Monday, November 28, 2011

Life as a Traveler

It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting in Duke Backpackers Hostel in Greymouth, NZ . We arrived here last night around 6:30pm and by the time the whole group was checked in and in their rooms, it was around 8pm. At that time, we had to cook dinner, clean up, and wait for the free soup by the hostel (a corn chowder, actually pretty good). By the time we did all that and made it back to the room it was 9 pm and we were beat from a long day of travel (we left at 8:30am). The hostel was nice, staff is friendly (owner from Israel, Dory) and you can tell they really try to make an effort. Each room is labeled with a creative door sign (i.e. room #18 looks like the entrance to a club and says "18 + only"), they provide you 30 minutes free internet upon check in, and they offer free pool, darts, buy one get one free drinks at the bar, and host nightly parties. Last night was a dress up with trash bags and duct tape costume contest. Even though I typically love dorky things like that, we were all so beat and just needed some down time. So, instead, my friends and I (Helen-England, Chad-USA, Tatjana-Germany) sat in my room and watched a movie—Horrible Bosses (thanks to Helen who purchased over 150 movies and tv shows in Thailand and let me download them onto my computer).
This morning, Tatjana and I got up early and went for a run through the town. It is very aptly named "Greymouth." It is a dark, dingy, depressing mining town that has the feel of a ghost town. We ran along the river side through the mud, gravel, and grayness. As we were doing so, Tatjana looked at me and said, "If I were reading a book about a murder, this would be the perfect town for the setting." Just exactly what I wanted to hear as two little girls (we're both under 5'2") go running alone. We made it back safely, obvi, and had breakfast (along with free toast and jam from the hostel), showered, and are now sitting around with a few free hours to kill before we head off today.
It's so nice to JUST BE! We are CONSTANTLY on the go and it is rare to have any sort of downtime so I'm taking full advantage of it and just sitting, writing this blog. The life of a traveler is NOT easy. It is VERY different than being on vacation. On vacation, you have a nice quiet, comfy, clean, hotel room with just yourself (or people you know and chose to spend time with), have your own bathroom, have temperature controlled rooms, eat nice food, have comfy transport, lay on beaches and generally do what you want. Being on vacation is a nice break from life and is a way to escape and relax. Traveling takes everything about life and makes it harder, times 10.
Traveling is more about survival than anything else. Here's a typical glimpse into my day. "Wake up" anywhere between 2 am and 8 am. I placed "wake up" in quotes because "sleeping" in hostels doesn't always actually happen. Whether it's from someone snoring in your room, noisy neighbors and/or bar downstairs, or roommates coming in at 4 am and turning on the lights and speaking in full volume or waking up at 5 am and packing their bags for an early morning tour, or tossing and turning in the bunk so it feels as if you're on a ship (all of which have happened to me). You drag yourself from bed, put on your flip flops and dig through your backpack (in the dark and as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the 4-8 other people sleeping in your 4 x4 cell of a "room"), carry your shammy towel (the size of an over-sized wash cloth) and toiletries to the bathroom and hope that there is a free stall and hot water. Don't forget the key (now or in the middle of the night to pee) or you will be locked out of the room, and don't forget to hide your stuff and shower quickly so that your stuff doesn't get stolen.
To dress, you have to dig through your clothes shoved into a backpack and find (aka smell) your clothes. Forget any sort of fashion sense, dressing is based on what is "least" dirty or closest to the top of the bag. Most of us wear the same thing for days at a time. We all have an unspoken pact to turn a blind eye to this since we all do it.
At this point, it's time for breakfast (if you have enough time left before the bus leaves, now that you may have had to wait for a shower, kitchen use, etc.). Most kitchens are so packed at meal times that my claustrophobia and I are not fans of hanging out there long. You cross your fingers that your food is still there (it gets stolen quite a lot—I know, we don't get it either) and hope that the hostel has basics for you like oil, salt, pepper to use so that you don't have to lug these around with you from town to town (btw-most do not : ( Sometimes the "free food" bin has food from other travelers who have left, but mostly not. You wash your dishes before and after eating since people have varying degrees of what constitutes "clean."
The next step is to fight your way through all the other travelers trying to check out, turn in your key and get back your key deposit, and then make a dash for the bus to try to get any seat other than the last row. Lug your 500 lb. backpack, day pack, and 3 grocery bags onto the bus and then ride on the bus ALL day—try to stay full with munchies and try to find the perfect balance between being hydrated enough to not have a headache and dehydrated enough to not make the bus pull over every 5 minutes to pee (a feat nearly impossible for me). The bus will make about 25 unnecessary stops when you don't need them, will be in a hurry when you're not, and will take it's time when all you want to do is just get there already! Take in enough sites during the day to the point of exhaustion and finally reach your hostel for the night. At this point, you have to strategically leave something on the bus to reserve your seat for the next day while simultaneously racing to the reception to secure a room, hopefully without a snoring boy. By the time the entire group checks in (there's always the awkwardness of trying to assign roommates, oh, and don't forget your cash key deposit!) and you race to the room to try for a bottom bunk bed, you are so tired all you want to do is sleep. But alas, you still have to unpack, handwash clothes in the sink and hope that they dry overnight (otherwise you will be repacking wet clothes in your bag and defeat the purpose of the washing in the first place—this explains why backpackers sometimes smell), stuff your food into an over-filled fridge, cook (if dishes aren't all in use), wash dishes, wait for a free shower, and prep your bags for the next day.
There's never a second for alone time, you never really feel clean, no time for exercise yet tons of walking, and you're almost constantly hungry and tired. Typical daily meals: breakfast-oatmeal or toast, snacks: raisins, nuts, fruit, lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwiches, dinner: pasta. Limited veggies and protein and heaps of carbs don't help with the exhaustion much either. Wake up, and repeat, day after day….Don't get mean wrong, I LOVE traveling—the adventure, meeting new people, seeing new sites, and am very grateful for this opportunity, but the actual travel part can be daunting!

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