After 3 years with this so called 'traveling' hobby :)

Pejam celik wahh...rupanya dah 3 tahun aku menjalankan misi Projeknash ni. Tiap-tiap tahun quota travel aku tak banyak, 3 country je..hehe.. kerana..hidup ini kan haruslah sentiasa berada dalam kesederhanaan..cewah (padahal takut kat ayah, nanti perli-perli & bising, aku dah la cepat emosi, lol).

Actually aku nak menaip after I read an article 20 Things I Learned from Travelling there are some facts that I can relate myself with this article.

Sebelum aku mula Projeknash ni, ye lah aku belum kerja, hanya seorang student, ptptn pun tak ada, Mak aku hanya bagi aku duit minyak & makan tiap-tiap bulan, Ayah aku lagi best, dia hanya bayar college fees dengan maintainance kereta. Perbelanjaan lain pandai-pandai ko ler~ Which is for me, aku sangat bersyukur mak ayah aku ajar aku macam tu, jadi bila aku dah mula kerja, aku berhati-hati control duit aku, lantak lah korang nak cakap aku ni cheapskate ke ape, it's a gift & a curse, lol

The last time I went to oversea sebelum Projeknash ni, I went to Australia when I was in standard 1 & standard 5, aku siap tulis dengan pen, dekat boarding pass, I LOVE AUSTRALIA sebesar-besarnya bila balik Msia, sampai terkantoi dengan Mak & kakak aku, hahahah. Lepas tu mak ayah tak bawak mane dah, & diorang bukan jenis berjalan pun. In the same time keje ayah aku pulak selalu dapat pegi outstation visit sana-sini. Jadi 2 faktor ni encourage aku untuk travel sangat-sangat kalau aku dapat pegang duit sendiri 1 hari nanti.

So Alhamdulillah, bila dah grad & berstatus pekerja, aku dapat mulakan journey aku :)

Kalau nak di flashback balik, my 1st trip was to Phuket. Phuket ni kelakar, coz aku telah buat muke tak malu & offer diri untuk join trip orang. Sebab aku tak penah ada pengalaman berjalan dengan kawan-kawan lagi. This was my 1st, I have no experience, I thank Maria sangat-sangat 80% from the trip settle by Maria (thanks maria, kau even bergaduh dengan travel agent untuk kami :'D) tapi aku akan make sure aku participate dlm setiap proses instead of just say 'ok' & I respect all her decision. We had a really good time. Maria memang 1 of the best travel partner.

Phuket is a learning experience for me, to be honest, Phuket ni lah antara travel budget aku yang paling besar, aku rasa sebenarnya aku boleh cut +-40% from actual budget. The whole trip I spend RM1400; sebab kami pakai travel agent, flight on tarikh tetap so tak boleh pilih murah sgt, ini geng shopping bro, so aku pun terjebak lah sikit-sikit! hahah!

But at least, aku belajar, macam mane nak book flight, apa nak buat bila kat airport, macam mana nak interact bila kita kat tempat orang, macam mana nak jaga diri bila kat tempat orang, stamina preparation & etc. At least aku dah boleh ada rough idea, kalau aku nak plan for my next trip.

So what I learn from traveling?

Planning & Costing

Lepas Phuket tu slowly, rentak aku travel berubah, aku akan cuba budget sebaik yang boleh, bukan sebab tak mampu, tapi as what I said earlier, it's a gift & a curse. For example, I really enjoy my Langkawi trip but it cost me RM868 (3D2N) for the whole trip, but in the same time deep inside me I felt a little bit guilty for spending that much of money for a luxury trip. On the other hand, I can make Chiang Mai trip for only RM746 (3D2N) yes including the flight, but the catch is, I have to make few weeks research & preparation in order to slim down my budget. Macam Langkawi, aku no think, just booked ticket! & follow kawan-kawan kakak aku punya leisure trip je, hahaha~ So 2 situasi ni adalah situasi yang sangat berbeza, & there are pros & cons for each :) It's not that I'm saying I hate leisure travelling, cuma once a while is fun, but budget travelling, I can do it, like all the time~!

Formula dia :

Leisure trip = light planning + big $
Backpacking = major planning + small $

I like this part of article mention that,

Most downtime spent in a place when not sight-seeing is typically sucked up in researching the next destination, making reservations, planning logistics, and going through the dreaded 'time budgeting' process where you decide what you can reasonably see in the time available (and what you have to cut out). - Clayton B. Cornell

This is the biggest knowledge I learned when I try to backpacking, the planning & costing!!
Takutlah pulak, karang aku landing kat Sydney, book hotel kat Darwin sebab murah, kate 1 Australia, acaner tuh? hahah. Seriously it's a tedious job! (*and very distracting especially when you are in the office, drained out with energy, you will start to click all this info on travelling, Astagfirullah~ bad bad me, can't help it! but it keeps me awake! :P) Kadang-kadang kat rumah, I was too keen on doing research, sampai tak sedar dah pukul 3, 4 pagi. Because you always wanted to have the best place to stay, the best things to do, the best way to save your time, with the cheapest way as possible. I have a friend who don't believe I can do budget for country which have high currency, & Alhamdulillah so far I manage to overcome with the challenge.


