To JR or not to JR?! That is the question…Historically the JR pass has been the absolute ‘go to’ for people planning exploritative travel around Japan. Being offered in 1, 2 and 3-week increments they are pretty comprehensive and all of the information about them will tell you that you can pay off the cost of the pass in as little as two train journeys. While this can certainly be the case, it is not quite as clear-cut as that, as JR train travel is absolutely not your only option to get around Japan. The JR pass is definitely a worthwhile consideration if you plan on moving regularly around the country over a set amount of time. In addition, it makes things a lot easier with much less planning and preparation needed on the ground to get around. It is also almost unquestionably the most efficient way to navigate around. If ease and efficiency are your primary focus when visiting Japan then there is little argument I can make against acquiring a JR pass. Having said that, if you’re willing to put in the effort both in terms of planning and executing journeys you can travel around the country a lot cheaper using buses and alternative train routes/companies. In many ways the countrywide JR passes are great, but the do limit you exclusively to JR trains ONLY and there are a huge range of other train, bus and boat options available. Furthermore, in places like Osaka and Kyoto they are completely useless in terms of local transport. A lot of people travel to Japan and buy a JR pass believing this is all they will need to pay for all transport for the whole time they are in the country and 99% of the time this is just not the case. We carefully considered and eventually vetoed the JR Pass for our recent 6-week trip to Japan, which turned out to be a very wise choice! These are the three most effective methods we used to ‘beat’ it!
Overall, a combination of these methods proved to be massively effective for us. To put this potential saving into real perspective for you, here’s a little glimpse at some final facts. We were in Japan for 6 weeks (41 days) in total and we went all the way from Tokyo down to Okinawa Island in that time. Our TOTAL travel costs for entire time in Japan including local and intercity buses/trains/trams etc and a flight from Fukuoka to Okinawa: ¥50,992pp ($619.25AUD/$465.10USD) vs 3 week JR rail pass ONLY: ¥70,000pp ($849AUD/$639.89USD) I’m not gonna lie and say it was easy to achieve that, but it is possible. We didn’t hitchhike anywhere, we didn’t steal a car and we didn’t hide out in train toilets to avoid paying. We did plan meticulously and we did walk...a lot...but the numbers speak for themselves. It was worth it! Other money saving tips…
By using all of these hints, tricks and methods combined we managed to do absolutely everything we wanted to do in Japan, visit everywhere we wanted to go and see everything we wanted to see. We went in with what we believed to be a bit of an optimistic budget of $130AUD (¥10,650/$100USD) per day for two people. At the end of the trip we came in at $121.36AUD (¥9,943/$91.15USD). Japan on a budget DOES exist! What it actually cost: $4,368.85 AUD for 36 days (We spent 5 days at Disney which was a separate budget). Transport: $1238.51 Accommodation: $1226.76 Entertainment: $557.37 Drinks: $155.68 Souvenirs: $82.47 Miscellaneous: $79.38 This works out at $60.67 AUD ($45.70 USD) per person per day, which is well under the $100 USD that the lonely planet recommends.
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and is this just another example of video killed the radio star?Let me explain this rather odd introduction. I am now pushing towards the end of my third big backpacking adventure. My first was as a solo traveller in my early 20s and focussed almost exclusively on Australia and New Zealand (with the addition of a short diversionary trip to Fiji and a small chunk of time in the states). My second was with my then girlfriend (now wife) in our mid 20s and took us across the length and breadth of South East Asia, all over Europe and another stint in the US. And finally this trip, which started in our late 20s and has continued to us both entering our 30s. Thus far it has seen us pretty much totally cover the American mainland continent right the way from Canada all the way down to Argentina (missing out on 5 mainland countries along the way). We’ve also been to Cuba and travelled down to Antarctica. In addition we went back to Europe and explored a wide selection of the bits we had missed the first time. Now we are in Asia exploring the Eastern region and we will soon return to the south east. Over the course of these three trips a huge amount seems to have changed in the world of the backpacker. Some of it for the better, and some of it undeniably for the worse!! I’ll elaborate. When I set off on my first adventure in January 2010 and I was a bug-eyed, fresh-faced and energetic 22 year old, I had very little idea about what exactly I wanted to see or do but had a whole lot of enthusiasm to see and do it all! Within days of arriving in a hostel in Sydney I had met a huge variety of backpackers, some old, some young, some experienced, some green, some at the start of their adventures and some at the end. I quickly made friends and as a group we shared ideas, stories and plans about travels before heading off on our separate ways or in my case with newly acquired travel friends. This was a situation that occurred on multiple occasions throughout my first backpacking trip. Meeting new people, in hostels, at tourist destinations, in bus stations, on trains, in queues...anywhere! We would engage, establish our instant commonality as fellow travellers and begin to build a bond. Sometimes this would last a few minutes. Sometimes a day or a night. Sometimes a few days/weeks. And in some rarer cases these would turn into lifelong friendships. This was the beauty of travelling. Wherever you were in the world and however familiar or alien it felt to you, when you met a fellow traveller you had something in common. Even if in the ‘real’ world your lives couldn’t be more different, at this moment, in this place you were both travellers and that connection trumped all other things. What was so wonderful about travelling at this time was the unfailing attitude of almost