Guest Post: cracks in the pavement

Still pooncing around Vietnam. Sarah from cracks in the pavement is our guest blogger today. She's awesome. And mad about travel - a girl after my own heart. 

Hi all! I'm Sarah and I'm very excited to be guest posting for Annelise while she's off behaving herself in Vietnam. Since travelling is one of my all time favourite ways to drain my bank account, I thought I would share I few things I've learned along the way.

 

There will be no jumping for joy when you're the third wheel, trust me.

1. If you and a friend are planning a trip with just the two of you, do not under any circumstances allow their boyfriend/girlfriend to come along. 
Do you like your friend? Do you want to remain friends? Yes to both? Well do not travel with their other half as well. It doesn't matter what they say, you WILL be the third wheel and I speak of this from personal experience. There will be arguments, there will probably be tears and you will constantly be wondering what you were smoking when you agreed to this ridiculous idea. 



2.That food cart on the side of the road may scream salmonella but it's probably going to serve you the best meal of the trip.
Obviously you should avoid it if the food looks like it's rotting or the cook is putting out his cigarettes on the hot plate but if they're making it from scratch in front of you, dig in! Of course, there are going to be a couple of times where your judgment will be wrong and you will end up hugging a toilet bowl, but what's a trip without a good food poisoning story right?!

 Fish sandwiches in Istanbul. Sounded dubious but they were delicious!

3. Every country has a queuing system, you just don't understand it yet.

If there's one thing that drives my fellow countrymen crazy, it's pushing in. In Australia, we're big on queues and it can be confusing for us when we're overseas and we approach what appears to be a mass of people all trying to get the same train ticket. What we don't realise is that it's actually a very complicated system that we will never grasp. Of course there is also the chance that it is just a mass of people all trying to get the same train ticket and in that case, elbows are your friend.

4. Just because you're travelling does not mean you need to wear hiking gear

When I was in South America a few years ago, I could not believe how many people were wearing these along with a pair of heavy hiking boots. Every hostel I stayed at, I was surrounded by people in various shades of khaki and brown and could never understand why you would want to look like you were going hiking in the jungle when you were actually walking around a museum. Each to their own I suppose but don't go out and buy these clothing items when you have perfectly fashionable items in your closet.

This was the only time my friend ever wore these boots on our trip.

5. Drinking the local moonshine will only lead to headaches

But you'll have such a good time, it will be totally worth it!

Thanks for having me Annelise and hope you're having a blast over there in Vietnam!