we ripped around this little village. I actually shot it all with the GoPro and.
So the footage you’re seeing here. I didn’t save it on a hard drive because this was the very beginning of my vlogging career. I wasn’t thinking that way.
I wasn’t thinking to keep footage. So the best. I have is at oriented a ripped version from blog my favorite thing was going from pagoda to pagoda these are these beautiful temple structures that, you see here.
And just going inside of them exploring them each of them have their own unique personality. And with our ebikes we even went through some of these Burmese villages where the people weren’t really that used to seeing tourism they had only opened up their border to tourists. I think probably four to five years prior to that.
So they were very friendly very accommodating. And that will always be a memory that. I keep with me here.
And in here. So this stamp right here these are the annoying ones these are the ones that take up a full page of real estate. And when, you only have.
So many pages in your passport you’re always thinking to yourself sir please just stamp in the bottom-right corner or stamp near the other one some of the immigration officers are like. I don’t care they just like stamp right in the center taking up another one of your pages, but yeah, this is one of the full-size ones this was for Laos. And Laos was probably about three months into my first time in Asia.
And at this point. I was a backpacker. I was budgeting hard.
I was really starting to miss food from home. I had been eating tons of street food. I was probably eating around the 5 to 8 dollars a day mark was missing just having a fat sandwich and.
So when I got to Laos. I was.
So stoked because all across Laos they have a bit of a French culture to them. So, you can find these baguette sandwich. And that for me was like a breath of fresh air a breath of fresh food don’t breathe your food that’s highly dangerous.
So that was one of my things that. I loved about Laos, but definitely the thing that will take the cake was either Luang Prabang which, you would have seen in my top 10 of Southeast Asia or it was climbing long the yang in the bong vieng challenge it was this like tour that. I did.
And oh my gosh that was one of the most challenging hikes. I’ve ever done, but also one of the coolest things. I’ve ever experienced my entire life.
And after climbing the hill the entire day with probably 30 to 50 pounds on her back with this huge backpack a helmet for the next day we actually got to the very top we made it. And we slept at the top in this treehouse we watched the sunset. And we watched the Sun Rise the following morning.
And that very same day after the Sun rose we actually spent the day taking zip lines down the hill as well as rappelling down a waterfall. So these are the really cool things, you experience when, you go off the beaten path we took the word of another backpacker that we met on the road we would have never heard of that or done that otherwise so. I guess one of my biggest takeaways from that moment that.
I kind of applied to all my future travels is never discredit the advice, you get from another traveler sometimes the best advice will not be found online, it’s found from those other travelers who have experienced things the day before or a week prior they have some of the most up-to-date information, it’s a great way to learn great way to plan your trip if you see this. I died here on these hills today. I won’t be making it back.
So this right here this little guy luckily only a quarter pager, this is the Philippines. And this was my first ever trip. I’ve now been three times as, you probably know one of the most memorable things was.
I showed up to the Philippines. I was exhausted I’d spent all day traveling all. I wanted to do was get to my destination.
I was headed south in a bus going to Oslo to see the whale sharks, but instead instead of sleeping. I should say. I was kept awake by the people behind me who were just singing Taylor Swift Justin Bieber whatever it was these local people from the Philippines were just belting it out and.
I was not exactly feeling it at the time but I realized very quickly that. I was not about to be Scrooge and.
I not about to sleep so. I decided to say hi. And those very same people turned around.
And they were like hey we’re actually going to this island called Sookie whore, it’s known for like mystic voodoo witchcraft. And blah blah blah blue water so. I was like okay this sounds a little strange like my mom told me not to talk to strangers let alone join them on a trip to a voodoo island, but hey.
I got nothing else planned. And we don’t have a hotel booked so. I actually ended up changing my plans to save money that night we didn’t sleep in a hotel we actually just sang karaoke through the night.
And the 12 of us we actually bought one room just to store our bags. And the following morning when we were done singing karaoke grabbed our bags. And headed on the next boat to go to see Key whore island for the next two days we rented a locals truck it was such a piece of crap it broke down like five or six times throughout that trip.
And one time we even had to have a group of locals come out. And help us fix it it was a total gong show, but these are the memories. I remember not the nights where.
I had a great sleep. I don’t look at the stamps. And remember those moments because those were just whatever days those were just whatever moments, it’s these crazy things these out there moments when.
I look at that stamp. I immediately think of when I think of that country that moment comes right back to me.