everyone to help each other out. If you saw a fellow traveller and they looked lost or confused or stressed out you helped them...gave them directions, instructions, change, a cigarette and if none of these things were what they needed the very least you would always offer was moral support! That’s how backpacking worked. At this time there wasn’t the abundance of good quality free WiFi we have available now and not all travellers had smartphones (in fact it was pretty uncommon). This meant that finding your way around often had to be done the ‘old fashioned way’, by asking people, reading signs and following maps. If you had managed to decipher something or had somehow acquired useful knowledge or information it was almost your duty to share it with other travellers who may be able to utilise it! Now, when I say ‘share’ I don’t mean it in terms of the Gen Z/Facebook definition. No quick tweets or Facebook updates were in anyway functional or useful at this point. By sharing, I mean interacting with other living humans in your immediate vicinity and verbally relaying information. And this was something we did regularly! In all different places, all of the time. You could arrive in a hostel on your own and be out having drinks with a whole group of new travel mates within hours. Being a backpacker was like being part of the world’s most inclusive members only club! Now, skip forward two years, add another person and relocate to South East Asia! We are now in 2013, solo traveller has now become pair of travellers and we are 25/26 years old. On this trip, I noticed a slight shift, but not a major one and not one that I necessarily viewed as negative. Our time in the region took us from the heavily touristed parts of the ‘Banana Pancake Trail’ in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as the more remote areas of those countries and places like Myanmar, Malaysia, Borneo and Singapore which aren’t (weren’t) really on the trail at all. During this trip it was obvious that the traveller’s desire for and expectation of easily accessible ‘connection’ had increased. Far more hostels, guest houses and cafes proudly and brazenly advertised their status as ‘Free WiFi hotspots’ and those were the places where travellers would generally gravitate. “No WiFi, no customer!” I remember hearing one guesthouse proprietor in Thailand exclaim. Whilst I thought this was a shame I understood the shift. In the two years since I had travelled previously, the average persons online presence had increased exponentially and smartphones had become almost common place among the majority of mobile phone users. Both of these factors were and still are particularly true of travellers. Given the fact that most people who are travelling are doing so as part of some great adventure (be that long or short term) it stands to reason that given the opportunity you would want to be able to share your experiences with those you know and love, and social media has provided the easiest and most efficient way in which to do that! In terms of smart phones, these can undeniably be a travellers best friend as they can function as a computer, camera, GPS, iPod and of course a phone (although for many travellers that becomes a largely redundant feature) all in one and they fit in your pocket! Pretty handy when you’re living out of a backpack! What had remained unchanged for the most part was this universal backpacker’s club that I mentioned earlier. Everyone was still willing to help each other out (although the services you offered could now include “a quick Google”), friendships were still formed and solidified with unbelievable pace and regularity (on this trip we went on a one month trip around Borneo with a couple we met in a guesthouse and had known for 5 days prior to embarking) and there was absolutely no denying the subconscious attitude of “we’re all in this together”! I can’t deny it was noticeable that when a place had decent WiFi it became an instantly desirable location for many and would become a destination at which little communication between closely proximate individuals would occur. However, this disengagement with reality was always brief as once the tweet was tweeted and the update posted, getting back to making the most of the experience you were living was of utmost importance! At this stage technology was certainly present but not yet omnipresent in a travellers life. I will now bring you right forward to present day...actually, that’s not strictly true, I will bring you up to the commencement of my current trip in August 2016 and through to present day. This trip has seen both me and my wife bid farewell to our 20s and bound head first into our 30s whilst living out as many of our travel dreams as we can possibly fit in before we temporarily settle down and play at being ‘responsible adults’ for a short time! At this stage we have been on the road for nearly 20 months and the vast majority of that time was spent on the American continent (with some more Europe thrown in for good measure and the start of our final bit of Asian exploration recently begun). Before I begin my description of my opinion of this trip when compared to the others, I feel I should take ownership of a few things that have changed for me personally since the 2013/14 trip. Firstly, I’m now 30 which means that on average I am anything from 5 to 12 years older than most other backpackers on the road. Being older does not buy you ‘cool points’ as a backpacker, I can guarantee you that! (I am pained to admit that when I first started backpacking I used to look at people of my current age and quietly wonder what these weird old people were doing travelling and why they weren’t at home with mortgages and children!) Secondly, I’m married. While being married does not in anyway mean that I don’t want to socialise with anyone else or make new friends, it does mean that sometimes at the end of a long day of exploring/travelling I would sometimes prefer a quiet early night in with my other half, over an massive and extended ‘getting to know you’ session in a hostel common space! Finally, I am a little more reserved than I used to be. This isn’t as a direct result of anything in particular but just something that I believe is a consequence of age and life experience.