Kenal Ragam Manusia & Diri-sendiri

Haha siapa dah kenal aku memang tau lah perangai baran aku ni, once korang buat benda yang aku tak berkenan hmmm pandai-pandai korang lah. Aku bukan suka-suka marah, ada 3 sifat je sebenarnya yang aku tak boleh terima; degil, sellfish, kuat merungut.

Tapi bila kita travel ni, it's like a training for me to control my emotional & also to please other people behavior, but if it is too much, I am so soryy..huhu aku hanyalah seorang manusia yang kudus. Aku dekat KL ni dah biasa hidup keluar lepak sorang-sorang, sebab kawan-kawan ramai dah kahwin/ ada bf, kalau ikutkan hati aku, aku teringin nak travel solo, so aku tak payah pening kepala nak fikir kehendak orang. Aku dah cuba, masa Chiang Mai trip, tapi tak kesampaian, sebab kantoi dengan ayah aku, so ayah aku tak bagi pergi sendiri :'/

But, some of the partner like reallly cemerlang! The awards go to Maria, Aina, Zati, yeyyyy~!

Owh teringat ada 1 masa tu aku travel dengan orang yang suke giler bergambar, ahhhhhh hahaha sebab aku bukan camwhore, aku suka enjoy tempat menggunakan mata dari menggunakan lensa, lalu aku telah menghilangkan diri sekejap untuk 40 minit, lulz.

Btw, aku jugak bukan lah seorang yang perfect, aku pun penah buat silap, ada 1 trip tu, aku telah mengakibatkan aku & kawan aku tertinggal flight, hahahahaha! (Maafkan aku Pais! tapi aku dah redeem myself kan? hehehe) Eh pengalaman jugak tu, bila kitorang imbas balik, hmm best gak woo dapat merasa scene drama lari-lari kat airport dengan backpack, lulz.

Kenal Ragam orang bukan Malaysia

Bahasa poyo dia, kenal ragam mat salleh la, hahaha. Kalau korang kate aku ni cheapskate, mat salleh sebenarnya lagi cheapskate ok! haha betul aku tak tipu! Walaupun currency diorang tinggi, sebenarnya diorang kena lagi berjimat cermat sebab diorang travel sebulan, 6 bulan, setahun! Diorang kat hostel, lagi bersungguh memasak untuk save cost, they eat fruits to recover their energy, aku pun tak terfikir benda-benda ni sebelum travel dulu.

What I learn from them, diorang memang berani mati, diorang redah je kalau nak buat something, cause diorang yakin selamat, they don't want to think much. That is why, it's a common thing for them to be a female solo traveller. Kalau diorang tak sure untuk ke satu tempat, diorang just pergi & ask around. Kita ni Malaysian, selalu lah fikir, ish nak balik nanti macam mana, selamat ke? ape ke? boleh ke? you know..things like that.. haha

Another 1 thing I notice about them, they don't do shopping! Yang shopping tu tourist, but not a backpackers. Ada 1 masa tu, I was with an Oz & Canadian, kami masuk souvenir shop untuk tanya direction sahaja, & they don't even take a peek on the souvenir, takkan lah aku pulak nak cakap, stop stop, I want to shopping, kan? Kalau pergi gallery, they just want to see the show, souvenir is nonsense. Aku penah dengar cerita 1 girl ni pergi europe, jacket dia hilang, & dia rasa bengang sangat sebab kena spend on a jacket kat sana, kalau aku, aku rasa why not, at least ada reason untuk shopping kat sana, hahaha. Hmm.. aku taktau la sebenarnya mungkin kebanyakkan Msian backpacker pun macam ni, cuma aku je tak dapat kawal diri, sebab aku ni suka membeli jugak, cuma aku memilih barang, kalau elok, harga berpatutan & betul guna, baru beli. huhuhu.

Tapi kalau cakap shopping ni, aku tak kesah sangat sebenarnya, aku akan membeli kalau duit aku ada lebih dari allocated budget. Aku penah pegi 1 trip, aku tak membeli apa pun, cuma souvenir fridge magnet dengan a bear, but since I really enjoy the trip, I don't mind tak dapat bershopping pun. I am flexible ;D

Creativity & Problem Solving

Problem solving in all aspect during travelling;
- problem solving the 1st stage of planning & costing
- bila dah sampai destinasi, problem solving macam mana nak execute to spend time & money wisely
- macam mana nak deal dengan ragam partner
- macam mana nak overcome language barrier
- macam mana nak baca peta/cari direction
- macam mana nak bagi semua benda muat dalam 1 beg (haha!)
- macam mana nak masak kalau takde dapur gas (haha jugak!)
- maccam mana nak sidai baju yang aku basuh tadi (hahah bila kat hostel ini lah ragamnye)
- macam mana nak berjalan masa sakit

Eh macam-maca lagi lah. Seronok! masa kau kat tempat orang lah, tetibe kau jadi sangat creative untuk solve problem, hahah!

I can say that I learned a lot from traveling, walaupun experience masih tak banyak mana, so jangan lah judge orang yang kerap travel ni, hehe :) I did have my savings too, but for me travelling is a part of my investment, it is an investment for a bigger knowledge, benda ni takde sekolah /institusi boleh ajar, jadi tak rugi  ^_^ Apepun, semua ni just my point of view, aku still belum banyak experience, am still learning & ready to learn more :D