My Top Three Travel Regrets
14December 22, 2012 by Aggy
I’ve been passed on the Travel Regrets baton of a new blog tag post series from the lovely Emily of The Cosy Traveller.
And it’s a pretty tough one. Travel Regrets. When it comes to travelling, all I think of is happy, happy, happy…well OK, with a little bit of hiccups – but happy generally. I never really sat down and thought of the regrets…until now that is.
I think it’s important to contemplate on your travel regrets once in a while (so thank you for tagging me!), and here are mine:
Not travel solo more often
Sure I’ve done one or two trip by myself, but I regret the fact that I don’t travel solo as much as I want. I don’t know why, I keep looking for excuses, but no real reasons. Maybe it’s the fear of not having someone to talk to or someone to share laughs with. Or it’s the fact that I am more confident moving around in a new place with a friend, even if that friend is as clueless as me. But whatever the reason is, I regret not having the courage to travel solo more often. I think by travelling on your own you can learn a lot about yourself and having benefits like managing your own time, and not being rushed into going somewhere. Yeah, this one I need to do more in 2013.
Opting for fast-travel instead of slow-travel
Seeing Rome in 2 days, Berlin in 3 days, Pompeii in a day, Athens in 2 days – are just some examples of my fast-travel. Mainly because I had so little time and so many places I wanted to cover. I have to admit that I loved every single second I spent in those places, but it wouldn’t hurt to s l o w down a little.
I remember spending a week in Barcelona and just enjoyed the warm sun and Gaudi’s work, I didn’t rush to see everything but just slowed down and embracing the little things. I also still remember my one week in Poznań where I just completely enjoyed the city in a very slow motion way. It was the best travel I have ever had.
Travelling slow in Barcelona
Although travelling slowly has its downsides, like not getting to see everything you want, but it’s so worth it and it’s an excuse to go back to the city.
My passport
I think for this regret, I’ll just have to live with it. I have an Indonesian passport, meaning VISA for most countries I want to visit. Getting a VISA for a particular country is an absolute pain in the ass. The filling in 1000 forms (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating here), handing in the latest passport photo of yourself, proof of accommodation, proof of tickets, bank statement to show you have money, going to the embassy, worrying like crazy for the outcome…oh the list goes on. I wouldn’t say that it puts me off travelling, NO, but I just wish it would be easier and it would be SO NICE if there were more countries with VOA for Indonesian travellers.
Enjoying the peaceful lake in Poznań – wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t do tons of paperwork for my student Schengen VISA
For now though, I still have a list of countries I have to visit without applying for VISA like Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, and a few more - until then I’ll temporary stop complaining 
So those are my regrets, do you have any travel regrets? Let’s hear it from a few of my friends:
- @twitdebbzie – Debbie of My Time Capsule
- @aganunoblog – Aga of Aga Nuno Somewhere
- @virustraveling – Bobby of Virus Traveling
Category DEW Culture & Thoughts | Tags: Regret, travel, VISA
Great choices Aggy. I can understand how applying for visas can be such a pain. I definately take it for granted and always whine when I have to fill one out for China and that’s only one!!
Like you, I’m not as confident as I’d like to be when it comes to travelling alone. I hope I can be in the future!
Thanks for initializing this Sophie, it’s a great way to end the year. Hopefully I get to travel solo and slowly more often in 2013
Living in USA with Nepali Passport with one reason I have not been able to travel at all because there is too much hassle! I wish traveling was much easier than that.
I understand you! I also wish travelling was easier for us
I think my travel regrets are most the opposite of yours Aggy. I kind of wish I had travel with other people more (though that was to a certain extent out of my hands). And I kind of wish I had seen more different places.
I wish also I’d been a bit better with my money, spending more on some things and frittering it away less on others.
Here’s to not having any travel regrets in 2013!
Hi Will, I guess everyone has their own travel regrets not doing something they should’ve. But I agree, let’s enjoy 2013 and not have regrets!
Passport!! That one definitely makes me want to change nationality. Our neighboor, Malaysian and Singaporean can travel to more than 100 countries withiut VISA. Tell me something about ENVY.
Yes I get a lot of envy especially when I see my friends here going to places without the need to do VISA, it’s a definitely a “nay” factor for me
I wish visas and entrance/exit fees were a thing of the past… I understand whey they come from, but they are a major pain!! If it makes you feel any better, US citizens need to pay reciprocal fees in some places. Again, what a pain.
I too sometimes travel quickly – a few days here, a few days there, and am glad I do. But sometimes it would be nice to explore a region without the rush.
Hey Pola!
I would be happy to pay the Visa on arrival (VOA) rather than having tons of paper work which is so time-consuming. I just wish that one day we can all travel freely without these visa barrier.
I am trying to travel slowly these days, the kind of things you see when you start to travel slow is amazing!
I feel you with the Visa thing, although I really haven’t had any of that yet… In fact the only country I ever needed visa for at all was the States, and only when I lived there for a year. I feel very fortunate to be a German citizen for that. And going back and forth between European countries without even being asked to see an ID – that always makes me so happy!!
That’s why I envy you Europeans so much
It is really a privilege for you to be able to do that, some of us living in other countries are not that lucky
I am holding Indonesian passport too and honestly it’s really pain in the b*m when I have to do visa applications.
– No more visa paperwork for me, please !
I have granted the most difficult visa type *in the world* after thousands of evidences that we had to show and compile for almost 2 years before we applied the visa.
I am thinking to travel only to those 33 countries (or more) which letting Indonesian passport holders to apply VOA at the airport to avoid too much hassles (and money) until next 5 years
I understand your pain, even applying for student VISA can sometimes be a hassle. We have to be grateful though that there are at least 33 countries for us to visit without VISA, always good news right?