I am a 23 year-old graduate from Penn State who likes to play sports and stay active. I love magic tricks and anything competitive. I am known for being the most competitive during sports that don’t really matter, like dodgeball and kickball (In my opinion, those are the most important, and I need to win). I am from Buffalo, NY where I was born and raised. Although our city has never won a major championship in any sport, we have some of the best fans in the country. And we have people that rock zubaz like nobody’s business. I love to travel and learn about new places. You can read my other travel blogs by clicking here. I love making videos, which you can watch by clicking here. One of my favorites is shown below.
Why do you want to go to Asia?
To me, Asia is like a totally different world. It is more different than similar to the environment that I am used to. Yet, I know that I will still be able to connect to the people there. To me, that is very interesting and exciting. It is a place that is not as well-known and is more off the beaten path than typical backpacking trips.
What are you looking forward to most?
I am looking forward to having a trip that doesn’t have a set schedule. It is exciting to know that we can change our itinerary at any time if something great comes up. I have never done that with a trip before and I think that it will give us a sense of freedom and ease some stress. We are not experts on the areas that we are traveling to, so taking advice from fellow travelers or other people that we meet can be very beneficial when mapping out our itinerary as we go. The map page of this blog will be updated as we know where we are heading.
What are you most nervous about?
I am most nervous of getting pick pocketed or having something stolen. The only reason that this is more of an issue for me than it normally would be is because we need our possessions to last for 5 months. It will be a pain to lose something that I will need everywhere, like a passport, credit cards, or phone (where we are using as our only form of communication to home, via wifi). I will take precautions to prevent this, but it is an unpredictable occurrence. Luckily, nothing that I am bringing can’t be replaced. My most valuable thing in my backpack will be my memory card in my camera, so I will attempt to upload as many pictures as I can to the internet as a solid backup of my favorite pictures and videos.
Which country do you think will be your favorite?
From what I read and heard from other people who have been to the area, Thailand seems like a good answer to this question. I don’t know what it actually will be by the end of my trip, but Thailand has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and has some incredible cities. This is the first stop on our trip, so we will judge this prediction pretty quickly.
But wait, how are you going to fit everything into your backpack?
It is a tough task to keep all of my belonging for 5 months in a backpack, but it shows me how little we actually need to get by. I am bringing one pair of shoes, as well as one pair of each other type of clothing, except socks and under ware. I am bringing a fair amount of electronics, but mostly just my phone, camera, backup camera, and extra batteries. Besides that, I will not have much else. I can leave the hair products, high heeled shoes, and fashionable clothing at home.