All of these factors combined mean that I am certainly not the same type of backpacker (or indeed person) that I was in 2010 and I am aware of that. However, with the changes undergone in me duly accounted for, I am stunned and disappointed by the changes in the fundamental make up of the average backpacker and of the club in which they travel! Remember what I said at the start about connecting and making friends, we’re all in this together, my knowledge is your knowledge...?! As far as I can see that has all but disappeared. Suddenly there is an overriding sense of every man for himself! People are obviously still travelling in groups but these are almost exclusively already constructed groups of friends rather than the previously very common organically created collectives of travellers. When I see other travellers in the more obscure destinations or on the road midway between two distant points my instant reflex is to smile at them. This is usually done with one of three meanings “Do you need help?”, “Can you help me?”, “Hi, I’m a traveller too and if you wanna chat we can.” In days gone by this smile was almost always reciprocated and would sometimes result in a response to one of the ‘between the lines, smile statements’. These days about one in every five of these smiles is reciprocated and even if it is, any further communication is almost unheard of! The non-exclusive members club appears to have disappeared and I blame technology for this! Gone are the days of need help/want advice = ask a person/fellow traveller! It is now, need help = ask Google, want advice = read a blog. On more than one occasion on this trip I have actually offered assistance to other backpackers who were obviously in need and had this offer actively rejected in place of Google! Back in the ‘real’ world it used to upset me greatly when I would see groups of teenagers ‘hanging out’ together in Starbucks or in parks and completely ignoring each other. Instead of actually communicating they would all sit around together in a circle playing on their phones, occasionally and very briefly breaking the code of silence to share an amusing meme or to take a Snapchat selfie with another member of the group. I would often scoff at the fact that this is what socialisation had become in the next generation but assumed it was likely to be just a middle class, city kids thing! Oh how wrong I was! The exact same trend is true of the younger generation of backpackers. There seems to be a whole collective of backpackers who are now more interested in instagramming their trip than actually being on it! Technology, and more to the point the ease with which everyone can access it seems to have resulted in a preference for a life lived in he virtual world rather than the real one! I’m astounded by the ever decreasing length of time for which your average traveller is comfortable with being ‘disconnected’. I’ve honestly been on hour long walking tours where fellow participants have photographed something and then completely ignored the guide and following 3-4 minutes of the tour while they post the picture immediately on some form of social media! Travel now appears to have become an individualist game of oneupmanship. Instead of visiting a place to see and experience and learn about a culture or pursue a passion or dream or adventure it seems to now be used as a means to just take a better selfie in a more unique location than the other people who follow you on Instagram! The experience is had so it can be posted about rather than lived. This has been a stark and harsh realisation I have had on this trip and I feel nothing but genuine sadness for the new generation of travellers who I believe to be really missing out on the freedom to really indulge in an experience that we had less than a decade ago! I know there are exceptions to this trend as I have met them! These days they are easy enough to spot as they are the ones who are not on their phones in social situations and the ones who make eye contact and are willing (able) to partake in spontaneous conversation. It may just be my ever advancing age, fear/loathing of technology or simply that I am being unfairly judgemental. I will accept all of these as being potential reasons why I have noticed and feel so strongly about this shift. But, to quote Carrie Bradshaw “I couldn’t help but wonder...” has technology changed the world of the backpacker forever and have younger backpackers lost the ability to truly experience the world and their opportunity to through it? We entered Honduras from Las Manos, Nicaragua. This border crossing was relatively painless if not a little bit more expensive than it should have been due to crossing on a Saturday (not actually a thing but something that they can make a thing if they feel like it…and you can’t really argue with the people with the stamps now, can you?!). It was all made easier by the fact that the extremely stern Nicaraguan customs officer totally broke his macho act when I accidently told him I was a hospital instead of a nurse…damn Spanglish!! We paid our $6 USD ($7.90 AUD) to the Honduran officials, got our stamp and wandered down the dusty road to the bus waiting on the other side. We had started our journey into the unknown and so far it was going well. The bus quickly departed for El Paraiso about 45 minutes away from the border where we were to pick up a connection to Tegucigalpa (locally known as Tegus). There was an extremely friendly older gentleman who helped us find the quicker minivans once we arrived in El Paraiso and it wasn’t long until we were on our way to the capital. Both of us were quite apprehensive about this journey but it turned out we needn’t have worried as it was simple, smooth and comfortable and by 12pm we had arrived at our hostel, Palmira (210 Lempiras/$8.90 USD/ 11.75 AUD pp/night) housed in the former Ecuadorian Embassy building. The taxi journey should have only cost us about 100L ($4.25 USD/5.60 AUD) but we were charged 150L ($6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) and felt that it was best just to get to the hostel in as quickly and easily as possible without messing around too much. The hostel was safe and secure and exactly what we needed for the night we were going to stay in Tegus. On arrival we found out that they ran a daily free walking tour of the downtown area and felt this may be the only way we would explore the city in our short time there, so we signed up. This turned out to be a great experience. It only cost us the price of the museum entrance (100 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD), which included a guide for about an hour and a half. He was excellent and gave us a full run down of the history of Honduras and it’s political turmoil over the last 100 years. He had a special interest in gay rights, which of course we found the most interesting. Overall, Tegus felt a lot safer having a local with us and we’re not sure we would have gone out (other than to get food during the day) on our own. Having said that, it didn’t actually feel particularly unsafe and in hindsight I’m not sure we felt Tegus was as dangerous as it is made out to be. The following morning we had a cab (100 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) called for us to get to the bus station and we were whisked onto a bus (150 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) as soon as