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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.
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.
To read their stories, you can visit the original post with the full article at First-Time Travels of Travel Bloggers: the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Blog Carnival #9.
