Inspirational travel tales from other backpackers

Picking a day at random from my India journal: "day off from school, took a jeep up through the Himalayan foothills to Beas Nala. This is where well-off south-Indian honeymooners go to see the snow, and to ski. An amazing, skin-of-your-teeth drive, with Hindi music and sheer drops. Women harvesting the silky-green fields with scythes, bright and sun-bleached prayer-flags spanning the chasms. As we approach the snow-line, stalls line the sides of the road where you can hire fur coats and wellies. We resist. The ski-slope is a grubby patch of snow packed with people in their hired fur-coats. Patient yaks with neat centre-partings stand round the perimeter fence. Men sell curry from great vats balanced on their heads. We pay to slide down the slope in a rubber tyre, then drink chai at a little dhaba and watch the world go by. A fun day." Jess Fitch

I think the most poetically fulfilling experience so far was while I was in India. There were lots of memorable moments, not least the time I realised what I was wearing in the day was actually an Indian night dress: I was wondering why people were giving me strange looks! Being the only bit of travelling India sticks out in my mind, especially the nights where 6 of the volunteers lugged their mattresses up to the top balcony of the volunteer house to sleep Indian style. Below us on the other side of the hillside, an Indian family - father, mother, son and daughter slept under one big blanket on the roof of their small house. We mirrored this, and spent the night watching the moonlight and stars and waking to an Indian sunrise over the Himalayan Mountains. It was all very other-worldly! Pete Timms

The best experience I have had whilst travelling was going to White Island, New Zealand’s only active marine volcano. On the way out to the island I saw a pod of dolphins interacting with the boat! Getting on the Island was an adventure in itself as you had to go in a dingy boat and climb up a ladder and then over boulders! Standing on an active volcano is pretty amazing: things are bubbling around you, steaming and hissing. We were warned that this is an active volcano and they can never predict when it is gonna explode! Basically it could go while we are on here now! At this point they ask if any one wants to leave! We get issued with a gas mask and hard hat should we need it! And told to run for cover if it starts shooting out ash! There are bubbling mounds that if you stand on them you could fall into the volcano and there are risks of landslides into the crater lake! It was just such a beautiful experience; they have boiling sulphur pouring out which you could eat once it cooled down! Pure sulphur tastes and smells of nothing! The island was just amazing and one of the best things I’ve ever seen! Dana Carpano

I’d been walking around the breathtaking remains of the temples of Angkor Wat all day, from sunrise to when it started going dusk, by which point I was at my final destination, Angkor Wat itself. Just being there was incredible and I had to take one more photo, when a monk appeared in the direction I was pointing my camera. He beckoned me over and I clambered up the steps to where he was, to view the beautiful scenery all around. He spoke hardly any English and I only knew how to say hello in Cambodian, but it was terrific just to be there and sit with him. As the sun went down, we walked out of the temple and toward my motor-taxi which was waiting to take me back to my guesthouse. For a split second I took pleasure in the realisation that I was in such a remarkable place with someone held so highly in regard by his people, and that moment I will never forget. Vikki Barnes

Belgium, not a million miles from the UK, right? Culture fairly similar? It’s no Asia but we were nonetheless in for a few surprises. We arrived at our host university whilst the initiation process for new students was in full swing. Think barbaric, think having to dance naked in front of a hall of students, bathe in pigs blood, shave your hair off and be forced to drink beer until you puke (in the UK we prefer to do the latter voluntarily). If you don’t survive, you are not allowed to enter the student bar, imagine! First impressions of Belgium, none too positive. And the kissing thing (of the air/cheek variety), what’s that all about?! In France they give two (or four), in Belgium it’s one or three, depending on the situation, the mood, the position of the moon... It’s perfectly normal to walk past a fellow student, kiss them on the cheek without exchanging words and continue walking. If there are ten people you know walking past, you have to kiss each of them, and arrive 10 minutes late for your lecture (who am I kidding, we never attended lectures...). Lastly, the beauty of language! My friend is waiting at the bus stop, and is approached by a bloke who inquires in French ‘how long have you been here?’; ‘three weeks’ she replies. Another friend walks into a full lecture theatre 10 minutes late and the lecturer asks ‘you’re late, where have you just come from?’ - answer ‘England’! And my French colleague recently emailed the whole office in English to inform us that ‘A specialized company will clean our PC and parts on Thursday’. Fortunately, we have good looking cleaners... Laura Chapman

Click here >> if you've got any traveller's tales and post them on the messageboard. We're always on the look-out for travel tale gems - it's great to read about others' experiences.