Tag: backpacking

Globetrotters – Beyond My Border

This week we have a real treat with the amazing Daisy from Beyond my Border. By her own admission her site documents tips, advice and bizarre experiences and who doesn’t love reading about a bizarre experience!

One thing I truly admire about Daisy is the fact she is a solo backpacker. The guts and free-spiritedness it takes to wander the world is something I have so much respect for. As tough as it must be and I’m sure it’s not all Instagram worthy updates it would be amazing to go when and where you want and all the amazing people you must meet along the way.

Daisy has had some hella amazing experiences on her travels – watching the balloons in Cappadocia (100% on my bucket list), staying in Abandoned Hospitals and cave rooms, exploring Iceland, Living with bikers in Turkey, making friends with an air traffic controller and watching him land the planes. Reading through her blog you can find so much information about all of these as well as advice on travelling on a budget and so much travel inspo that you just want to book up a flight straight away. This I just one example of her awesome budget travel guides on the diverse California , shes even got one about travelling in Delhi for $3 a day!! Yes, $3 a day.

Here is the inspiring Daisy from Beyond My Border

I am Daisy, a solo backpacker that travels the world budget style. I grew up in 5 cities in China and Canada and have traveled over 20 countries. I’ve slept in teepees, bungalows, beach houses, and cave rooms, hosted by lawyers, professors, hippies, bikers and much more. I’ve cracked my head in France, twisted my foot in Hungry and got chikungunya in India. Yet I’ve witnessed hot air balloons in Cappadocia during sunrise, rode a motorcycle up into the Himalayas, slurped fresh oysters by the harbor of Santa Barbara and would not change my experiences for the world.

What do you enjoy most about travelling?
Traveling has taught me so much. From history to culture, I have come to fill my heart with stories of people from places so different from my own. It might be a common traveler’s syndrome, but I love to meet people and hear their experiences, understand their perspective and explore the unknown.

Why do you think travelling is important?
Traveling is important because it truly helps us understand how similar people are. It will stimulate acceptance, understanding and create a more open-minded society. This will play into sociopolitical conducts and minimalize discrimination and diminish prejudice.

What is your favourite photograph from your travels?


My favorite photo was taken atop the Himalayas. It took me a 9-hour night bus to get to my host’s city, 3 days for us to bike into the mountains and 5 hours of hiking to reach the peak. But we caught the sunset and it was glorious.

Do you have a pre-travel ritual? If so what?
No ritual is my ritual 😊 A little out of the norm, but I like to travel without much, or any planning at all. It can be a huge headache when I’m lost in a place that speaks a different tongue, but I’ve come out with some amazing experiences.

Who do you usually travel with? I’ve traveled with friends and family but to be honest, my favorite travel companions are strangers I meet on the road. I guess the most suitable answer would be no one, but everyone.

If you were to give one piece of travel advice what would it be? Be fearless & have fun

Where is your favourite place that you’ve been to? I spent two months in Turkey. While in Cappadocia, I witnessed hot air balloons mid sunrise by myself in the middle of some rocky hills. As cliché as it was, I felt the experience eye-opening. Of course, being the clumsy traveler that I am, I ended up being abandoned by the tour bus and had to hitchhike into the city at 7 am. But it was definitely worth it.

Where was one place that didn’t live up to the hype? After living in Paris for 4 months, I concluded that the city was just not for me. Then again, my memory of Paris was far from romantic. During my stay, I managed to lose my phone and crack my head open, which resulted in a $7000 hospital bill. (Amen insurance). My friend who came to visit me was also robbed.

Tell us one place/experience on your bucket list? I would love to attend the International Highline Meeting in Monte Piana, Italy. I may be horrified of heights, but what’s better than stinging a hammock on the webbing between a couple rocks and chill out?

What is the one thing you wouldn’t travel without? My camera!

What can readers find on your blog? Lots of budget travel advice and quirky experiences. I travel on a tight budget and tend to get into bizarre situations.