we got there. We had written down and explained to the bus conductor where where we wanted to go, as we were heading to Lago de Yojoa, which was not the final stop. This all seemed to be going well until we were suddenly ushered off the bus only to discover we were a full 12km from the turnoff we needed to be at to get to D&D Brewery and essentially in the middle of knowhere!! Slightly delirious from panic we managed to get directions and flagged down the next bus that came past to get us to the La Guama junction. In our panic we forgot to negotiate the cost of this short trip and ended up being charged another 100L ($6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) for the 2 of us to actually get to where we were originally supposed to get to. At the junction a bus was waiting to take us to Peña Blanca, which cost 15L ($0.65 USD/0.85 AUD). Only one leg left to go, we caved and took a mototaxi (instead of waiting for the slightly cheaper local bus) straight to D&D with the wonderful Manuel for 40L ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD). D&D turned out to be an absolute dream and we would both say that it is definitely high on our list of ‘must-dos’ if you are visiting Honduras. It is a little complicated to get to but the location is amazing, there is loads to do, both paid for and free and everything about being there is pretty idyllic in terms of a relaxed and beautiful natural surroundings! The room we got for $15 USD ($19.75) was the best deal we had in all of Honduras. Set in a beautiful tropical garden filled with hummingbirds, we had a private room and en suite bathroom that we were sharing with only one other room. The best thing though…HOT SHOWERS!!! We were in heaven and our first decision was to extend our stay from 2 nights to 5. Having checked in and seen the prices of food in the restaurant we decided to head out and see what local food was available. We were lucky enough to be guided to the pupusa woman by Al who was staying at our hostel for the third time that year! These pupusas (a cornmeal tortilla stuffed with beans and cheese) were delicious and piled high with salad and salsa. They only cost 40L for 2 ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD) and were enough to fill the satisfactorily fill the gap. After a great night’s sleep we decided to head down to Peña Blanca for breakfast. It was a pleasant stroll down the dusty road and a man even stopped his pickup truck to offer us a lift (we weren’t quite ready for that so we declined). Everyone we walked passed smiled and offered a friendly “Hola” and slowly our apprehensions about Honduras started to ease. It was in Peña Blanca that we got to taste what was to quickly become our favourite breakfast, baleadas. Baleadas are a large flour tortilla filled with refried beans and cheese and for meat eaters you can add chorizo or chicken. We tracked down a great little place making them fresh outside and having ordered one each we were back there minutes after finishing them for a second round. Peña Blanca didn’t have much to offer other than a market and some fried chicken shops so we headed back to D&D to chill and think about what we wanted to do while we were at the lake. It was that afternoon that we met the famous Walter we had read so much about in the reviews of D&D online. Expecting a middle-aged expat (with a name like Walter and being described as the very passionate resident ornithologist) we were stunned to find out he was a 28-year-old Honduran guy and an absolutely shameless and outrageous flirt. He spent the whole afternoon and early evening laughing and joking with us, so we swiftly booked in with him to do the birding tour on the lake the next morning ($18 USD + 10% service charge/23.80 AUD). This turned out to be a great decision because not only was Walter a lot of fun but he was an incredible wealth of knowledge on birds, and could spot even the smallest bird a mile away. We were able to see some beautiful birds skimming along the water and perched on branches near the shore of the lake and I finally had to admit…I think we really might have been becoming amateur twitchers. This was what convinced us to do Walter’s extended tour to a local private reserve as my special birthday treat from my mother in law. This would involve being guided for the day by two very experienced bird watchers and learning about what twitchers really do. We found it harder than the lake tour as we weren’t as adept at spotting, but we managed to see 81 different species that day with some major assistance from our guides, so that certainly wasn’t to be sniffed at! Other than the immense bird spotting and citing of rare treats like toucans and green jays, the best thing about this tour…we were fed three square meals, which we hadn’t had since leaving Nicaragua! It’s funny the things you really learn to appreciate when you’ve been on the road for a while. Three square meals in one day and a hot shower at the end of it and we thought all of our Christmases had come at once!! Our extended time at D&D was coming to an end but having met another long-term traveller Megan, we decided we would all head to Walter’s friends hostel in Gracias for my birthday. This would involve another complicated journey of returning to the La Guama junction, waving down a bus to La Esperanza and then getting on a bus from there to Gracias. This didn’t turn out too badly and we were there within the predicted 5 hours. Walter’s friend Angel turned out to be exactly that…when he found out about my birthday he promised to fire up his real wood-fired oven to make me one of his famous pizzas the following evening to celebrate! Another major plus was just how beautiful his hostel was. Awesome chilled out vibe and really nice rooms, with all basically brand new fixtures and fittings as he was building it up from scratch himself ($10 USD/13.20 AUD for a dorm bed and $35 USD/46.25 AUD for a double with en suite including breakfast – which was a good hearty affair). Possibly the most exciting bonus of this place which we didn’t discover until we arrived…MORE HOT SHOWERS! I’m not going to say that Gracias is the most happening place nor was it quite the ‘jewel’ the Lonely Planet made it out to be, but I had a great birthday hanging out with Dani and Megan, wandering around the colonial buildings and cobblestone streets of the town and then delighting in a fabulous margarita cocktail and a huge vegetarian pizza with a Angel and another guest from the hostel. Up early the next morning we were heading to the Copan Ruinas. This journey only involved 2 buses, one to Santa Rosa and then another to Copan. On the bus to Santa Rosa we were sat next to a highly intoxicated young man who decided that he needed to help the gringos get to Copan. Giving us updates every 5 minutes about how long we had to go (this was in between him conducting and air driving the bus from his seat in the back). Although he was really drunk he very sweetly followed us to the next bus to ensure we got on and then waved us away with a cheery “adios” before stumbling away and nearly knocking himself out on a lamppost . The next journey took 3 hours, getting us to Copan comfortably in the mid afternoon. The bus dropped us off at a small dusty layby between the ruins and Copan main town. As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by hoards of taxi/tuktuk drivers offering to take us to the centre that was supposedly…”very far, too far!”