What I have learned after 50 days of traveling abroad

Today is day 50 of our trip and we are now officially just over half way through our travels. I figured this was a good opportunity to share some things that I've learned so far. What has worked well for us. Things I would adjust. Just general thoughts on a long trip like this that might help other travelers.

First I will share a compact list of the highlights I've learned. Then you can continue reading below for more details!

Quick thoughts on long term travel so far -

1. When traveling on a budget save on the large expenses, but don't sweat the small stuff. Micromanaging your budget and constantly sacrificing small joys for your budget can quickly put a damper on a long trip. Large ticket items like travel, accommodation and everyday meals (cooking and drinking at your Airbnb or hostel is the biggest money saver!) are what is easiest and most practical to focus on. Random snacks, fun drinks, small fees for tourist sites are all small items that can add a lot of fun to a travel experience.

2. Pack small and light, it will make every aspect of the traveling easier. We fit it all in one carry-on and have not had a issue with not having enough stuff.

3. Bring entertainment. We brought reading materials, playing cards and an iPad. We have used these extensively to keep entertained and to fill chill time. You can't expect to constantly be out and about all the time.

4. On a long trip remember to slow down. Enjoy where you are and don't get stuck in go go go mode. Down time is vital to enjoying and surviving a long term travel experience. You have to remember you are not on vacation, you are traveling.

5. Travel with people you trust to handle difficult situations and can help turn tough situations into fun or at least bearable ones. During a long trip it is inevitable that things will go wrong or difficulties will arise, probably multiple times. While no one is going to handle every situation well, it is important to travel with someone your trust and can openly communicate with in order to solve issues and find mutually agreeable solutions.

6. Take lots of pictures and share them with your friends and family. It will help you remember your experiences better and will make the parents happy!

7. Finally, not everything is going to go perfect. There are hard times, boring times and disappointing times. But that is just part of traveling and you can only do so much to avoid them. You can't pick the best restaurants, hostels or tours every time. These little fails are just small blips on an amazing journey. You have to remember these do not define your travel experience as a negative, they are part of the adventure and balance out all the awesomeness of extended travels!

Details of what I've learned so far after 50 days in the road.

Phone plan abroad -

We did not purchase a foreign phone plan and have just being using our phones when they are connected to WiFi. By turning on WiFi calling and using WhatsApp we have been able to stay in touch with loved ones and call the people we need to contact so far without major issues. We have found that most of the places we stay have WiFi and many cafes, transportation hubs, tourist welcome centers and many shops have free WiFi or will give you access if you ask. For the moments we needed to call someone and couldn't find WiFi, we have just asked a stranger and eventually found someone to borrow a phone or make a call for us. It's saved a fair amount of money and hassle just using our existing phones without a plan.

Accommodations -

We have been staying at mostly hostels and Airbnb's and have had no issues booking accommodations a week or just a few days in advanced. We book everyone through apps or by googling the city we want to visit and reading various reviews. We have also used Couch Surfing a few times with mostly great results.

Couch Surfing is an amazing app where you can host and stay with fellow travels on their couches or in their spare rooms for free. It's a great community and a great service that has allowed us to meet some really nice locals and has saved us a good chunk of change. It's all free which is great. We usually try to bring a bottle of wine or a pack of beer or cook our hosts a meal as a thanks.

Our first time ever using it we stayed two nights in Amsterdam on a fellas couch in his living room. We realized that was not ideal sleeping situation for us, so since then we have filtered our search for private rooms and have been lucky to find great hosts with our own rooms in Fontainebleau for a night and Bordeaux for 3 nights. The people have been so friendly and gracious. We will continue to try to couch surf on the remainder of our trip as our schedule allows!

Sticking to a budget vs having a blast -

One thing that has been difficult on our trip is balancing our budget with the desire to see, experience and taste so many awesome things in each place we visit. We have had to turn down some opportunities and skip some sites as we just could not make them work with our budget.

I have noticed that this can take away from the fun of some situations and experiences when the budget is so tight and always on your mind. This has made me realize that we may have started with slightly too small a budget given the experiences we want to have in the cities we are visiting. I think we were a little unrealistic with how comfortable we were going to be with sacrificing certain experiences in order to meet our original budget.

This has made us revise our plan and expand our trip budget a little bit. But it's tough to balance this with the idea of " well I've never been here and might never come back, so I need to do everything now. I can spend a little extra here and there because this is a once in a life time trip, etc" It is something difficult to balance and keep in mind on a trip like this. And I think we are both doing a pretty good job of finding this balance on the fly. Just have to keep in mind we are traveling not on vacation everywhere we go!

