Others say these are crazy travel habits, but we think they are absolutely normal.
We might need your help to decide, so please read the post and let us know in the comments which team you are on. 😆
How can this post help you?
- You might learn that you are also crazy! At least according to others. If that is the case, welcome to the club! We are serving champagne and 12hr+ long bus journeys
- You might find advice for your travels here. We are sharing not just what others deem crazy travel habits, but also our reasoning behind them
- You might discover unusual, unique travel tips and tricks, because, as always, we’ve included those too!
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.
Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.
After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆
During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅
And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!
Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!
Crazy travel habits
There are some habits that generally pass people’s judgement.
Like travelling with a reusable water bottle.
And topping it up at the airport, once you are past security.
That is, if you can. Some airports still haven’t caught on the fact we are living in the 21st century and care about this planet (looking at you, Bratislava airport 😠).
Btw, if you are always worried whether there will be a water fountain at the airport, we’ve got something that will help.
There is this fantastic website called Water at Airports that collates info from actual travellers about where you can top up water at different airports!
We use it every time we are flying from a new airport.
The UX of the website looks rather awful, but just scroll past the spammy-looking intro messages and you’ll find a list of countries.
Click on the country you are flying from and then see if your airport is listed.
Also, if you have information about a water top-up that isn’t listed there, submit it to help out other travellers (you never know, it might earn you brownie points with the God of Travel and your next flight might not actually be delayed! Or there might not be a crying baby sitting right behind you. It’s worth a try!).
So yes, while some travel habits are generally considered okay (read: normal), there are things we do that people often say are weird.
As we said in the intro, it’s up to you to decide – we’ll tell you our crazy travel habits (allegedly) and why they make sense to us. You just have to let us know what you think!
Travel habit no. 1: Travelling full-time
This is probably the top thing that people find crazy.
But do you know what’s crazy to us?
That many people don’t have the need to travel!
There is so much to see in the world.
Cultures, languages, and traditions to learn about.
People to meet.
Weird food to eat.
Cocktail bars to discover.
Beaches to chill on.
Ohhh, let’s pack up and go right now, shall we?
But back to our point, we have been told travelling full-time is crazy.
And it actually kinda is.
It’s crazy fun.
But also crazy difficult and tiring.
We’d recommend it to everyone, though, if possible. At least for a bit. Even if just for 6 months, if you can, go and travel full-time. You won’t regret it.
If you don’t know where to start, we have a series that explains everything full-time travel as well as many other unusual tips and tricks for getting ready.
Travel habit no. 2: Sleeping at airports
Have you ever slept at an airport?
If it can even be called sleeping.
We have.
Many times, at many airports.
It was awful 99% of the time.
But we keep doing it.
Why?
Because we are terrible at getting rid of bad travel habits!
Kidding!
We do it mostly to save money and time. And sometimes because we don’t have any other choice.
For example, when there isn’t an onward connection available, we just stay at the airport overnight and travel first thing in the morning.
Even if we have to go to work right after that. Yep, we are that crazy.
Tips for sleeping at airports
Here are some tips for sleeping at airports, because while airports with their shiny duty free are sooo much fun for a few hours, it’s a totally different ball game when you do it overnight.
- First, make sure the airport actually stays open during the night. You might be surprised that many small ones don’t!
- Check the website Sleeping in Airports, which has a ton of information on sleeping at various airports around the world. We consult it before every airport “sleepover”.
- Bring layers. 99% of the time the airport is freezing, so you will want to have many layers and possibly also a blanket to stay warm.
- Make sure you have enough snacks to get you through the night. Food places often close overnight, and you don’t wanna end up hungry (or even worse, hangry) at an airport. Drinks are usually easier to source – some cafes stay open 24/7 and many airports (thankfully) have water fountains these days. We talked about this at the start – remember to check the Water at Airports website, especially if you are staying overnight at a new airport.
- If you are waiting for onward travel (not a plane, but say a bus or a train), don’t leave the airside area (the area past security). The landside arrivals/departure area of the airport is never as comfy and never has as many facilities as the airside, so make sure to stay there.
Travel habit no. 3: Overlanding
When we are travelling, especially when full-time travelling, we overland a lot.
Here is why:
- It’s more sustainable. Flying is not the most environmentally friendly travel activity out there, so we try to limit it. (Even though being up in the sky is one of the best feelings ever, especially on a long-haul flight. And if long flights scare you, you have to read this).
- It’s more adventurous. Let’s face it, when flying, it’s better when things go smoothly. But when overlanding, the best adventures and stories come from problems. Even if in the moment you want to cry, try to remember that one day it will make a good story.
