Second timers

So an earlier topic on this board about the age you first went travelling got me thinking about how excited/nervous etc before that first trip. And then comparing to the emotions I feel planning this 2nd trip.
I’m obviously still very excited or otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. I’m going to be heading to some different places and a lot of the same places. I’ll be working also so I know there are new challenges which was always the exciting part of travelling.
I’m just hoping that I enjoy the travelling aspect of life on the road this second time round. I know i love the places as I’ve been there and know. I’m just a little worried the excitement of doing something new may have gone.
So I wanted to hear what others have done 2 trips experiences were. Was it as good as the first time? Did certain places let you down? Etc

The magic of that first trip can never be recaptured in my opinion. In my case, the wonderment and amazement of being 19 years old and landing in Bangkok not having a clue what to do…. that can’t be equalled.

Later trips have been just as awesome for me, and obviously being a bit more streetwise is cool. You don’t get ripped off as often and giving others advice and help is nice.

I think that first trip is like your first love though. It will always have a special place in your heart and a certain magic about it.

I completely see Lunnys point of view..

As I have only been on one trip and plan on going somewhere different/more challanging next time.. I guess it still holds the same excitement for me (but with A LOT less fear and aprehension).

I think the first love comparison is brilliant.. but I believe if you open yourself up and see everything through brand new eyes, brand new experiences, brand new set of people along with way… then it will hold the exact same magic.

Can’t wait to get out there!!! (again)

Definitely got to say the second trip has been underwhelming as a whole for me. In Vietnam at the moment with 4 weeks left, and I am excited about getting home!

You never know how you’re going to take to it until you go again. I can’t tell exactly WHY i’m so underwhelmed by everything- it could be a number of reasons (the trip has been particularly lined with bad luck and shit experiences) but it could just be that the general excitement has gone- i’m really not sure.

It could be boredom- we’re back in Asia and although its new countries, it’s still Asia. Thinking Scandinavia and Eastern Europe next time, might feel different then?!

I am always of the opinion that you should never go back to somewhere hat you really enjoyed. There are a few places I went on my RTW trip which i loved (8 weeks on Koh Tao being one of them) - however a big part of the enjoyment comes from the eprson you are at the time and the people you are with. When i went back to Koh tao about a year later to finish off my Divemaster for a month I didn’t really have a great time. Leave the place and the experiences to settle nicley in to your memories and then head off to brand new places to create more :)

Yeah I totally agree not to go back somewhere you have magical memories, as it is usually the people. I went against that went I went back to KL this year - last year I had such a fantastic time with many great people - but I was alone, couldn’t meet people so I just ended up sitting in our old hangouts lamenting the memories lol!!

I was going to go back to Dubrovnik earlier in my trip, then I realsed that my dreamy memories of it were probably more to do with the 5 Brazilian girls in my dormitory than the crowded hot streets and overpriced food… haha (though at 6am before the hoards of buses come it is a magical place!).

Anyway, the second trip is better in that you are a lot wiser to the world and you have learned from the many mistakes of the first trip. In that way my second trip has been succesful.

But I do miss the buzz of being new to it all… in the old days I’d get so excited when coming out from a new airport or train station, now I just walk on and continue with life as normal, with the same feeling of a day in the office almost.

I’m back in Thailand at the moment and pretty much everyone in my hostel has only been away for 1-2 weeks and is so excited and like ‘wow look at that awesome temple! oooh an elephant!’ etc. I’ve lost all that now, especially as I’m 16 months into this trip. I’m a bit envious to be honest!

You guys are depressing me!!!!!!! Don’t be so bloody complacent!!! Find the magic where you are.. (or move on) because it definitely exsists in these amazing places!! Geeeeeez

Kiwi_hayley - 16 August 2012 10:09 AM

You guys are depressing me!!!!!!! Don’t be so bloody complacent!!! Find the magic where you are.. (or move on) because it definitely exsists in these amazing places!! Geeeeeez

Its not being complacent, its more about being realistic.

Travel gives you that great buzz because its beyond the norm. If you do two or so big year long plus trips in a short space of time, then at some point it will feel the norm and suddenly all the crap you face on the road that you forget about in the early days wears you down a bit as its not offset by the adrenaline so much. Its not a hard and fast rule, but I’m now in the latter days of my 20 month trip and I’m looking forward to going home.

I’m guessing you have not been away for more than a year yet? If you have then I’m envious of your constitution! :) To be honest I’d never have expected to be writing this sort of thing a year ago, and long-term travellers I met who seemed a bit jaded I thought were mad, but its more common than you think.

