I have never gone travelling with friends. In fact, my first time going abroad without The Ps was the China trip this year - late by many of my friends' standard. So when El asked me last week if I wanted to go Bangkok together, I hesitated. Because especially after our ill-planned Beijing trip, Sissy S and I came to one conclusion - we are each other's best travelling partner.
Why?
Because we have the same priorities.
What we never stint on: Trying authentic local food, and having a guide when we visit attractions. We hate it when we reach an attraction and we know there is significance behind everything but we don't know what they are because there isn't a guide explaining.
What we always stint on: We will scout for the cheapest airfare (budget airlines), and cheapest accommodation (backpacker's inn, common toilets, 1-star hotels). We travel using the public transport (excluding taxis). We eat street food most of the time. We throw out fashion and travel light. We will brisk walk with our heavy backpacks for 30 minutes just to save 2 yuan per person. That, by the way, translates to 40 cents.
We were known as extremely good walkers in China, even in Beijing when a guy commented that we are very 厉害 when he saw us at Tiananmen watching the flag raising, and a while later leaving Wangfujing after breakfast for our day's itinerary.
In essence, we travel tough, rough, hard, and cheap. We would rather save on luxuries and comfort to see more, try more and eat more at great value.
Afterall, Sissy S and I actually welcomed the idea of staying overnight at Macs when we couldn't find accommodation, even when it meant not showering from Thursday morning to Sunday morning after touring, walking, and climbing in 40 degrees heat. We just weren't ready to fork out big bucks for 4 hours of room usage.
Now, who else wants to be my travelling partner? Who is up for the challenge?
Us (looking good enough I must say) on the second day, after the night at Macs, and not showering for 2 days.