International Mankini Challenge

I love backpacking around the world. The chance to travel to new countries, meet new people, better understand what the world actually is and undertake experiences that make me feel truely alive. Add to this the International Mankini Challenge and the last 13 months of my life have been one of the most fun, daring and enjoyable I’ve had. I also love to share my experiences and the knowledge I’ve gained with others, when asked (last thing I want to be is a travel bore), hoping it will inspire them to take the plunge and reap the benefits of backpacking. However there are three things I hear uttered by new, naive and/or non-travellers that I’m afraid drive me nuts!

1. “You’re so lucky!”

A comment that can be found on many a backpacker’s Facebook albums. Balderdash is what I say to it! Not to travel is easier than travelling and a lot of people confuse backpackers with being lucky because they’ve taken the decision and made the effort to make their dreams a reality.

“I don’t have the money”, “I’ve got a job”, “I’ve no one to go with” etc are all lame excuses as far as I’m concerned. If you really want to travel and see what the world has to offer then save money, leave your job and go on your own! I’ve met people in $80,000 of debt who’ve spent 3 years saving a travel fund and delayed loan repayments for a year so they can live their dream. Leaving your job is the easy part and by the time you’re back it’s likely that things will be a lot better than they are now. In fact you have gained new skills or a new direction that help you get a better and more fulfilling job! And backpacking on your own is the only way to travel in my opinion. You’re master of your own destiny and go anywhere you want.

In essence too many people are ready to put up barriers as to why they can’t do something rather than look as to how something can be achieved. All it requires is a change in mindset.

2. “It dangerous there”

Hearing this said is my number one pet peeve. If I’d listened to this while backpacking around South and Central America recently I’d have missed going to Colombia, the jewel in South America’s crown in my opinion – where anything you could ever want to see/do, you can here (trekking to the Lost City, the beautiful town of Salento, the Manizales coffee plantations, the salsa of Cali, the partying and stunning women of Medellin, the culture and beauty of Bogota, the extreme sports of San Gil, the Caribbean beaches of Parque Nacional Tayrona, the diving in Taganga, the history of Cartagena, the Amazon area of Leticia). Colombian people are actually some of the nicest, helpful and most hospitable people I’ve ever met while travelling.

Colombia isn’t the only country to suffer from the dangerous tag. I could name countless other countries that travellers miss out based on what they or a friend/family can remember reading in the media in the past. Unfortunately people are too quick to dismiss on this basis and don’t take the time to find out more about what a country is like now. Seemingly they then are in the habit of propagating this viewpoint until it becomes ‘fact’.

The best way I’ve found to illustrate the case for Colombia and countries like it is this. If you only believed what you read in the press about the USA then you wouldn’t go there either. Ater all, who would want to go to a country that declares war on others at the drop of a hat, where kids are all fat and shoot each other at school everyday, where street crime is rife and where you’re probably going to die in a hurricane or forest fire?

The fact is we know there’s more to the USA as information is more readily available. If people spent a little longer looking into countries where it wasn’t, they may not looked shocked when I tell them that in the five weeks I was in Colombia I didn’t meet one traveller who had either been mugged or had things stolen when there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying break the bling out, I’m saying even in your own country there are dangers, just use your common sense.

3. “Back to the real world”

What is the real world? Where is it? Why does the life you left to go backpacking have to be the real world and the one you experience travelling be fantasy? Your life is what you make it, we all have choices. If you want a conventional life with a career, house and family, then fine – good luck to you. But if you want something else, like my friend Alex who left his career as a Management Consultant behind to sail to Latin America and start a hostel in Bogota, then all the best to you in creating your new ‘real world’. You have my upmost respect.

So get your video camera out, make the best film for the STA World Traveller Intern, pack the mankini and send us the pictures!

You can also follow us on twitter and/or join the International Mankini Challenge Facebook Group.

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