TOP 5 HASSLES OF TRAVELING FULL TIME

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In my last blog, I listed the top 5 reasons we love to travel.  Now I’m going to tell you about our top 5 hassles of traveling full time.  These are things that make traveling harder, can be stressful and aggravating and can really make one ask the question, “Is this lifestyle really worth it?”

Michelle and I both believe that the answer to that question is “Yes”.  It’s still worth it, but we’d be lying to you if we didn’t admit that there are times when we waver.  But for now…the answer is still yes.  

So with that, lets get right to it:

1. BANKING ISSUES!

One would think that with the invention of online banking and the fact that most banks vigorously promote its use, it should be quite easy to simply log onto your bank’s app no matter where you are in the world and perform all your banking transactions without any issues (assuming of course you have internet access).  In fact, there are even banks who only have an online presence with no “physical branch” in which to do business with.  Everything needs to be done solely online!  This would lead one to believe that doing business online with your bank from an overseas location should be no different than doing business with it in your home country.  As long as you have your username and password for your online account, it should work the same no matter where you are logging in from, right?

For the most part, that is correct!  Transferring money and doing simple banking tasks do actually work fine online from no matter where you are in the world.  The problem arises however, when you need to contact your bank by phone for any issue out of the ordinary.  It seems that over the past few years, banks have really tightened up security measures!  This is both good and bad.  It’s good that they want to protect my account, but it does make it feel as if whenever I need to call a bank for anything, in their eyes I’m a fraudster and must always be prepared to prove my innocence before I can get anything done with them.  Even though I’m able to log onto their website with my username and password, provide them with my name, social security number, address, phone number, and security password, to them that’s not enough!  I then have to normally go through “further review” before being able to proceed with any transaction.  Normally this means having to scan a photo of my passport, send it to them through a link they provide, then wait 3-5 business days for them to verify my identity, at which time I hear nothing back and have to call them again to follow up!

The added scrutiny (even though we’ve banked with them for over a decade) is being done because they are able to tell that we’re constantly traveling outside the U.S and that creates “red flags” in their system.  Banks simply don’t like it when people constantly travel without coming home at least occasionally. Even though we can explain our situation to them until we’re “blue in the face”, because we’re full time travelers, we’re placed in the same category as someone who presents a security risk.  This also happens to us sometimes when we try to use our credit card.  We might be able to use it 500 times with no problems, but on the 501st time something causes the security bells to go off and they’ll not allow a charge to go through.  Then we need to call them…and…well…we then can expect to be required to once again jump through hoops in order to prove our innocence as stated above.

One might ask why we don’t change banks if we’re not happy with the way we’re treated.  I’ve asked myself that question.  But I think we’d be treated this way no matter what bank we use and from our research, almost every full time traveler has this same issue with their bank, so unless we can find a better way I’m pretty sure we’re stuck with what we have.  

I have no greater fear than to be in a foreign country and not be able to access my money.  That’s why banking is #1 on this list!

 

2. Money!

Not that we don’t have enough money.  It’s not that!  It’s that every country has its own currency so every time we buy something, the only way to know exactly how much we’re paying for it is to convert the price into US dollars.  In some cases like Malaysia it’s not that bad.  One US dollar equals 4.75 Malaysian ringgit so I normally round it up to 5 ringgit. That means that when I see a price of $200 ringgit, I can quickly judge that it is costing me somewhere around $40 USD (in fact it comes out to exactly $42.43).  However, the problems start to happen when we’re in Vietnam where 1 US dollar = 25,438 Vietnamese Dong.  So If I see a price of $2,500,00.00 dong in Vietnam, my brain is no longer quick enough to do that math in my head, and so I’m asking myself, “Is this a good deal or not?”  That’s when I need to pull out my phone, open up my “Currency Converter” app and figure out that $2,500,000.00 Dong ($98.27 USD) is a terrible price to pay for those headphones!  That process takes time and if I’m under pressure, there’s always that chance of making a mistake.  (Like that time I paid $17.00 USD for two bottles of water in Mexico because I did my calculations wrong and didn’t use my app)  When the man said that the water was $300 Mexican pesos, in my head I thought, “I think there’s about 100 pesos to the dollar and therefore the water was costing me about $3.00.”  In my defense, we had just traveled for about 30 hours from Croatia to Mexico and had just gotten off the flight.  We were tired and parched, it was hot, and a the time I thought it was a good deal.  Only later did I realize my mistake.  Boy was that some expensive water!  I only recently have begun to be able to laugh about it.  

Constantly having to convert currency into dollars makes this issue #2 on our list!

3. LANGUAGE BARRIER!

Sometimes it’s quite fun!  

