Getting To Know You

This first week we’ve had some really amazing and creative replies to our 30 Days of Indie Travel Art Project, and want to share some of the best answers from this week.

Day 1: How has your world view changed because of travel?

@GloriousCurious told us, “I’ve learned that outside of the United States, a lot of people love eating octopus as much as I do.”
@BudgetTrvlTalk ended up in a deadly situation in Bangkok, “Our travel experience that day revealed that we had what it takes to survive on the road.”
@ConfusedJulia tweeted this:

@AngelineM1 told us that she is “no longer afraid to get lost when I travel“
@CannoliColie told us straight-up that “Travel has ruined me.”

Day 2: What is your travel origin?

We heard a bunch of various reasons and stories about why you got into travel, which was awesome to read since we really felt like we were able to get to know so many of you so much better.

@yqtravelling started traveling so she would stop crying for home
@AWeekattheBeach caught the travel bug on a school trip to Germany
@AngelineM1’s dad took her on summer trips to Mexico (and the vintage family photos she posts are great!)
@ChewyTravels told us:

The most unexpected reasons came from @womenontheroad who got into traveling because of Genghis Kahn, while @GloriousCurious who was sent overseas by child detectives!

Day 3: Your Travel Style

@Nellou (who has been giving us some great videos) doesn’t just tell us about her travel style, she gives us an example that includes her internal soundtrack! You can’t help but get geared up for travel with her.
@Seedbarkroot tells us that their travel style depends on the day
@GloriousCurious made us an informative infographic showing us a scale of her comfortabililty with differing travel scenarios
@WithoutALicense simply states, “I’m very Little Mermaid about traveling...I want to see where the people are!”
@Anddontblink tells us, “Much of my travel revolves around food” (Hey, do you like octopus too?)
@ceciliabogaard gave us this tweet:

@lindseyhodder says, “I don’t know where to class myself as a ‘type’ of traveller” (that happens to many of us!)
@yqtraveling talks about being a traveling introvert who prefers private rooms and being alone, and to not “let other people discourage you from travelling the way you want.“
@PudgysHuman, prefers more luxurious travel and sums up her style beautifully, saying, “Don’t label yourself or put yourself into a box! You might miss out on a great opportunity if you do. As a line from one my favorite movies, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, says, “A man [or woman] should be in a box only when he [she] is dead!”

Day 4: Overland travel

Today saw a slew of various forms of transportation. From buses to trains to motorcycles to elephants, it seems everyone is unique in what how they love to travel most.

@GloriousCurious says that “What I wish my answer was: Elephant. What my answer actually is: Car” Cars and driving were a popular form, most people mentioning the freedom of driving
@pudgyshuman loves her motorcycle
@Mr_Smallwood prefers non-motorized bikes.
@whensparksfly3 tells us the ups and downs of traveling by campervan
@spankyandsarah give us an MTV Cribs – Camper Van Edition post.
@loismiddleton even tweeted us a photo of her camper:

Trains were another big theme.

@yqtraveling, @TaraLowryPhoto, @AradInfo, @PursuitAdventur and @anddontblink all said that train travel is their favorite style of travel.
@Filipachatillon told us a story that captures the intense confusion and crowdiness of traveling by train in Sri Lanka
@withoutalicense breaks down various forms of travel to show why she thinks trains are the best (I’m with you on the “bathroom on board” part!)
@DaraMDenney says, “I go by bus. The longer, the better. Put me on a bus and send me down a dusty road that has never seen pavement. Give me poor suspension, grandmother’s with chickens, and a waning headache. Send me in a rainstorm down a descending dirt road, send me in the hot season with a window seat in the sun. Make me choose between the hot musk of sour body odor that makes my stomach turn or the sandy air that coats my lungs and makes me heave and hack at my feet. And still I will go.”

After all this passion behind your favorite mode of transportation, we were also curious about other passions you may have, which brings us to….

Day 5: What else (besides travel) are you passionate about?

It’s amazing some of the things people are passionate about! We had a ton of great twitter answers to this. A lot of you love photography.

@AngelineM1 thinks photography and travel are a good combo and we agree.
@daniLmeyer from BrightGirlsFilms loves acting and filmmaking, which is also a great combination with travel.

