Travel Mate or Horror Companion

'It's easier to find a travelling companion than to get rid of one'

- Art Buchwald

Two might be one to many: Backpacking & Travelling Companion

Im selfish, I want to do what I want to do, I want to see things I want to see and if I have the opportunity to travel alone, I will travel alone. This first sentence sounds like I am one of these socially awkward people, an 'Einzelgänger' and impossible travel companion. But nothing could be further from the truth. I enjoy both, I love both and like to combine both. During my stay in Thailand, about a year ago, I travelled alone around this country and it was wonderful. After a couple of months in New Zealand with travellers and backpackers around me 24/7 it was just delightful to be on my own, to enjoy the silence, the beauty of my surroundings and living my life and only my life. I did notice the easiness of meeting travel buddies, travel companions or travel mates which seems, in my opinion, way less complex than when you are travelling with somebody already. It's like you send out a scent, a sign for people to detect, the indication of solitary. And suddenly you are not alone anymore, your solitude is over..... you find a travel bud.

Travel Companions, Travel Buddies and Travel Mates: Online and Offline

As I said before, I have the feeling that solo travellers send out a message to fellow travellers and suddenly contacts are way easier made than at home, than in every - day life. It might be the fact that all these people do the same thing, are in the same boat and therefore become 'friends', travel friends. For me this is a well known phenomenon as I have seen this happen many times before, but for many 'beginning' travellers and backpackers it is a nightmare to even consider travelling alone. It is therefore good to know we have something called the internet, a connecting people network where 'soon-to-become' travellers can find other backpackers and arrange trips and meet-ups months or weeks before departure. As I am searching for travellers that want to join my three exclusive and affordable bus tours in New Zealand I have found some good websites although one website developed itself as my favourite.

Find a Travel Companion: Find My Travel Mate

For me it was sad to see that many websites ask money for contacting fellow travellers. The sign up is for free, the searching as well but as soon as you find the perfect person to travel with these websites poor rain on your parade. Good to know that there is one website My Travel Mate that does not do this. This start-up makes it possible for you to create your trip, with all details included, and promote this trip on the My Travel Mate website. As I am searching for some 'travel buddies' I signed up, created a trip, added some pictures and tried out if this could work. And yes, it does. I am not one of these people that goes around to promote other websites, except my own, but My Travel Mate is something that makes me happy in a virtual world, with 100000 travel buddies websites and forums make it impossible for me to find one that has it all. My Travel Mate does this and therefore I would like to thank this website for making my life easier. And of course I recommend this platform to every traveller who wants to meet people, its easy, its fast and even better.... for free!!! 

Are you looking for somebody to travel with? Go Bacon and Eggs Tours for New Zealand and check My Travel Mate in any other case ;) 

Hoilday Expectations

'When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable' - Clifton Fadiman

I like surprises, I like to travel to the unknown. In September I visited my friend in Thailand after an amazing winter in New Zealand. Totally unprepared. The only thing I was sure about was my flight. And you know what? I like to be in situations like this. However, this is not true for the majority of the European population.

Before we go on a holiday we want to know every single detail. We feel it is necessary to plan our trip by the minute. We expect to know how the weather is going to be and are frustrated or disappointed when the weather God decides to throw around his schedule. Google is doing over hours in order to provide us with the latest images of the accommodation, restaurant, beach, the palm trees and the colour of the water. YouTube shows us beautiful videos of the destination or resort we are planning to go to. Trip Advisor gives us the possibility to read the opinions of previous visitors, however, we only tend to check the negative reviews. 

Isn't it sad that 'bad' weather could possibly spoil the holiday feeling? I believe holiday is an experience, a feeling, and this is going to be as perfect as I will make it.  The weather, the accommodation or the activities can only increase my happiness but will never be the main reason for it. The disappointment which arrises when the pictures on the website differ from the real thing is amazing to me. How could snow possibly influence your skiing holiday in a negative way, and believe me, people are moaning about this. Of course going on an holiday costs a lot of money and we want to have the best of it. Although, I think we start to expect too much.

If we stop having these high expectations and 'go with the flow' a bit more, holidays could actually be fun again. Sometimes we have to live with these uncertainties in order to keep us from being disappointed. We could do that 20 years ago, why shouldn't we be able to do that again?