. We had already been told that this was not true and so happily decided to go it alone on foot. This turned out to be a perfectly acceptable decision as we were a mere five minutes walk away along a flat (albeit slightly dusty) road from the entrance to Copan town. We got there without any problem but were not really up for hiking up the hill that greeted us as soon as we crossed the bridge and entered Copan. On that basis we decided to check out the first place we saw at the bottom of the hill, Hotel Patty. An initial offer of 400L ($16.80 USD/22 AUD) per night in a private double with en suite was quickly reduced to 350L ($14.70 USD/19.25 AUD) when the proprietor discovered we planned to stay for more than one night. We knew for a fact that the best deal in town was at ViaVia right in the centre, which offered a private twin/double for just $10USD a night. While there was no doubt that this was a great offer the requirement of us to schlep our bags up the hill to get there, coupled with the fact that we knew this particular location had a bit of a reputation as a party hostel meant that this guys offer at Hotel Patty was too good to pass up, so we took it! And just to sweeten the deal, once in our room we discovered that once again we had the added luxury of hot water…three locations in a row and we were starting to get used to this again!! Having dumped our bags we then hiked up the hill to the main square and found a selection of women selling wonderful looking baleadas for 10L ($0.42 USD/0.55 AUD) so we got 3 each before wandering around the charming little town that was Copan Ruinas. The plan for the next day was to get to the ruins before the 11am bird feeding when the Scarlet Macaws as well as a variety of other birds descend for their breakfast. We found it difficult to find food in the morning, which is how we stumbled across the local market and found a stall with the best 7-year-old waiter you have ever met (he was on school holidays). He was excellent and had the most amazing gappy grin. They served a great breakfast of rice, beans, avocado, eggs and tortillas fresh from the pan for 40L ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD). After filling up, we were off to the ruins (Entrance: 345 Lempiras/$14.65 USD/19.25 AUD). It’s an easy walk from town (15-20 minutes, downhill and flat) so no need for a tuktuk or taxi. We arrived in plenty of time for the birds and it was an amazing sight seeing all the scarlet macaws out around the crumbling ancient structures. The complex is small in comparison to many other Mayan sights in Central America but what makes it so unique and subsequently unquestionably worthwhile are the intricate carvings that adorn a huge amount of the sites ruins. They really are quite spectacular! We spent a good 3 hours slowly wandering around and exploring the different areas of the excavated site. There are options to buy an additional ticket to the museum or to get an upgrade to explore a set of recently opened tunnels. Having done our research prior we decided against both of these as the museum was apparently entirely in Spanish and the tunnels were quite literally that, tunnels…not much to see and very little extra to explore. We had also chosen to explore the site without a guide as we preferred to do these kinds of things at our own pace. We did however see and hear some of the guided tours as we walked around and they seemed interesting and informative, so may be worth considering if you wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the site but by no means necessary. After a lovely time spent exploring the Copan ruins we headed back to our rather fancy abode to get along with sorting out the plans for our move out of Honduras the next day and into El Salvador! Overall Honduras had been wonderful and had pleasantly surprised us at almost every stop. Tegus had felt a little bit shady in parts, but was by no means the gang and gun filled murder centre that we had it pegged as being in our heads! It’s clear that it is a city with a high crime rate as many of the buildings have very high walls, bars on windows and barbed wire. Almost all businesses come complete with stern looking armed guards attentively standing watch outside and there is an air of tension that pervades when walking through busy streets. In the downtown area it’s a different story, it just like any other downtown in any other city, normal people doing normal things. Lago de Yojoa (in particular D&D Brewery) was idyllic! A truly beautiful location with incredibly friendly people and an almost endless stream of natural wonders to keep you entertained. Gracias, while being a little under-whelming in terms of the expectation set by it’s description in the Lonely Planet is not without it charms. Perhaps not a location worth going out of your way to visit, but if it is on your route or you have a spare day or two it certainly isn’t an unpleasant place to be. For us Copan was an absolute highlight, and not just of Honduras. A lovely little town, really friendly people, great balance of local culture and tourist convenience and some of the most beautiful and well preserved ruins either of us had seen anywhere in Latin America. So many people miss out Honduras and put it into the ‘too dangerous’ category! This is a huge mistake and a total misunderstanding. It is honestly no more dangerous as a tourist than any other country in Central America and as long as you are a smart traveller you will have no problems here at all. All you will be achieving by missing out on this country is an opportunity to explore a wonderful place with a huge amount to offer the relatively few who choose to pass through! Do it now before the word gets out! LGBT: : What surprised me the most about Honduras was the accepting attitudes and the interesting conversations we had about sexuality and gender with locals. Honduras has a terrible reputation for violence against gay men in particular but we found that at least those we discussed this with (they started the conversation) really were accepting and wanting to learn more about the LGBT community. This being said it is not the safest country to travel and be openly affectionate. I felt the most comfortable here and the least closeted which I was not expecting. Officially it is illegal to discriminate based on sexuality but there is a long history of political leaders who encouraged homophobia (and racism) so exercise caution. Budget Time $$$In terms of general spending, Honduras really isn’t a particularly expensive country. We had a $25USD/person daily budget and that was comfortably enough for the trip. Over the course of our time there we stayed in a dorm, an ex-pat run lodge, a boutique local place and a budget hotel and these averaged out at about $20USD/night. Longer distance journeys cost on average $2USD/hour and local buses cost absolutely nothing! In terms of food, local places are cheap and cheerful and tasty. Pupusas, baleadas, rice and meat are available pretty much everywhere and you’d find it hard to pay more than $3-4 for a good feed! Entrance fees to local attractions (museums, ruins, churches) are totally reasonable, ranging from $1-5USD, countrywide. We didn’t visit the islands while we were there but we do know that this is some of the cheapest diving anywhere in the world and is absolutely wonderful!
