In 2013 when I travelled solo across Asia and Oceania I travelled extremely slow. I’d bought into the idea that slow travel was the only real way to travel. The only way to fully immerse yourself in another land and culture. I had a great time and visited many places off the beaten path. I saved a lot of money by travelling slow too because I wasn’t paying for planes, trains or busses every few days.

Looking back I kind of think I wasted a lot of time on that trip. Yes I was exhausted after years of fruitless studying and working but I visited just 10 countries in 10 months. I was so close to so many countries but for some reason I just didn’t go.

Thinking back I could have easily caught a cheap flight to China and Korea from Thailand. Flew to Borneo to Malaysia to see the Orangutans and then maybe pop over to Indonesia to relax in Bali. I didn’t even go to Fiji when I was in bloody Australia! A place that I’d dream’t of and fantasised about when planning my big trip.

Even when I lived in Japan I decided to spend most of my time travelling within Japan, except for the disastrous two weeks that I spent in Thailand. I went to a grand total of Zero new countries in over 18 months.

 

Balkans Itinerary

Now that I live in Moscow and get an amazing 2 months off in summer, I decided to try fast travelling for a while. I’d initially decided to travel to 6 new countries in the Balkans but I managed to travel to 7!

Here is my whirlwind itinerary:

Croatia: 3 nights Dubrovnik, 2 nights Split.

Bosnia and Hercegovina: 2 nights Mostar, 2 nights Sarajevo.

Montenegro: 2 nights Budva, 3 nights Kotor, 1 night Ulcinj.

Albania: 2 nights Shkoder, 1 night Tirana.

Kosovo: 2 nights Prizren, 1 night Pristina.

Macedonia: 3 nights in Skopje.

Bulgaria: 2 nights in Sofia.

My feelings about fast travel

Firstly I travelled extremely light. I had a carry on sized backpack weighing 8kg which made travelling from place to place easy. It’s a front opening backpack too which makes it easy to open and close fast. I wasn’t sending ages packing like I did when I went travelling with a 20kg backpack in 2013.

I tended to stay on the beaten track more because there’s more transport options. However I feel like 2 nights in most places was sufficient to see the town/city, eat some local food and relax. In most places I did a free walking tour if it was available because I didn’t have time to discover places for myself.

Fast travel was quite lonely though. Because I had a limited time in each place I spent most of the time exploring on my own or going on group tours. I didn’t make the type of friendships that made travel in Southeast Asia so special.

I was so tired near the end of the trip. I paid for a night of luxury in a penthouse suite in a boutique hotel with sauna for one night. It was lovely to relax in privicy after spending so long in hostels. I did the same in Ulcinj too, just relaxing on my balcony and watching the handmaids tale.

Something that surprised me was how confused I felt. There are many similarities between the language and culture of the Balkan countries but many differences. I would get confused about where I was sometimes and what language they used. At times I would also forget what country I was in. I’ve never felt this way before and it was quite disorientating. As I said before I usually spend time discovering a countries culture and I just couldn’t do it on this trip.

One benefit to travelling so fast is the amount of things that I saw and experienced in such a short time. It was a great taster for the Balkans and gave me a hint of which countries I’d like to explore more of in the future (Bosnia and Montenegro).

My thoughts on fast travel

Fast travel was extremely exciting. I realised how adaptable I was and was proud that I navigated so many cities and countries in such a short period of time. Although it was exhausting it was refreshing. In the future I think that 2 weeks of fast travel is enough for me, maybe 3 at a push. I lost a lot of my enthusiasm in Bulgaria and felt like I was just going through the motions rather than truly enjoying my time there.

Do you prefer fast or slow travel? Why? As always I’d love to hear your replies. Remember you can also follow my adventures on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pearlsandpassports