A Young Person's Guide To Hitting The Road In Style

Here's the lowdown. I have just returned, remarkably still alive, from an incredible trip through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Greece. A lone ranger of a best friend, complete with an entirely unprecedented mohican, decided to plan, fund and stick by this daring trip by my side.

James Rothney. The man who made the bold move to hit the road with me. 

In the weeks before our departure, we heard often that seventeen was too young to be undertaking such a trip. Perhaps we would be mugged, murdered, or, worst of all, unable to book accommodation.

Yet here we are, safely home.

A strong element preventing people from realizing their potential to see the world outside their front door is fear. Fear of the unknown, of leaving their steady financial bubble, of the types of people they will encounter in certain destinations.

Here is a guide for young people wanting to visit new places for themselves. A guide which could help you to become fearless.

This section is home to some vital tips I wish someone had talked us through prior to the big journey. Often crafted through unfortunate personal experience, these pointers will ensure you have a safe and satisfying adventure, without making the same mistakes as us!

• Don't trust train timetables and routes planned in advance online. The information you get about European rail transport on the internet is often misleading, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where funding for railway maintenance is seemingly almost non-existent, and much less of a damn is given about your convenience.

Seriously, only trust the information you get at the train station itself. Or you'll end up like us:

•In need of a night out and lacking funding? Simply strapped for cash? Save yourself a considerable amount on feeding yourself by grabbing something a little lighter on your savings. James and I found that some winning budget options include:

Instant rice, noodles, and pasta   are easy to make, quick to cook and seemingly cheap everywhere.

Croatian bakeries are renowned for their delicious budget food. The man depicted was fined for giving away free bread..

Bakeries not only offer an interesting variety of delicious local foods, but also cost a considerable amount less than eating out at a restaurant. Individual pizza slices, huge and at around 50p a pop, were the way forward when trying to keep a close eye on funds in Croatia.

Hostel Kitchens actually contained enough communally available ingredients to rustle up a decent meal without having to spend a penny. Just scour the cupboards and hope it's yours to take!

•Staying safe is essential as a young tourist. Your risk taking reputation is seen by some as an easy target for taking advantage of. So, when hooking up with people you don't know already, make sure you have a public meeting place to avoid running into getting trouble. Ultimately, taking this precaution means that you won't feel under threat whilst mixing with others abroad.

A couple of these guys wanted to chill out with us in Serbia, so we arranged a public meeting place at Belgrade Arena. Check out the evening we had over there!

•Before entering any country for any length of time, know the conversion rate. This will help you budget, and ensure you avoid being ripped off, as we were by a Macedonian taxi driver who managed to make us withdraw £210 of Macedonian Denar for a journey he offered at £50.

Never trust these tricky individuals when you're travelling. Not that I'd let a personal vendetta influence the advice..

Here are some memorable moments from our underaged venture through Eastern Europe.

Night Train Supernova
My first ever night train was a mesmerizing and unusual experience. It was just two days after landing at Zagreb airport and beginning the fearsome feat of going out alone into Eastern Europe. Already hungry for more adventure, we found ourselves leaving the rugged charm of Zagreb behind for the allegedly more relaxed and easygoing beach setting of Split.

The journey time shouldn't have been anywhere near nine hours. However, with an average train speed speculated by a local shopkeeper to be around 35 km/h, we would have to work with what we had.

Opting to keep ourselves safe from bag snatchers, James and I chose to sleep in four hour shifts. I was quite content with drawing the sunrise slot. It meant I could stay awake and marvel at the dawn with my headphones firmly on a perfect playlist for the moment.

The sleepless nature of a nine hour night train journey allowed for glimpses of rare beauty through the Croatian mountains caught between Zagreb and Split.

Just as the sun crept it way over the mountains, "Champagne Supernova", an Oasis classic, chose just the right time to narrate a perfect little moment, established as the warm hue of the sun spilled its way over the mountaintops and out into the dull blue canvas of an early morning sky.