Do you have a favourite blog post? What is it and why? My favorite is Surviving in Delhi on $3 a Day. While in India, I spent a month living on the bare minimum. My shared apartment had broken windows, doors that didn’t lock and an outside kitchen. Nonetheless, it was such a memorable time since I truly became appreciative of the things I had. Not to mention that I ended up being adopted by a modeling agency and spent two months living with international models!

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Jealous of my former carefree travelling self

Recently while in New York we used the subway ALOT and let me stress it  was perfectly fine and more importantly the best and cheapest way round the city. However there was only one time when I felt a little unsafe and that was on a completely empty platform with trains coming very few and far between, 2 slightly creepy characters, not in my native city, no one knew where we were and a little unsure as to if we were even on the right platform. Obviously we were fine  but it got me thinking about just how much the world has changed.

In my late teens  I went back packing across Italy and Greece with a friend for a month. It was amazing we travelled all over, ate and drank  our way through the countries, stayed in hostels and campsites, caught trains/planes/ferries and saw places I had only ever dreamed of seeing. But also we did a lot of things I would never dream of doing now (and also would never dream of letting my parents know what I did- Mum look away now!)

So there we were two young impressionable girls with our luggage off on the trip of a lifetime with only a guide book and the wind in our hair.  We only had booked accommodation in Rome for the first night we got there the rest of the trip we were leaving up to chance. Very unlikely I would do that now. I would  have researched the accommodation, checked on Tripadivsor and have a least some idea of the route I would be taking.

We turned up in every location found someone who was touting accommodation and picked where we wanted to stay which was usually the cheapest. Some we were lucky with and some we just felt a bit uneasy but it didn’t stop us. We did this morning , noon and night. When we were in the Greek Islands we would just get off the boat in the middle of the night and follow some random tout back to their hotel/bnb/campsite. At the time we had no dramas with this but I often look back and think what the hell were we thinking!! Anything could have happened to us. We could have been taken anywhere.

We never locked any of our belongings up – but I guess we didn’t have iphones, ipads, fancy cameras, huge amounts of money or anything to special like what I would take away now.

We had two dubious train journeys. One which we shared a sleeper carriage with 3 very disturbing and creepy men. So much so that we didn’t sleep or at least tried to sleep with one eye open. The second was another over night train from Florence to Brindis which required a 4 hour stop at a deserted station in Arrezo at 4am in the morning. This was the only part where we at the time felt unsafe. I even called my parents in Australia just to hear their voices. Obviously I didn’t let on the predicament we were in. They didn’t need to know how reckless we had been!

Imagine not only turning up to a hostel in the middle of the night but then to see your friend riding off in the streets (at 1am!) on the back of an Italian hostel workers moped (said workers helmet was covered in MANY girls autographs) to get croissants.  Whilst she was off cruising the streets I was waiting back in a very empty hostel. 

Whilst I look back on these experiences and think ‘you cray cray’ I also look back and wouldn’t have that trip any other way. The stories, the memories, the adventure. I’m also a bit jealous of my former self. To travel with such a carefree spirit, trusting people, trusting my own judgement,  no fear of harm, not planning or researching to the nth degree it’s exactly what travelling should be.  The saddest part is with the world the way it is I couldn’t do this now. Others might but I couldn’t.

Being in Times Square the day before New Years Eve it was at the back of my mind this is the busiest place this time of the year. Could there be a terrorist ttack, could the wrong person be there, could someone with a vendetta against the world be there and want to hurt people. I felt reassured that there was an abudence of police presence. I felt safer knowing there were. And I felt upset that I had thought about that when I should be taking in the sights, sounds and magic of being there.

It’s sad that this freeness feeling isn’t what it was years ago (now I sound like my grandparents talking about the good old days) but I would love to be that naïve, carefree, wandering traveller. One thing I will never let go is a desire to go out and see the world. Yes everywhere you need to be aware of your safety but the main point is that you still go and still see what this beautiful world has to offer.