Lisbon and some random travel thoughts..

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Hello everyone and sorry for the lack of updates recently. I’ve been a bit busy with a new project lately. I’ll do my best to catch you all up over the next couple of weeks...

So after leaving Lagos in Portugal I caught the bus up north to the capital, Lisbon. To be honest I didn’t really know anything about Lisbon before getting there other than the fact it that it had 3 of the top rated hostels in the world there for some reason… For me that was as good a reason as any to visit it..

So I promptly checked myself into the number one rated which is called “Travellers House” in downtown Lisbon. First impressions were certainly good and they had a few nice touches I hadn’t seen before which helped me understand why it was so popular. Little’s things like a dedicated TV/movie room, a home cooked breakfast (with eggs), oversized lockers for backpacks with actual safes inside all added to the experience. And as you would expect from the number one, it was clean, the service was good and dorm rooms well appointed with a nice little book shelf next to each bed and all.

Now this lead me to think about why it was the best, well as rated by ‘Hostel World’ anyway, the most popular hostel booking website. I mean what I consider the best is never going to be the same for everyone else right? I guess it all depends on the experience you are looking for too.. such as if you want to party, socialise or get a good night’s sleep. Plus depending on your tastes weather you want something modern, old school or even in-between. Anyway for me I would say it was definitely in the top 5 I’ve stayed in this year. Which out of the 50 or so I’ve stayed in this year, that isn’t too bad.

Lisbon itself was also nice but like a lot of other cities in Europe at the moment it seemed to be ‘under construction’. I guess that’s the nature of all the old towns and cities.. Constantly needing works done on all the buildings to maintain them. In total I was in Lisbon for 3 nights but must admit that it was all pretty low key for me, after all I was still recovering from my big week back in Lagos the party town and I needed some R’n’R! (rest and relaxation… not rock n roll!!)

Now this number one hostel thing led me to think about some other stuff too… I’ve learnt a lot about the type of traveller I am lately. It’s amazing how seven months of solo travelling makes you think a lot more about certain things and a lot less about others. For me I’ve spent a lot of time analysing the type of traveller I am compared to other people I meet along the way. Everyone has their own set of travel priorities and somehow it all seems to work.

You see some people rush through the major cities with a guide book in hand, ticking off each attraction as they see them. Others like to travel in groups and always know what’s going to happen for the next 3 weeks day by day, were there going to eat their next meal and what they can expect. Me, I pretty much take it 48hrs at a time now, I don’t really use the guides books anymore and I like to do my own thing as and when I want to. Then when I’ve had enough of a town or place, I simply pack up my backpack again and move on to the next one. So far so good but it’s not the sort of thing I could do forever.

In fact I don’t think I’ve actually been to a single museum, monument or tourist attraction on purpose now for about 6 weeks. Instead I now enjoying immersing myself in the local scene, walking around each town or city, having coffee’s and watching the world go buy. You know, trying to figure out what makes each town tick so to speak.
For example I think I can even classify most travellers into one of four different groups.. I was telling someone this the other day on a bus as a joke… Let me see if I can remember them again…

- Planners: These are the ones I was saying have it all planned. Everything is booked in advance and they can pretty much tell you hour by hour what they’ll be doing for the next 3 weeks. I also find these guys are usually on a 4-5 week trip and often travel with someone else. It’s also funny.. because there’s always a leader who’s in control and a follower who just goes with the flow.

- Recorders: These are the type of people you see that enjoying their trip through the lense of a camera or video recorder. They’re more worried about recording everything to show off to their friends and family when then get back home then actually enjoying whats in front of them then and there. I often wonder if these type of people actually get to ‘see’ the places they are in and really appreciate it.. Also don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with taking lots of pictures, I do this too. I just think its’ also important to pu the camera away every now and then and live in the moment so you can take it all in.

- Groupies: These are the people that like to travel in groups or with friends, usually I find its about 3-6 people at a time. I often wonder about these travellers too and if they actually get the chance to properly interact with other travellers along the way and interact with others. They like to go out together, eat together, drink together and party together. The good part about this sort of travelling is when you get home you’ve got other people around you to share all the good times and stories with.

- Nomads: These are the people that don’t really have fixed plans and you usually see them travelling solo. They are just as happy in a large group of fellow travellers as they are cruising around by themselves. They tend to live more in the moment and typically don’t like to commit to far ahead which makes them extremely flexible. I like to think I’m in this category however the longer my trip goes on the more I looking forward to staying longer and longer in each place and moving around every few days is quite tiring after a while.

Anyway that’s enough of my travel wisdom for the moment, but I hope it all makes sense.

Cheers, Travel Dog

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