What it actually cost: $596.39 AUD Accommodation: $251.57 Transport: $87.32 Food: $78.81 Miscellaneous: $70.64 Entertainment: $49.50 Souvenirs: $39.65 Drinks: $18.91 This works out at $29.82 AUD per person per day Having made the last minute decision to skip San Marino we realised quickly we had travelled at least an hour and a half in the wrong direction and now had a 6-hour journey down to where we were heading. This would have been fine as we knew we were staying for 6 days with our friend at the other end, had we not experienced what everyone fears most with a hire car…the dreaded engine light coming on (obviously in the middle on nowhere)! A quick phone call to the AA let us know that a mechanic would be sent out to check the car within 2 hours. This was not a great start to our journey. Exactly 2 hours later a tow truck arrived and informed us they would be taking us to the Volkswagen dealership in the nearest town, almost an hour away in the wrong direction to our final destination. Having witnessed our beloved ‘Hamster’ being loaded onto the truck we jumped into the front cab and headed off to Terni. They were absolutely lovely to us at Volkswagen. Giving us espresso and juices while we waited and chatting to us in limited English, but we had to laugh when the response to “How long will this take?” was an Italian shrug of the shoulders that appeared to say…“How long is a piece of string?!”. It turned out that the answer to that question was another 2 hours. The brand new car we had hired had either a collapsed pipe or collapsed pump (our Italian isn’t great and neither is our knowledge of car engines) and although they had replaced it they had told us that because the mechanic didn’t feel confident in a right hand drive he hadn’t been able to test the car properly before handing back over to us. This left us mildly concerned that it might happen again, as we sped back down the road that we had already driven twice that day, towards our final destination. I do have to add though that both the AA and Volkswagen were brilliant. From the engine light switching on to being back on the road took 6 hours in total. The AA rang 3 times to check in that we were ok and everyone we had dealings with was so kind and friendly. Our fears of breaking down in our least favourite country had come true and we had come out of it unscathed! We finally got to Torremaggiore (a town in Southern Italy) at 11pm tired and ready for the ice-cold beer and pizza that Parsley had waiting for us (thank heaven for good friends). We spent 6 glorious days relaxing with our bestie in the heat of southern Italy whilst characteristically indulging in all the culinary delights that it had to offer. On one day we ventured out for a day at the beach, to an area called the Gargano, which is a National Park lined with olive trees and truly picturesque Italian villages. It was definitely a day well spent, however, the rest of our time was blissfully wiled away enjoying good company, drinking too many aperitivos and staying up way too late (we are not made for Italian timing). Italy had redeemed itself slightly (although the lady who screamed at Dani for using the woman’s bathrooms at the beach and did not even apologise when she was flashed Dani’s bikini top didn’t help) but we still aren’t sold and are not planning to go back again anytime soon. Having felt the last ferry trip had been acceptable we had booked another crossing with the same company (Grimaldi), this time from Italy to Greece. It turned out that their smaller commuter style ships weren’t nearly as nice and this ship had none of the amenities we had been expecting. More like a cargo ship than a ferry, we crammed into the small seated area available and counted down each uncomfortable minute of the 8 hour journey. As is always the case when you’re arriving somewhere late at night, the ferry was over an hour behind schedule and finally at 1.30am we drove off the ship. Having decided we would stay at a motel for the night, we were lucky enough to stumble across Holiday Zigos, which was not only open at 2am but also was also reasonably priced at €40 ($60.25 AUD/47.90 USD) for the night. Comfortable and clean we were grateful for a bed and dropped off to sleep almost immediately. The wife of the owner popped her head around the door at 10am the following morning and asked if we wanted breakfast and we decided it was worth the €5 ($7.50 AUD/6 USD) each not to have to worry about preparing it ourselves. We walked into the breakfast area and there was a feast before us. There were pastries, spanakopita, bread, jams and a wonderful omelette...great way to start the day! Having had a lazy morning it was time to get back on the road and it was as we were packing up that we realised the fridge in the car wasn’t working! We tried all the girl things of switching things on and off as well as fiddling with the fuse box to no avail. It was now time to contact Spaceship for their advice and after our 6-hour delay less than a week before we were dreading their response. Dani was on the phone to the lovely man in the maintenance department who was talking her through a series of unsuccessful checks and quick fixes…once again turning the fridge on and off and examining a couple of the fuses. Eventually he had to concede that this may not be an easy fix and so asked her if she had any DIY knowledge...the answer to this question is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I could see the look of panic in her eyes so I offered to take over. He asked me kindly to dismantle the whole back of the car in order to access the back of the fridge. Halfway through removing the middle panel in the car the phone disconnected. Knowing they were likely to call back I continued to unscrew the panel and remove it from the car. When he called back he said, “Just before you dismantle the car (too bloody late!!!!) I just want you to check one of the other fuses”. Sure enough THAT fuse HAD blown and the whole dismantling of the car had been completely redundant. The familiar hum of the fridge kicked in as soon as we replaced the fuse and half grateful and half furious I thanked the man and hung up the phone. Finally we were ready to go and headed off into Greece. Unfortunately Greece’s campsites are mainly limited to the coastline and as we would be returning to Greece later in our Eurotrip we were just driving through the northern mainland. A quick Google search had offered us 3 viable options. 