NotiCEs - Critic

itCHy
18
fter three, four, or more years at university, most students are
pretty keen to get overseas as soon as possible. Whether it’s going
on exchange, heading to London for the big OE, or backpacking
in Southeast Asia, the drive to travel is an innate part of the Kiwi
psyche. Well-travelled ol’ man Joe Stockman searches his Alzheimers-addled
memory for some tips for getting the most out of life on the road.
On the ROad
The earliest book that I can remember reading was a children’s
encyclopaedia which had a very basic map of the world. I
pored over that map, dreaming about the amazing and exotic
people who must live in all of these incredible places. Even
as a very young child I was filled with the desire to travel in
order to meet these people and see for myself what the rest
of the world was like. Once I finally left New Zealand, each
new country I went to only fed my travel addiction. Over four
years of working and travelling overseas I racked up 50-odd
countries and four continents.
Not everything about travel is great. Spewing your ring out in
a dingy Khao San Road backpackers quickly loses its romance,
as do 18-hour bus rides on third world roads. But the rewards
are huge, and unless you’re a truly heartless bastard you’ll
come back changed by the people you’ve met and the sights
you’ve seen.
The following information is pretty widely available on the
internet, but is also loosely based on my own experiences
and stories swapped with other backpackers on the road. If
you’re looking for more info, head to www.travelindependent.
info. She’s a great wee website packed full of useful guidance.
WheRe tO gO?
This is either the hardest or the easiest question. If you’ve
always wanted to see the canals of Venice and can’t think
of anything more fantastic, then you’re set. If, on the other
hand, you’re more in love with the idea of adventure and travel
generally and can’t decide amongst the ridiculously plentiful
options where exactly you want to go first, then you’re going
to have to make some choices.
There are two restrictions to keep in mind: cost and time. If you
had unlimited money and unlimited time, then you could go
everywhere that your heart desired. But the reality for most
of us is that we have perhaps a few months before we’re due
back at uni, or at that grad job, and will be funding our trips
with the limited coin that we managed not to piss away during
semester. Here is a really rough breakdown of the different
parts of the world you could target.