Like that time in Ecuador…

We were checking out of our airbnb and the owner told us to leave the key at the apartment that was part of the garage below us.  She said there would be a window that I should leave the key in.  So when I went down that morning to drop off the key, a woman was coming out of the apartment.  She looked startled, so I calmly explained to her in English that I was supposed to leave my apartment key in her window.  Her puzzled face alerted me to the fact that she didn’t understand a word I was saying..  Not knowing enough Spanish to get my point across to her, I opened up the google translate app on my phone and clearly spoke into it saying, “I was told by the owner of my airbnb to leave my key in your window this morning.  She will pick it up“.  But what came out of my phone was not what I told it to say as it said clearly in Spanish (with English subtitle), “We will kiss in the bedroom!”  I was horrified to say the least!  I managed to  stop my phone from speaking mid sentence, and said “Lo Siento!” (which is “I’m sorry” in Spanish), then ran upstairs to get Michelle for help!  

In all honesty, we’ve been able to get along fine in every country we’ve been in.  From our pitiful attempts at speaking in their language the few words we know, to many locals being able to speak enough English to help us out, to hand gestures (think “charades!”), to my trusty google translate app that works most of the time, there hasn’t been much of a language barrier per se.  

The issue comes in to play mostly when we can’t understand people’s conversations around us, like in an elevator when someone says something and everyone laughs and we have no idea what they just said.  It reminds us that we are foreigners in their country and keeps us from feeling part of their community.  It’s our fault because we don’t speak their language, but traveling in different countries does make it a little harder to learn much more than a few words in each of them.  

That’s why the Language barrier is the #3 hassle of full time traveling! 

4. Visas

There are some countries that travelers can visit and stay for up to 6 months without a visa, for example Mexico.  Our current country (Malaysia) allows Americans to stay visa free for up to 3 months.  But most countries require a visa and they all have different requirements and procedures in order to apply for them.  Many allow travelers to apply for their visas online and take only a few days for approval.  But some can take longer and you normally have to pay upfront before knowing for sure that your visa will be approved.  Sometimes the websites countries use in order to apply for their visa can be “spotty” and require the patience of a Tibetan Monk to get through them (which neither Michelle or I have), so this certainly adds stress to our travels!

In Europe, they have what is called the “Schengen Visa”, which allows visitors to stay in Europe for up to 3 months (in every 180 day period) before being required to leave.  This means that if a traveler stays in Europe for 3 months, they must leave Europe for at least 3 months before they can come back again.  The European Schengen area encompasses 25 European countries, so although visiting any of those countries only requires one visa, it is impossible to stay in any combination of those countries for more than 3 months at a time, so a traveler who wants to “slow travel” through Europe may not be able to visit more than a few of those countries before time runs out and it becomes necessary to leave Europe entirely.  Having to leave an entire continent due to visa time constraints can quickly increase travel costs, so Europe must be planned out accordingly.  

In just about any country a traveler might visit, it’s absolutely imperative to have the correct visa, and then not to overstay that visa, otherwise penalties can and will be inflicted on the traveler to include fines, or denial of entry into the country.  In most cases, travelers have already booked and paid for their travel and accommodations beforehand, so having those plans abruptly changed because of an issue with a visa can mean a serious additional expense (not to mention heaps of additional stress)!

Visas can be a hassle.  That’s why it’s #4 on this list!

5. Travel Days!

Trav-el days – NOUN

  1.  The days spent traveling from one location to another by bus, airplane, train, or car. 
  2. Usually very long, sometimes monotonous , and always tiring
  3. Requires heavy planning with lots of moving parts –  inevitably one of these parts will break down.

Traveling between different countries and even different parts of a country seems like it would be exciting and one of the most pleasurable times of the experience, yet it almost never is!  Even a short flight of less than 3 hours is still a very long travel day when you factor in the time it takes to get to the airport, check in at least 2 hours before the flight, wait for your baggage on the other end of the flight and then arrange transportation to your hotel or airbnb.  In addition to having to carry your heavy bags long distances through airports and bus terminals, you’ll likely be tired, thirsty, and sometimes hungry!  Our worst travel day was when we flew from Ecuador to Thailand about 6 months ago.  If you haven’t read my blog titled “Fly the Friendly Skies – And Other Ways to Abuse Yourself During Travel”, you can read it here and get a pretty good idea of some of the trials and tribulations that can take place on a particularly long travel day.

Travels days are probably my least favorite part of traveling full time.  Thankfully in the course of a year, they only add up to a very small part of our experience, but they are definitely a hassle, which earns them spot #5 on this list! 

Have a great day everyone and safe travels!