And, it’s super cool to be able to experience that just by looking at a piece of paper another one. I see right here is just a 30-day typical stamp from the Thailand entry. And this was probably only about a year ago this was one of my most meaningful trips.
I would say for me this was the first time. I felt like. I was traveling with the purpose traveling with a real mission.
And that was for black tusk that was yeah like a year ago now that’s crazy to say. And Blake and. I we were prepared we were men on a mission we were going up to the north of Thailand to share the message chair the horrors that were going on with the elephants.
And how they were being treated. And it was incredible how successful we were in doing that. I mean that post now was watched by about 150,000 people.
I’m very very excited about what that message has done. And how many people, it’s educated. And it was such an incredible experience to have been able to join Elephant Nature Park in their work not only just joining their sanctuary, but being invited to go.
And rescue two other elephants, you haven’t already seen that a link to posts up here, but that was definitely travel with a purpose it brought a new meaning into what we were doing. I would definitely recommend that if you’re going on a long travel maybe try to find a way to do your own purposeful traveling maybe that means volunteering at an elephant sanctuary maybe it means volunteering to teach English in a local village these are ways that, you can definitely bring a bit more routine a bit more of a rewarding feeling to your travels because let’s face it traveling through beaches for eight months, it’s a bit much, you don’t get the same enjoyment as, you did on day one, it’s just a law of decreasing marginal returns every time, you take a bite out of your Big Mac your enjoyment is much less than the first, it’s the same thing with travel by the third month by the seven month your enjoyment is less, but if you can find ways to kind of switch it up to have either a place that you’re living during your long travels or you’re doing some work during your travels. I think that it keeps that interest that kind of excitement to the travels going that was definitely one of my biggest takeaways from traveling eight months on my first time abroad definitely have moments to break up the backpacker lifestyle because you’ll burn out and, you will stop appreciating the beautiful things that, you see along the way.
I’m looking right now at a stamp for Japan. And speaking on that subject that was the point where. I was burnt out kind of overseeing tourist attractions.
I was kind of over experiencing new things. I wanted the same comfortable things. I wanted like cheese on a pizza.
I wanted a burger the way it was made back home. I see this stamp. I had an amazing time but.
I know. I could make so much more of that country.
So coming back, it’s definitely a 2018 destination that. I hope to see, this is a funny one. I have a stamp here for Obama Becky this was a town in Romania or Bulgaria, it’s one of the two this was Bulgaria me.
And the guys. I was on a three guy road trip we rented a car. And we had no plans we just had the car like no idea what the heck we were doing, but we knew we needed to get down south to sunny beach Bulgaria which turned out to be a bit of a hole, but it was the journey not the destination that made it all worth it.
And that was a hilarious travel adventure that one night we actually ended up sleeping in the car. And because we couldn’t leave the car on overnight the heat would eventually escape and. I would wake up freezing the two guys were in the back like they had each others body to keep each other warm but.
I was in the front just freezing like my back was like this these are the again, it’s it’s funny how the luxury experiences don’t often create the same impact as those like gongshow moments. And that was definitely one of them this right here is my stamp to enter Dublin. And that was definitely one of the most memorable again not a luxury trip not overly enjoyable at times.
I was on a Russian pirate ship going through what was supposed to be Ireland summer, but, it’s it’s Ireland. So they don’t really have summer it just rained. And it rained.
And we had some of the strongest winds. So one day we actually had to stay in Dublin. And kind of delay our travels because it was just too windy out there.
And let’s just say the boat was like this for three days if you want to see what. I believe to be my most beautiful well-told post, it’s a vlog, but, it’s really like a mini short documentary, it’s actually linked right here that is a interview with the captain of the ship who made the ship with his bare hands with nothing more than a chainsaw. And the willpower of Alexander the Great, it’s incredible that right there is just a fraction of all the stamps.
And visas inside of this booklet. And sadly, it’s time to hang it up, it’s time to put away my faithful travel companion. And start making new memories with this one right here a fresh new book it even smells like it smells really nice.
I hope, you guys enjoyed that if you enjoyed these travel tales then leave the post a thumbs up hit the comment button to become part of the blog and. I actually want to challenge, you guys to share some of your own funny travel tales. And with the upcoming trip.
I’m sure, you guys are gonna love where we’re going next, it’s a mix of tropical meets what the heck are we doing. And, it’s gonna be a lot of fun make sure to hit that notification button. So, you know when the next post goes up guys let’s get lost again in the next one.
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