2 near where we wanted to be and one in the middle of what appeared to be nowhere…nowhere (Kastraki) sounded great, so that was where we set the satnav. We drove into the most beautiful landscape of enormous towering rock formations with tiny monasteries perched on top. Now it turns out that this is a fairly heavily touristed part of mainland Greece but at the time we were unaware of this and were gobsmacked at our luck of stumbling across such a beautiful location. Camping Vrachos (€18/$27.15 AUD/21.60 USD) was one of the best we’ve stayed at with a tavern, great amenities and an easy walk into the nearest town. This was not going to be the quick one night stop we had planned. After pitching up for the night and making friends with the campground cats (which Dani named Persephone, Amsterdam and Hoover) we settled down to watch some CSI and drifted off to sleep early. Waking up to the surrounding mountains bright and early the next day was heaven and I think it was this campsite that truly sold us on the whole camping thing. We wandered up to the local village in the morning and stocked up on all our favourite Greek classics. Tzatziki, taramasalata, spanakopita, olives, feta…before heading into the souvenir shops to spend yet more money on all the things we get in every country. Our ultimate downfall was the lovely family that ran the shop, as they were so nice we ended up spending double our usual buying t-shirts for both Dani and one of our nieces as well as a dress for me to wear to one of the many weddings we would be attending later that summer. Armed with food and souvenirs we ambled back up the hill to the campground. We could have stayed there forever but it was decided that after two days we should continue making our way up to Bulgaria, so I found a campsite about 40 minutes out of Thessaloniki to stay in the following night.
This campground (Camping Agiannis/€14/$21.10 AUD/16.80 USD)was nothing like the paradise we had just left. It was 90% permanent caravans that had patios built around them and the pitches available had nothing more that an electricity box. We decided very quickly that we would leave early the next morning; explore Thessaloniki and then head straight into Bulgaria. That night we had the pleasure of attempting to find sleep whilst listening to the delightful lull of Bulgarian pop music and left as soon as we had had breakfast the next morning. Thessaloniki is a sweet costal city to wander around and we had a great time exploring the old ruins and churches that are dotted about. Before we headed off we restocked the fridge full of Greek goodies in anticipation of our imminent departure. Next stop…Bulgaria! Having decided to return to Europe earlier than planned (we had been planning on heading through Central America until the end of July before heading back to the UK for wedding season) we had spent 2 weeks in London planning our spontaneous adventure through Europe. This started with sending our amazing travel family in the South of France a message saying…”You know how we said we’d be coming in September…how about in 2 weeks instead?!” Luckily for us they are very flexible people and within no time at all we had arranged to start our journey in France. Our original plan (we know…never make a plan) was to do our usual trains and buses around Europe so we booked a very cheap flight to France and started mapping out the parts of Europe we hadn’t explored yet and still wanted to go to. However, as so often happens our plan was completely turned upside down when we stumbled across our friends Facebook posts about travelling in a Spaceship (for those of you who don’t know what this is they are a common way to travel New Zealand and Australia and are converted camping cars). This suddenly sparked an idea that as soon as it had been formed started turning into a very different trip. Some of the countries on the original itinerary went out the window for insurance reasons and places we had never seriously contemplated (Hello Andorra and Lichtenstein) were added. 4 days prior to flying to France we had to send our friends a message saying that we would be arriving a day later as we were now driving across. We picked up the Spaceship (aptly named Hamster) in the London depot and hit the road. We had booked a passage on the Eurotunnel (€120/$180.90 AUD/143.6 USD), which is actually a train you drive on to that takes you through the Channel Tunnel and arrived in Folkstone with plenty of time to take our scheduled train. The great thing about booking is that even if you arrive early they will just slot you on to the next available train instead of making you wait around. The journey is super quick and before you could even say ‘Bonjour!’ we were there. We had planned on driving as far as Orleans that night as we did not want to fight the Parisian traffic in the morning and we checked into a chain motel called F1 for €33 a night. The next morning we were up bright and early to finish the over 1000km journey to Cabrières. I can tell you turning up at Pauline and Roman’s was a welcome sight and when they came out with cold beer and more cheese than I had seen in my life within 5 minutes of arriving we knew that we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. The plan had been to stay 3-4 days…we stayed 6. Partially because of the wonderful hospitality and mainly to do with finally getting to spend time with our gorgeous little niece. I’m telling you it was a miracle that we even left at all and if it hadn’t have been for our now newly arranged trip to return in September I’m not sure we would have. Stop 2 in France was to go and see Uncle Nick who we had met in Bolivia. He gave us a very warm welcome, yet more cheese (sensing a theme?) and a wonderful tour of Toulouse before we headed off to Andorra. Now as a Kiwi I have a fascination with microcountries so after discovering the existence of Andorra and