We also had a lot of people who love cooking and food (another great compliment to travel)

@ChefShivGhosh says, “I’m passionate about cooking new things everyday and discovering something new from the old dishes I cooked.”

We had a few people who love reading and/or writing.

@GloriousCurious tells us her passion is “Squiggly lines on white paper“
@richa_singh even tweeted us a photo of the Shakespeare book she was currently reading.
We had a couple art buffs as well:

We also had some random passions totally un-travel related too.

@ChewyTravels loves Ultimate Frisbee
@withoutalicense has a passion for Venn diagrams
@anddontblink’s passion was something she originally hated as a child!
@filipachatillon sent us a video of her passion – dancing with her dance troupe! (As a dance buff myself, I have already watched this video 5 times and am attempting the moves in my living room).
We also saw these tweets:

(Now we just need a taco eating superhero!)

One of the craziest passions we saw today, came from @loismiddleton, a seemingly innocent, sweet, middle-aged woman who sent us this:

Goes to show you can’t judge a book by it’s cover! And Lois, your “first” skydive? How many times have you been? (Also, I may be jealous.)

Day 6: What do you do to save money for long-term travel?

Many people mentioned skipping things like coffee, eating out, shopping, and quitting smoking (good for you!) to save money for travel.

@womenontheroad gave up her office and started working in cafes to save money to fund her travels.
@Esther-WLW said:

@AnanyaTales sums it up perfectly:

Two readers mentioned Nomadic Matt’s guides to saving money for travel, quoting,

We also heard about using sources like Couchsurfing and WorkAway as ways to help defray some of the spending costs while traveling.

@AradInfo wrote her own guide for how to save money for travel, including “First of all, start using an app to track ALL your expenses“, then goes on to give a bunch of specific examples of ways to save money.
@pudgyshuman also wrote a guide to saving money, including using reward points, using military discounts (she’s a Navy wife and writes about it), and lots and lots of research.

We also saw this hardworking recommendation:

Day 7: What kind of packer are you?

Many of you swore by packing light.

@sidney_jec says, “a ruscksack, camera bag and a tripod is more than enough.”
@richa_singh says, “I carry at least quick dry tshirts. Wash them at night fresh again [in] the morning! does not stink!”
@surbhiarora330 says,

@KristinOsani posted this:

But not everyone prefers to travel with the bare minimum.

@BudgetTrvlTalk says, “I am a medium packer. Save room for souvenirs. Always roll clothes, take umbrella, wish I could pack more shoes.“
@DelishDirection is also a moderate packer who posted this photo of herself and what she brings on trips:

We also had some great posts and videos with travel packing advice.

@womenontheroad gave us her ridiculously practical list for all types of travel.
HouseInTillford gave us her 7 Essentials for Hostel Hopping.
@conradzoo tells us (in brutal honesty), “Despite all good advice how and what to pack for your next big trip, the reality is that most people (yes, guilty too) just fill up the backpack to the brim anyway. Why? Because you can.” Then goes on to give us The Swap List of what items you should (and will) swap out with what you packed once you hit the road.

We also had some great videos.

@Nellou charms us again by showing us what she packs as she pulls out all her gear from her backpack.
@serenity007 tells us on her vlog to “Pack a Sarong” and videos all the ways men and women can use one (who knew they were so versatile?).
@withoutalicense gives us a comical video that is more about maps than packing, (but hey, it’s good to pack maps) then later in her post admits, “I’m definitely an over-packer”.

This whole week, we have really gotten to know about all of you, and love the tweets, photos, videos, and posts that you have sent in.

We are really excited to see your answers for the upcoming prompts, and we hope to see you all today at 12:30PST for our weekly #Indie30/#RTWChat on Twitter!

We also want to shout-0ut a thank you to @IndiaTrvlrsClub , who has been promoting #Indie30 to all their readers. We have some great responses from them and hope to see even more in the upcoming weeks.

We would also like to mention a really cool particpant, James Couling, who has been answering each question in a rolling diary of the #Indie30. (He has been giving great answers all week, but the style of the Tumbler blog doesn’t allow us to link to each specific article. But James we are reading and loving your posts, too!)

Thanks for all your posts and if you haven’t joined the 30 Days of Indie Travel Art Project, it’s never to late to start! Check out the project page with all the details and each day’s questions!