Balcony Bliss
See above for the sublime rustic surroundings to our hostel balcony in Split, Croatia.

An unexpected rule of thumb was established by James and I on our travels - if a hostel has a balcony, you're going to have a smashing time there. Our balcony in Sarajevo was jam-packed with beers, cockroaches, and a vast array of great characters such as this creative rapper , However, the balcony revellers in Hostel Ana, Split, are the most memorable.

I'd give an arm to once again spend time chatting and drinking beers in the cooling shade of the canopy with the seemingly endless network of family that own the hostel. Not to mention some of the open minded and unanimously party-loving crowd of various visitors. People we spent hours just kicking back and enjoying the scenery with include:

Marco: Finnish maverick with definite weak spot for women, and who owned the world's first mobile phone to come with a camera while working for Ericsson. Ended up coming with us to Bosnia and Serbia!

Pedro: Self-professed Brazilian Badboy living in London. Constantly cracking jokes, a really hilarious and genuine guy who won't hesitate to make fun out of anything possible.

Matilde, Marie and Marue: Trio of bubbly French girls who always seemed to have bought every ingredient the supermarket had to offer for their  mealtime picnics.

Costa Rican Freddie: Hilarious guy who we spent several hours hanging out and having a deeply interesting political conversation with very late at night, before he proudly announced around 4am that there was a local girl texting him claming that she was waiting for a quickie. I've never seen a man leave more promptly in my life!

Last Man Standing

After spending an evening drinking our hostel's own supply of Rakija (a concentrated spirit), it felt right to settle down for a rare snooze. Yet the night had other plans for me, and after some crafty convincing from a Parisian girl called Marie, it was time to head out for yet another night. Sneaking our way onto one of the floating clubs based on the Belgrade danube, we were treated to a night of heavy (if obnoxiously loud) house music and a continuous flow of drinks.

Belgrade is home to some cracking nights out clubbing.

Although some of our group ventured back to the hostel, a fantastic four emerged victorious over the club closing time. We kept on dancing on the danube deck outside to the distant echo of more hardcore venues which allegedly kept going until 9am.

During our continuous partying on the Danube's banks, we noticed that this guy looked lost and confused. He kept offering to drive the girls home, before asking us if we had a car he could use! We agreed to some snaps with the poor bloke.

As the sun rose over the bridge that had guided us on our way to the clubs, we met other revellers still desperate to dance who continued to join our seemingly endless circle of movement well into the morning after the night before. Belgrade's skyline was the perfect backdrop to our own personal rebellion against closing times.

Appreciating the view. Nothing new there.

Making our way back to the hostel well into the following morning. A beautiful, crisp day for it too!

Here we have a list of everything obtained free of charge during our trip. If you are an adventurous type, you too can take advantage of the fact that the best things in life are free!

Sam Three hefty chunks of complimentary restaurant bread. Fed lovingly to an alarmingly large flock of hungry pigeons.

This particular feat made me feel like Robin Hood, so I made sure to continue the tradition of 'bread borrowing' every time restaurant staff had their back turned throughout the holiday.

James Sketchy use of someone else's shampoo left unattended in the showers of our Zagreb hostel.

Sam Impressively shaped large beer mug, actually a gift from a flustered bar worker who wanted to convince us to leave so that she could close the premises for a night.

James Asked to keep a Mythos beer branded ashtray to a Greek kebab shop owner, who was clearly amused by the request and gave James a brand new one free of charge.

Both Night in a hotel room! No, we didn't do a runner, but owners of a hotel in Thessaloniki were convinced we had already paid our room fee for the night. This never occurred.

Sam Meal in a Greek sandwich restaurant. Again, the manager insisted that James had already paid for my food and that I should start eating before it went cold. No money had exchanged hands.

Many thanks for reading! Make sure to stay tuned, I'll be making more posts for young people who want to craft their own adventures. 

5 Things To Avoid Like The Plague On Holiday

Ever been the victim of a disasterous mishap on your travels? Things tend to go awry when abroad? Your trips should be a domain of excitement, adventure and new experiences, but here's a list of five experiences you really don't want to be having whilst venturing overseas.