it’s proximity to Barcelona (which was to be our next stop), a visit here was a must! Driving to Andorra still remains to be one of the prettiest drives we’ve ever done. No one really talks about how beautiful the Pyrenees really are. Stunning mountainscapes, green fields, and quaint little villages the whole way through until you start climbing into the snow capped mountains that create the natural border of Andorra. As Andorra is a skiing destination we did notice driving through the first part that it was mainly deserted until the following winter. However, once you reach the other side of the mountain suddenly the place starts to liven up and turn into…the prettiest open-air shopping mall you’ve ever seen. Duty free stores line the streets and gas stations offering incredibly cheap petrol and diesel dot the highway. Pulling over to fill up with gas I decided to check out one of these duty free shops and, overwhelmed by excitement, I quickly left to find my wife so she could return with the credit card. Stocking up on the essentials…a fridge magnet for my mother, a pin for Dani’s mother, 2 Andorra patches, a Christmas decoration and an egg cup for fun we also filled the basket with food items that had cost a lot more in France I ‘tap-tapped’ it and we were off again. Slowly loosing hope of finding a camp ground after pulling up to one advertised, only to find out it was shut we decided to abandon the idea of staying in Andorra and started to head for Spain. Just as we reached the other side of Andorra de Villa we saw a sign for another campground. By this stage it was 7.30 at night and we were pretty tired so we pulled in only to be told that if we waited outside for another 30 minutes it would halve the price of a night’s stay. He wasn’t budging on the 8 o’clock time limit so we parked up and waited. Pulling into the campground at 8.05 we were ready, after over a week on the road to sleep in the car for the very first time. We slept surprisingly well that night and in the morning we sat admiring the green surroundings over tea and coffee while I desperately tried to get close enough to the Wi-Fi spot for news of a new baby in the family. Well rested and ready to go we set off for Barcelona. We had found a campground 10km out of the centre of Barcelona called Camping Masnou that had a train that took you directly into the city. This turned out to be a great option as we had the luxury of being by the water in a nice space without the Barcelona weekend prices. We parked up next to a lovely German couple and set up camp. Barcelona turned very quickly into one of our favourite cities. Surprise surprise within minutes of arriving Dani had booked us onto the walking tour the next day! We started with the Barcelona old town tour, which was incredibly informative and impressed us so much that we booked on to their Gaudi tour for the following day. After a wonderful morning of learning about the old city we made our way to La Bombetta, which was a tapas restaurant that had been recommended to us by our friends in France. After what felt like a lifetime (we hadn’t eaten much in preparation to gorge on tapas) we were sat at our table and went through the menu trying to decipher what was on offer. Luckily for us our Spanish isn’t too bad these days and we wrote down a list of dishes we wanted to order. Dani had just got through the list of vegetarian dishes we were ordering when the waiter decided we could not order anymore and refused to write anything else down. Boy was he surprised when not only did we finish all that we had ordered but then had to wave him back 3 further times to order what we had not been allowed to order in the first place. This turned out to be a very good recommendation and along with Segrada Familia (you need to book in advance to be able to enter, a mistake that we had to learn the hard way) and La Bocqueria one of our favourite experiences. We spent way too much money in Barcelona…not because it’s a particularly expensive city (by European capital standards it’s not really) but because we got over excited about all the cool souvenirs we could buy.
We had been planning to travel back through the South of France to get to our next planned visit to one of our closest friends in Italy. Those of you who don’t know us won’t know that our last trip to Italy had not been very successful and we had actually vowed never to return. It is the only country (out of 44) that we had experienced any homophobia outside of our everyday existence and we had decided it was one of very few countries we weren’t willing to give a second chance. This was thrown out the window when Parsley (long story) moved to Italy. Again as plans change and we had spent longer than anticipated in France we found the option of a 20-hour ferry journey from Barcelona to just outside of Rome was going to be our best option. This ferry journey cost €150 for the car and both passengers which seemed reasonable when you add up the costs of petrol and accommodation to drive round the coast. We had read reviews about Grimaldi and they weren’t particularly promising, however we didn’t find the journey unpleasant. As long as you come prepared it’s a relatively easy crossing but if you have the car make sure you get everything you need out of it before the journey starts as you will not have access to the car until you are docked again. The process at the other end was a little disorganised but it was incredible how fast the cars were unloaded once we got moving. Now came the difficult task of finding somewhere to stay for the night. We found a lake on the map and thought…if there’s a lake, there’s likely to be a campground. Pulling up at almost 9 at night we had stumbled across the mecca of camping. Beautiful lakeside plots gorgeous sunset views, impeccable amenities and great shady spots to park the car. We took out our table and chairs, sat them outside the van and had a long needed cup of tea while watching the sunset over the lake…paradise. Unfortunately we had a deadline to make for being in Southern Italy so as soon as we were caffeinated in the morning we were out. To be continued... |
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