We're gonna move on to the more practical stuff when we explain how we bought the bag, what kind of bag to use the clothes that you should bring travel guy bank account insurance mitigation, whatever you have questions about, and then what we don't talk about you find information under the video. So tell me Nick, what was your story because I know she has a great story about buying the backpack. Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing. But you know, this is reality. So my background is in corporate. I was working for nine years in corporate HR.

And the day that I decided to travel I basically went from the office in my suits on my high heels with my laptop, and I went to this adventure store or this sports where I left spending 900 euros that I had everything I needed to go traveling. I was not planned at all. It was completely random. I bought just one backpack I knew that I wanted to have close enough for a whole year. And because I was a rookie traveler, I had no idea what I needed. So I imagined backpacking is all about sports and nature and being outdoors.

I didn't bring any casual clothes whatsoever. I only had running shoes and hiking boots and sports stuff. And then when I actually arrived to my first destination, I realized that I have nothing to wear on the street. So actually, I had to go shopping in Honduras. So was my mistake. But now I know that there I don't need that many girls, especially not for as well.

And now we arriving to the insurance part. I have to say I didn't have any travel insurance whatsoever because I didn't want to spend the money. That's the truth. I wanted to travel for a year, I had kind of a budget. I had no idea how much I'm going to spend, or what am I going to spend on my phone, okay, I'm not gonna buy the expensive travel insurance. I will really lucky that I didn't need it.

I wouldn't suggest anyone to live without it. I took the risk for myself. If I had to do it all over again, I think I would purchase an insurance. But what about you? Did you have an insurance? Oh, hell yeah, my mom would not let me without insurance.

She like basically booked the whole family to take care of the insurance. Yes, I had a really good travel insurance. And I'm really grateful I did not need it. But I mean, we've met people who got run over by a bus or who got really drunk, get hit their heads, and were hospitalized or got into a fight accidentally. That is when travel insurance actually comes in handy, even missing flights or getting in trouble. idea for two things that happen as part of the journey and the adventure of traveling and then knowing that you have an insurance kind of for me was a peace of mind.

Exactly. The most common reasons that I've heard from other travelers is robbery which is very common when we go around. countries that are really poor. But most of the time, it's common because of our own mistakes. So I would like to emphasize that there are loads of safety measures that we can do in order to prevent it. But a lot of people were not really following the unwritten rules or the good advice.

The second most common reason was renting the scooter. And the roads are not exactly safe in Southeast Asia and some parts or Latin America, and people fall over. But at the same time, you know, when the water quality is not great, the food quality is not great. Anything can happen. So I would highly advise to take a traveling show there are loads of backpacker insurances where you can pick the destinations where you're going, or at least the regions and then you gives you good quotes. Is that what you found?

Yes, I did. So although I was not sure exactly what countries I was going to visit I had a fair idea that I was just gonna be in that in America. Yeah, really. Enjoy is for the really big stuff, the small stuff, I cared enough medication for those and also in many countries you can go to a doctor and pay as little as one to 10 euros per visit and you get treated so it's really for the big things just in case something bad happens I definitely highly advise to have insurance. We both been to the jungles and very isolated areas in the mountains. So I felt safer to have at least the basics covered that could happen there.

And moving away from medication I wanted to get back to the clothes because we talked about this more casual yeah and also for the ladies, you want to take as many dresses as you want, there's no need because you will wear only the two and it just takes up space and if any gives you extra kilos and also I made a huge mistake of packing a lot more. And even though I traveled for a year and I was using the same clothes for a year. I didn't me all of them I needed my favorite for. And then what I've done and I would advise to do everyone the same if you're going to travel for so long is to keep buying new stuff. So you refresh your wardrobe but you throw away just as many and other travelers we could use those things. And and we actually done some exchanges in hostels when I knew that I'm not gonna go into cold weather anymore, so I gave away my jumpers, and instead I got some t shirts and shorts.

So that was a good way to go. But I've kept my bag exactly the same size, plus souvenirs. But my bag was way heavier than than it was supposed to be. What I tried to do is to have clothes for every single weather condition. But what I didn't realize that I can buy clothes there. Why am I carrying cold weather clothes for six months when I'm when I'm only going to go to the Andes and when I reach Peru, so I was carrying it for way too long.

Unnecessarily. I did it a bit differently. And this is the part that I find funny when I go through my pictures of one year, I always seem to wear the same coats. I invested a lot in proper hiking boots, proper hiking socks, socks are really important of proper hiking pants, and then three t shirts that you could wear several days, like these turbo t shirts, you know, for heats. And I was wearing those constantly because we were hiking a lot. I also managed to pack a little black dress because let's face it, you're going to be wear for a year, you want to occasionally go on a date or get invited to go on a date.

So I was always covered. If I needed to go to some fancy events like the belly, for instance I did or going to fancy restaurants. I was dressed for the occasion. Okay guys, we're going to move on to the travel guides because we both have very different experience and explanation on how to do this. So in a shadow You had a crazy story about this. Yes.

So whatever it is, you don't do what I did. But I managed to leave with five lonely planets in my backpack. stupid idea. Don't do it. What was your experience? Completely different?

I'd imagine no planning, no reading, no travel blog, no Lonely Planet whatsoever nothing. Because in my mind, what I wanted is to have the first experience without any preconceived ideas of the place where I was going, and actually visited some places that I knew nothing about. The only thing that I do that speaks Spanish there because I've traveled Latin America, but I just wanted to give the place a chance to show the greatness what's in there because especially some of the areas where I've been extremely dangerous. And if you listen to the media or you read articles online, then that's the information that you find and if I read travel blog, Everybody has different experience with a destination. So if I only read one that's negative, then I'm going to have a perceived idea that the place is so dangerous, I'm going to have a bad time.

I didn't want that. I wanted to start fresh, you know, to clear the canvas and give the place a chance. But to me, it wasn't about what I've seen, but what I learned. So after all, it wasn't the number of countries the cities and, and the pictures that I've taken, it was more the experience. And then wherever I went, I engage with the local culture. Wherever people sent me, I went, so I let other travelers and locals guide the way I was moving, and the time I spend in a place when you travel for a longer time, you kind of grow into that rhythm.

It's kind of a skill that you start to develop. And although in the beginning, I was quite attached to my own planet for the first two weeks. I completely recognize what you're saying and you recommend each other things and You kind of follow that, no matter what the guide says. But that took me a few months in order to really live into it and not go unprepared. And I thought that I have to move fast. So I only wanted to spend a few days here a week there and keep moving.

And then when I arrived to Colombia, which was around six months into my trip, then I realized I have to slow down and I spent three months there and I visited three cities or or four cities Max, and it was more than enough. So I didn't need any lonely place or information or travel blog. I went by my feelings. I liked it. I say I had enough I moved on. Let's see, I want to banking because there is something so so important.

And my experience in it, I had four bank cards with me. One was destroyed. One I exhausted it. The other one expired and I had one left so forth of the whole year, I needed the four cards because only one was functioning at the very end. RV really was only traveling with one card and it's called visa. And that was a card that I use.

I mean, never had any trouble money. Very cool. No, that's actually really lucky because I've heard horror stories about that. But everybody solved their problem. Because what you realize during the travels, that people are very friendly and you ask help from them, they will help. But in this case with the medication and with the bank cards, I thought that they were very important.

And I did get into trouble with three of my cards. So it worked for me.