5. Hotel Hell

 The unfortunate Colombian lodgings of impromptu world circumnavigator Michael Hodson

Putting plenty of research and thought into your accommodation is always a must, even on the tightest of budgets. Whether it's noisy neighbors, shabby showers or a bed full of bugs, having low quality lodgings can always put a real downer on your holiday buzz.

Don't forget that atrocious accommodation is a worldwide phenomenon; from Paris to Peru, you could end up staying somewhere horrible almost anywhere.


Checking the joint out firsthand is always advisable,  but whatever you do, make sure the feedback online is good few notches nicer from this catastrophic review:



4. Conspicuous Cuisine


By all means, head out and try all of the delicious foreign grub your delicate stomach can possibly bear; an open mind to new types of food is always welcome. Just don't go for anything 'roadside' without taking into consideration the warm, rancid oil your meal may just well have been prepared in.

I have learned this the hard way, after having almost fallen off the summit of a mountain whilst violently reproducing the contents of a suspicious dessert purchased earlier on. Another family member was quarantined at home by the NHS after the same meal caused a rare form of dysentery. Nice.

Moral of the story? It is indeed advisable to be careful about food. Water washed salads and ice in drinks should be avoided in areas where tap water is not safe to drink.
3. Train Sleeping

Heading to Birmingham and ending up in Beirut? You've probably snoozed on the train. Sleeping without setting an alarm on a train can be a deadly mistake, and with long distance trains common throughout mainland Europe and Asia, missing your stop to catch some shuteye can leave you in entirely the wrong country.

If you do plan on sleeping on a night train, make sure you set an alarm or have someone trustworthy to wake you up, and ensure your possessions are attached to you in order to keep the penny pinchers at bay.
2. Poorly Made Package Deals

Aiming to spend your holiday surrounded by the very types of people, activities and even food that you were specifically trying to avoid? A run of the mill package holiday would be perfect for you.

Yes, they are easier to book around a busy lifestyle, and a select few may allow you to customise them to suit your needs. However , when put together poorly, these packages can suck some of the adventure, thrill and sense of possibility out of a holiday.  So don't fall for any package deal which has a complete set list of  things to do/ places to go, and no say in where you stay!

1. Passport Peril


As trivial as this may sound, don't leave yours at home! In doing so, you would not only be denied entry to even the most lenient of destinations, but would also be opening up an endless chasm of social tension between yourself and any companions who mustered up the effort to come all the way to the airport with you and endure a good couple of hours of queuing. You will never live it down, and if they decide to go ahead with the holiday regardless of your disastrous mishap, you may find yourself ostracized for the remainder of the trip.




Tweets about "#tourism"

As a tragic personal footnote, never forget to buy a visa for a country that requires one.

Double check if your next travel destination requires a visa here

My family inflicted this atrocity upon me in a colossal blunder which left us threatened with a fifteen hour flight back to London from Ho Chi Minh. I was only eleven. After considerable bribing and a night in a police-controlled hotel, we were kindly handed a visa and allowed to continue our trip, but I am convinced that other nations would not be so forgiving.

The Backpacking Adventure

I am eagerly anticipating the much-needed arrival of summertime. An end to the bleak,cold weather will also signify an end to the AS Level Exams, and I have ensured that all of the hard work and adaptation to change will be subject to a sizeable paying off come the 23rd July.

Do I trust the British weather throughout the coveted, fickle British 'sunny-season' these summer months.
No. No way.
I've taken things into my own hands.

This summer, my best friend James and I embark on a two man backpacking mission, with our Saturday jobs having already produced the fruits of two one-way flights from London Gatwick to Zagreb, Croatia and two return journeys from Mykonos, Greece to London Luton two and a half weeks later. Though perhaps shy of a full on, gap year adventure of a lifetime, this is set to be one of the defining moments of our lives so far.

How are we getting about inbetween? Here, there, and everywhere, thanks to the wonders of an Interrail pass that will grant us exclusive free access to every train in Europe.