Travel slower -

Another difficulty of a trip like this is seeing so many amazing places and having so many great places to visit, but not having the time to see them all. We have struggled to keep our trip slow and not jump from place to place quite so much. Since our trip is not planned out, we have the flexibility to leave a city early or stay extra in places we like. It's always a tough decision to decide to plan to stay extra days in a certain place when you know that means you have to forgo seeing another city or region of the awesome country you are in.

I just remind my self that the trip is not about checking off cool spots off some list but in truly experiencing the places we are in. It has also become clear that down time is necessary and it is not sustainable to be constantly exploring and traveling everyday. I have cherished the chill experiences of long walks, lying in the sun, reading a book on a comfy couch or sitting at a cafe writing this blog.

I will continue to make it a priority of the trip to slow down a little more and try to enjoy moments.

Packing light -

Biggest tip I have for a long trip is to pack light and small. It's been so much easier having only one bag plus maybe a little day pack. It makes traveling by bus and train and plane simpler and cheaper. Plus there is less stuff to leave behind for day trips.

I ended up bringing a Blackhole Patagonia MLC in which all my stuff fits. This bag has worked out great. It is tough, comfy, well organized and fits as a carry on bag for planes. I have no complaints so far.

I also brought a super light day pack (Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack) that Jane, my amazing former boss at VRC gave to me as a going away present. It has been so useful and packs up so light and tiny (smaller than your fist!). I have used it to carry items I want access to while we travel and my main bag is in the trunk or stored away. It has also been great to have for little day excursions and hikes. It was a very thoughtful gift and has been put to good use throughout the trip! Thanks Jane!

Something that made getting every thing I packed into my bag and keeping them organized through our trip possible was the packing cubes. I was skeptical of these little cube shaped mesh bags, but all the blogs I read highly recommended them. Now I am one of those blogs. Alena is using them also, and we both agree that they have been a huge help to keeping our bags organized and manageable through all our travels and the various housing situations we have used so far. I will never take a trip again without them!

One of the things I was most hesitant to bring was my small iPad given that it is pretty heavy and we were trying to cut down on the size and weight of our bags, but it has turned out to be a great addition to the trip. We have used it a ton to watch tv shows and movies on Netflix (we finally watched Stranger Things and we both loved it!!!). We will throw something on while we eat or when we have decided to spend nights in it has been a cheap source of entertainment. It was also great in Ghana when we would retreat to our room to watch a show to escape the mid day sun and heat! Alena has also used it as a Kindle using my kindle app and my SF library subscription. It's lighter than bringing a stack of books.

One big time travel tip and general cool piece of info everyone should know: you can download kindle books for free from your local library and it does not matter where you are! It's a great perk and is way cheaper than buying all the kindle books we have read so far. You can also download audio books too! Check your local library website to see if they have this service also, I know San Francisco public library allows this.

As for the other items I'm really glad I brought along -

Quick dry travel towel - it is so small and drys pretty fast. We have stayed many places where we needed our own shower towels and it would have been way too big and heavy to bring a regular towel.

Comfy walking shoes - we have averaged walking about 4.5 miles a day so far on our trip, with some days over 10 miles. I am so glad I brought my good quality walking shoes otherwise I'd be hurting or I would have had to purchase another pair of shoes.

Silicone putty ear plugs - saved me a few nights of sleep on plane rides and in a few places we stayed where the streets or our neighbors were super loud. I put those things in and I can sleep fine and they don't hurt my ears or fall out like regular earplugs.

My Kindle - my mom gave it to me as a Christmas gift and I love it. So easy to bring it along on day trips and reading in the dark or bright sunlight are both great. Much better than a bundle of books.

Highlights of the trip -

Seeing elephants play in a watering hole in Mole National Park in Ghana.

Staying with my friend Anne and her family in Kampen was such a treat. They were so kind and so generous in sharing their home and showing us around their city. They made us try so many Dutch foods, and I'm glad they did.

Learning to drive stick in Paris! I will definitely never forget that.

Tasting champagne with Alena in a winery on the top of hill with a beautiful view of the champagne vineyards below us.

Drinking amazing wines at the beautiful Chateaux's of Bordeaux was an unforgettable experience given my love of wine.

Getting to experience amazing things and overcoming adversities with an amazing partner like Alena. She has made this trip so awesome and it will be great to have another person to reminisce on all the crazy stuff with.

Now we are on to our next 46 days of traveling. Soon we are off to Portugal and then Italy. I am excited to see what other adventures we have and what more I can learn.