- It’s often cheaper. Often, but not always, so do compare the different options. We use platforms like Rome2Rio or 12Go (in Asia) for this.
- It’s more… looking for a word here other than “romantic” because that just isn’t our vibe. Okay, let’s describe it: sitting on a train with a book, looking out at the Thai countryside, surrounded by locals munching on delicious coconut pancakes… what’s the word to describe this? Let us know in the comments if you have one!
We admit, sometimes it is absolutely crazy.
We’ve done long night journeys, scrunched up on small bus seats.
Or sitting on a dirty train, where it was safer to stay up than to sleep.
But you know what many people who think this is just one of our crazy travel habits don’t realise?
That long-term travellers are usually time-rich and money-poor.
This is the main difference between a full-time traveller and a casual holidaymaker.
Slow travel is definitely the way to go when travelling long-term, otherwise, you will burn out and your experience will be a big mess. So time is usually not a problem.
Money, on the other hand, is, because you are trying to make it last for as long as possible when travelling full-time.
This is why a £10 8-hour bus journey is preferred to a 2-hour £120 flight.
And why this travel habit is not crazy at all.
Travel habit no. 4: Eating on a street
Know what’s a popular thing to be thrown into the bag of crazy travel habits?
Popular as in SO MANY people think it’s absolutely wild to do.
Eating at street markets or, *takes a deep breath* on the actual street!
The horror.
We are, of course, just making fun of people who keep insisting that we will get sick from eating street food. We’ve been doing it for years and have never been sick once.
Does it mean we won’t ever get sick?
No.
Does it mean that you shouldn’t be careful and follow certain rules when eating street food?
No.
Does it mean that you will never get sick when eating in a “proper” restaurant?
No.
To us, street food is a must when travelling.
It lets you discover the true local food. Have a local experience.
And, contrary to the popular belief, it is often better than the food in tourist restaurants.
How come?
Because while in a tourist restaurant they know you are just a tourist, so you (and your opinion and money) won’t matter to them in a week’s time, in street food stalls they usually cook for locals. So they make sure the food is good.
Trying jellyfish at a market in Thailand. Normal Tuesday night to us, but, apparently, these are crazy travel habits of full-time travellers!
Travel habit no. 5: Living out of a backpack
This one puzzles many people and, to be honest, it used to puzzle us too. 😅
Before we set off on our full-time travel adventures, we could not imagine having our whole life packed into two backpacks.
It just doesn’t seem possible, right?
But then we started researching (yes, our favourite) and discovered that it’s possible.
And not just possible, but also fun and much better for you.
You learn to value the few things you have. To appreciate them more. To take better care of them.
You learn that less really is more.
And that you don’t need that much to live. Looking at you, giant coffee machine. 🤨
If you are also struggling to imagine yourself living out of a backpack – first, we totally get it.
Second, here is the secret.
There are many crazy travel hacks which help make it work.
Note: Crazy to other people, but normal to travellers.
You start by packing light. You don’t pack pointless things. You do pack useful stuff, even if, again, people might deem it weird. And you fit more into your bag by using packing cubes.
Travel habit no. 6: Taking public transport
We try to take public transport everywhere.
What’s crazy about that, you might ask?
Well, we try to do it even in places which don’t have much of public transport (looking at you, Southeast Asia).
Why?
We don’t have driving licenses and taxis stress us out. 😅
People think both of these are crazy, so here is our defence:
No driving license – we’ve always lived in cities where driving wasn’t necessary. And when we once tried getting a licence, we couldn’t find a driving instructor (crazy but true).
Taxis – the idea of sitting in a car with a stranger in silence makes us uneasy. The idea of making small talk with them makes us even more uneasy (shout out to the few taxi drivers in Glasgow who we could seriously imagine having as friends because their chat was that good! 😆). Add to that the issue of scams, negotiating prices, and safety, and you can see why we are less than keen on taxis. We do a little dance every time we see there is Uber or Bolt or an app like that in the city we are in (to clarify, here we are mainly talking about traditional taxis, not these on-demand services like Uber).
And then there is the cost, which is usually much higher for a taxi than for public transport, and, as you might know, we are all about saving money.
So yes, it might seem crazy, trying to figure out public transport everywhere we go, but it’s often the only option for us.
If you need help with public transport or advice on car-free travel, we are your people. Just message us. here or on Instagram.
So what do you think?
Are these crazy travel habits or normal things? And do you do any of them yourself? Let us know in the comments, the champagne is chilling. 😉
