Our Traveler Epiphany Moment: Our Story - How and Why We Became Travelers vs. Vacationers.

Do you have travel itch you haven't scratched, but you really want to be more adventurous. Do you want to get to know the place you visit, get to feel like you live there and know it's people and culture? If so, you may be more of a traveler than a vacationer. Let me tell you a little story about how me and the misses (@qberryfarms) started traveling vs. taking vacations.

Sea kayaking in Prince William sound with whales and icebergs

We used to take our vacations like most people. Find a beautiful beach somewhere and book a room at a nearby resort. Don't get me wrong we loved it. There is something to be said about just relaxing by the beach or pool for a week in order to bank some sanity to return to work. However, after several trips like this we became a bit ansy to get more from our vacations. We had a strong desire to get to know a place as if we lived there, to develop an understanding of the culture and what the destination had to offer outside of touristy spots.

Ice climbing the Matanuska Glacier

Our first ah-ha moment that led us to become more adventurous in our travels was in Jamaica. This was in 1999 so it was a different time then in Jamaica. We were told by our resort personnel that it was just not safe to go out exploring on our own or even to trust most of the cab drivers in the town. They would hire us a car if we just had to go somewhere in the country on our own. Well, we were definitely going somewhere so we had them hire a car.
I watched in awe as the guy had a bellman go outside and hail us a cab! Wait a minute, did his boss just tell us this wasn't safe? In an instant I realized, it was all a con. Jamaica can be very safe, even in 1999. These people just wanted to ensure we stayed on their property or used the services they get a kick-back on just to ensure they maximized their profits from us. I started to get angry that they had taken us for fools, especially as I watched the bellman get his kickback from out taxi driver.

Sandboarding Cerro Negro near Leon, Nicaragua

Ever since that fateful cab hailing we have traveled our own way without resorts and built-for-everyone all inclusive vacations we used to love. It all felt so fake now and we wanted the real experience of the place we were visiting. From then on we chose to hunt out locals to show us around wherever we were traveling, if anyone at all. We had watched as resort managers would hire a service for us from a local and then they would keep 90% of the fee we paid and give the local next to nothing. It felt so good to cut out the middle man and give 100% to the local person working hard for a our tourist dollars.

Learning how to make all natural dyes in Ecuador

We started simply by getting out more on our own, talking to locals and working to understand the community we were visiting. We started making friends all over the world. Each trip we took after this realization was designed to test our adventurous spirit by getting us farther from our comfort zone.
We went to Nicaragua in 2008, this was the most concerned we've ever been about safety. The government was even telling everyone not to go because it's so unsafe. Back then when we told our friends we were going, all we heard was "Didn't they just have a civil war" or "Isn't that place dangerous and war torn?" But, we would read about people going there and loving it and saying it isn't really that dangerous. So, we went online and rented a beautiful house on the beach in Nicaragua on an isolated piece of land. It was an amazing deal that we've never duplicated. I joked that we must have rented a drug lords spring home. How is this available for so cheap we thought. Well, it's Nicaragua and things were really cheap before it was "discovered" as much as it is today, which frankly, still isn't very much.

Part of the Easter Procession near Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala

We had been to Costa Rica years earlier in 2003 and loved it, but we realized it was changing fast. We were told that resorts were planned for the area we were staying in and it would never be the same again. We watched as this came to fruition and the tiny town we stayed in gained 25 thousand locals from other countries just to work these 5 new resorts. This town was now like every other touristy area of the Caribbean.
So, as soon as we heard in 2007 that Nicaragua was the new Costa Rica, we were determined to go and experience another place that was authentic before tourism completely changed it. I can't over sell the concern we had for the trip after reading very scary stories, but we had faith in our smarts and awareness. I mean there are places in every single country and large city that you just should be at night right? So, we figured Nicaragua is the same, we'll just stay vigilant.

Meeting Maasai tribe- Northern Tanzania

Well, Nicaragua was an absolute untouched jewel. We loved that none of the "touristy" things to do there were really touristy at all. They hadn't even developed decent roads to get to most of them. They hadn't yet setup shops and booths to sell trinkets to tourists. There were no touristy restaurants either. You ate like a local or you didn't eat. There was one touristy area in the whole country and that was a certain beach town with lots of surfers. We were told that's where all the tourists go. So, we avoided it like the plague and it felt good! The people of Nicaragua were some of the nicest people we had met in the world. Very warm and loving.
I learned on that trip that the feeling of adventure that came from not knowing exactly what we were going to encounter really added to the excitement of our trips as well. You can take it as far as you want. We just started a little bit at a time over several vacations.

Swordfish steaks fresh caught near Playa Del Conchas, Costa Rica

We made wonderful life long friends in Antigua, Guatemala

Waded in Victoria Falls - Zambia Africa

Ancient bath house near Athens, Greece

On top of Table Mountain - Cape Town, South Africa

Since then we have visited Vietnam and Africa as well as a 10 day sea kayak, and ice climbing adventure in Alaska. We even moved to Guatemala for a while after selling our home and leaving our jobs. All this is just to encourage you as a traveler vs. a vacationer. Just do it, just get out there and experience all your destination has to offer. Put places on your itinerary that are off the tourist trail and experience real life with real locals in the area you are visiting and you'll be rewarded greatly with a much more authentic experience. After all most hotels and resorts are the same just about anywhere.

As always, hope you enjoyed it. Until next time friends, Steem on.