BUt I never, ever lost appreciation of what I’ve been able to do and see.

Cheers guys sort of what I expected to hear. Most of it encouraging. I have returned to Koh Tao myself although only for 2 weeks that time and I loved the place just as much even though parts of it had changed I.E everyone wasn’t drinking at lotus anymore.  I guess the vibe was exactly the same and there’s no reason it would change elsewhere. So woop woop happy days etc

I absolutely love this thread and it’s everything that’s right about gapyear.com - great discussions with so many different views!

I agree with what a lot of guys have said, that the magic of that first trip can’t be replicated, but I also agree that a second trip can be just as good, if not better!

When I first went travelling, I was young, immature, and I think I wanted different things. I was more prone to fucking up and I liked that!

Second time round, I was more ‘worldly’, more knowledgeable, and it’s given me a bit of a strut (kinda). I like that I know what to expect and I love the feeling that I know EXACTLY what I’m doing. I think I’ve got backpacking sussed out and I love that - I know what I have to do to make me happy.

I also love going to the same place - I understand that people can’t recreate those memories, but the same place doesn’t equal the same memories. Same place equals new memories!

I’ve been to Thailand like 10 times now, Malaysia 6, Singapore 3, Oz twice, and each time has been with different people and each time has been different!

I guess what I’m saying is I just bloody love travelling - it doesn’t matter where, or who with, all that matters is that I’m on the road - I really hope it’s the same for you guys too!!!

You got the bug bad macca. And i shall take all the praise for such a wonderful thread. Monetary donations can be made out to…

So im on my second trip and im just as excited to get back on the road and be a backpacker again.. im working in OZ atm and its definatly underwhelming for me being back here- but its a way of getting a better income to travel with later…...

So i think im so excited is that im going to the places that i missed out or didnt even think of at the time of my 1st trip- and again im challenging myself this time with the places im going like borneo philippines and the rest of se asia!!

i cannot wait to leave australia!!! roll on cheap backpacking in asia

I remember waking up on the morning I was leaving for my second trip and being so incredibly nervous and not knowing why. It may have been aprtly that I was older and that I was going away for slightly longer but I think the main thing was nerves that the trip wouldn’t live up to my first trip. In the end, I had a fab time but it was a strange sensation as I hadn’t had it the first time around.

I also found that I approached my second trip with a different outlook. I wanted to get off the beaten track more (possibly due to increased confidence from my first trip) and it no longer bothered me if I didn’t go out full on partying at least once a week.

I do agree mostly with people saying that you shouldn’t go back. My second trip touched on a couple of the same countries as my first although different places, but it was mainly new countries. For me, the places I have the fondest memories of were the places where I travelled with great people and had amazing experiences - it wasn’t necessarily about the country. However, I think as long as you are aware of that there’s no harm in going back somewhere. I have also wondered if I should go back to somewhere I didn’t like so much in the hope that second time around I’d meet people and have experiences that would change my outlook on the place?

Loving reading this thread!

Last year I went to Australia for 4 months and then travelled round Thailand in a month. Although the same trip, these were like 2 separate parts of my travels, with totally different people - met awesome people all over and went to lots of cool places.

In 7 weeks, I leave for Thailand again, but this time I am going to teach English, so going to be in one place most of the time and will only be able to travel round afterwards. There’s places that parts of me wants to go to again, and other parts of me want to just savour the memories I have - I’m not sure I’ll be able to have some of those breathtaking moments again! Reading this, I am just as confused as before, but nice to see I am not the only one! :)

It’s 100% not possible to recreate that “first trip wonder”.

I remember dumping our stuff in our Bangkok hotel and saying “Right, let’s go and get a beer… in Bangkok”. “Let’s go and get lunch… in Bangkok.” Couldn’t get over the fact we were actually doing it.

Fast forward 6 years to when we landed in Delhi, ready to drive a tuk tuk 2000 miles across India, and we were so jaded when it came to people approaching us.

Then again, a lot less people approached us than when we were “noobs”... There were bleary eyed first timers outside the train station, looking like rabbits in headlights, and there were people swarming around them offering everything from hotels to taxis to fingers in their backpacks… We just walked through with only minimal contact from the touts and taxi drivers; it’s almost like they can smell the experience on you.

Warrick - 20 August 2012 09:33 AM

“Right, let’s go and get a beer… in Bangkok”. “Let’s go and get lunch… in Bangkok.” 

Amazing. I know I’m not going to be able to stop myself doing that, now I’ve read it…