The Joy of Traveling with No Plans

Take at least a month off and just go

All images by the author.

Here, check this out:

• Explosive diarrhea (a.k.a. Delhi belly, Montezuma’s revenge, or the Aztec two-step).
• Car, sea, and camel riding sickness.
• Being stuck with one’s face under someone’s sweaty armpit in a tiny bus with 279 other people, 44 chickens, and a goat.
• Having to constantly lug around a backpack that smells and weighs like a wet poodle stuffed with bowling balls.

These are just some of the joys of cheap and long-term travel.

And yet, I love it. I really do.

What I don’t like so much, however, are short trips — trips that last only a week or two. And I especially don’t like it when those trips take me to “rich” countries.

And no, it’s not because I’m a philistine who can’t appreciate a Renaissance cathedral or because I envy the chiseled abs of armless naked dudes made out of marble who are loitering in museums. And neither is it because I prefer my meals with foodborne pathogens.

I mainly prefer cheap long-term travel because short trips to expensive places require a lot more planning.

And I hate planning my trips.

The problem with…