Eager Beaver - Attempting to book my pass so far in advance that the  Interrail site wouldn't allow it. So much for saving up for it!

I am literally bating my breath for planned excursions to the renowned Hobo Bear Hostel on the first night in Zagreb, through to sea-swimming, beach bumming and and island hopping in Greece, through to sampling the apparently impressive nightclub scene in Serbia.

http://belgradeatnight.com/clubs/

Above is a small sample of our plans. We are banking on a lenient age identification process throughout Eastern Europe! There are hopes to sightsee, take night trains, have a crack at jetskiing and other watersports , go camping, and check out Tomorrowland and Off  festivals in Poland and Belgium. Any oppurtunity that comes our way for activity, we're taking it. Such oppurtunities are begging to be grabbed onto, and we are quite prepared to do so!

 Hostelbookers has shone light on remarkably cheap accommodation. Also I may have somewhere set up to stay with a family in Romania for free, which is a godsend. A fine opportunity to return to my rude introduction to alcohol with the fabled local brew, plum soika, along with some of the best food I have ever tasted, upon my first excursion to Romania.

Having someone as ill-advised and adventurous as myself there will be truly excellent. I've thought about this trip a ridiculous amount, and personally can't wait for the (mis)adventures to begin!

James and I will be sure to keep you updated on the progress of an adventure certain to reach epic proportions.

The Great Escape

It may seem farfetched, ridiculous even.
But I have a masterplan which I am completely prepared to make a reality.

So here I am, in the current, present bubble that is reality. Sitting here, comfortable in bed, yet somehow still bitterly cold from the increasingly ridiculous entity that is British weather.


A more grounded part of me loves my life here in England. I've grown up in a familiar and supportive family that happily provide me everything a person could ask for to live comfortably. I also have some fantastic characters for friends, and thoroughly enjoy embarking on the inconceivable kind of misadventures with them that you do when you're an A Level student sparring with a formidable workload.

This book captures everything that I aspire to be.

Yet somehow, my life has steadily become more and more focused on the beautiful and buzzing universe that exists outside the UK. Less interested in participating in the expected lifelong grind to get a high paying job, spend my whole life working at something I'm not entirely sure I enjoy. All in an industrialized, upper class, and restricted nation. Here, opportunities for adventure and cultural enlightenment are present, but already seeming minimal. Seventeen years here, chipping and grinding away at the school system as a product of society seem quite enough. Call me foolish and misguided, but I'm ready to move on.

I first caught the travel bug at a very early age, when my parents decided to return to Asia (after having lived and travelled there for five years) with my brother and I to visit Vietnam. I was 11 years old and remember vividly every moment of that trip, because it was such a sensory adventure, and so different to anything I had ever experienced before. Soaking in the bustling sense of vibrancy in Saigon made life itself seem so much more engaging and purposeful.

Not to boast, but I was a fortunate child. In later years, family holidays spanned Thailand, India, Morocco, Italy, Spain, Greece, Romania and the USA. I felt like the world was at my feet the whole time we were away.

More recently, I had the oppurtunity last summer to fulfill a driving ambition of doing charity work abroad by being part of a five-man school expedition to Tanzania in order to teach at a school and work at a disabled crafts workshop called Neema Crafts. Travelling so far without my family into such an unknown world was a phenomenal experience, and one during which my masterplan was created. I loved the experience of working with people in a fresh new setting so much that I decided that this was definately what I wanted to do as a job.

I will never forget the rabble of Saigon motorbikes that whole families occasionally piled onto, obeying no  discernible laws of the road. Accidents galore. Being among it is as terrifying as it is a thrill ride.

Team Tanzania at Mikumi National Park. Honestly such an incredible day!

I plan to complete my A Levels, take a journalism course at university and usher my way into work experience at a forward thinking media company, after which I hope to become a travel journalist.

As I said.

It may seem farfetched, ridiculous even.
But I have a masterplan which I am completely prepared to make a reality.