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Post by gringalais on Jul 9, 2009 18:08:33 GMT
Well, as I mentioned, my husband and I are planning a trip to Bolivia next month. I am really excited, but there is one thing that has me a bit worried.
He is not a roughing it kind of person, whereas I have a pretty high level of tolerance for rough conditions while traveling. He doesn't need a five star hotel or anything, but generally wants his comforts and can stress out if there are delays or other problems.
It sounds like a lot of the buses there aren't the greatest and are often delayed. The salt flat tour has very basic accomodation and the jeeps sometimes have problems like flat tires or mechanical trouble. I didn't even mention this tour to him at first because it didn't sound like his type of thing. However, he saw the pictures and wants to go.
I let him know my concerns and he has said that he understands that the infrastructure for tourism is not to the level of other places he has traveled and he promises he can handle it. He's been talking with a friend that has been there several times and has also warned him of some of the possible problems we could encounter.
Has anyone else dealt with this? At least when he does get stressed about things, it passes rather quickly. It will be the dry season there, which means less potential for closed roads/delays because of flooding. I am taking his word for it and hoping for the best.
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Post by bjd on Jul 9, 2009 19:10:30 GMT
I think if you go expecting problems, you will find them. My son and his girlfriend did the Uyuni tour and some other travelling around Bolivia at this same time of year a couple of years ago. Conditions were sort of primitive, but they had a great time.
I'm not a happy camper either, but for some reason, crappy conditions don't bother me when I travel. I mean, you're on holiday, you don't have a schedule. Those times are the only ones when I am not impatient.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 19:24:28 GMT
At my airline office, some of the 'prissiest' employees are among the ones who can put up with the most primitive conditions when they are on holiday. The executive secretary, who has a broomstick stuck up her..... uh... anyway, she has travelled across India and slept on concrete floors and used ditches as a toilet and she loved every minute of it. Well maybe not every minute....
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Post by gringalais on Jul 9, 2009 19:34:32 GMT
I just have this memory of him stressing out when we were stuck in this armpit of a town up in the north (Chañaral) where there was a mix-up with our transport to the national park we were visiting. This was after waking up for an early flight and spending several hours on two different buses, so we were both kind of tired. He was really grouchy for about half an hour, but once things got straightened out and we were on our way he was fine.
The park was pretty basic. We stayed in a little cabaña with only solar power for the lights and hot water, both which could only be used sparingly. There was only one restaurant that was a half an hour's walk away and it was kind of run down with a very limited menu. But by then he was enjoying himself and didn't seem to mind. I just hope that mindset is what prevails.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 9, 2009 21:47:04 GMT
gringalais:
I think the hardest thing that I had to learn was to relax and remember that traveling is an adventure and not to expect every detail to be exactly like you have at home. I used to be like your husband about delays and finally realized , nothing I said or did would change the fact that there were delays, snafus, etc. I learned to carry kleenix, for those bathroom issues, hand soap for when there is none and wash cloths are packed now. We Americans seem to think everything should be "Americanized". Well, for me, if that were true, I wouldn't travel, what would be the point???
It sounds like he will try to be a little more accepting.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 21:57:42 GMT
I have travelled with a few cranky people. I never understood it myself, because I don't get cranky when things go wrong, unless I was completely relying on the other person to take care of everything. Uh-oh, now I understand why people got cranky with me.  |
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Post by Jazz on Jul 10, 2009 4:35:00 GMT
I can handle just about everything when I travel. The only thing I seem to need is to feel safe or sheltered when I sleep. ( I can't protect myself when I am asleep.) This shelter has often been very basic...once it was a cave. I usually travel alone or with like minded people but it can be difficult with those who have less tolerance. In those situations, I give in to what is comfortable for them.
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Post by gringalais on Jul 10, 2009 15:49:50 GMT
At the very least, this seems like the best time of years to travel because it is the dry season. The worst types of problems are when it is the rainy season and there is flooding and mudslides. Sometimes then buses/trains are cancelled completely or there are really long delays and when they do run, they often go through high water, so your luggage that is below can get wet.
It sounds like the altiplano and the salar are going to be on the cold side, but that is better to deal with than unending rain and flooding. We just need to get him a decent sleeping bag.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 10, 2009 16:15:18 GMT
My trip to Zanzibar ended my relationship with my fiance. He didn't like the lukewarm/cold shower in the bathroom of the house we rented, he didn't like the thin sad trickle of water out of it, he didn't have his fluffy thick bathsheets, he didn't like the smellyish bed, the rough coral tracks that were everlastingly bumpy, the inhabitants, lack of street lights, gruesome sights in the butchers'...the snakes on the beach and so on.... |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2009 17:07:43 GMT
Oh, on my first trip to the Maldives, the only thing that came out of the shower was cold sea water. I spent two weeks being permanently salty. (You get used to it, especially when you can just go out the door and jump into the ocean at any time of the day or night.) I don't think the people who go to the Maldives now would appreciate not having hot fresh water in the shower!
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Post by Kimby on Jul 10, 2009 17:20:11 GMT
My trip to Zanzibar ended my relationship with my fiance. Better to find this out before the wedding, though. Right, spindrift? |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 10, 2009 17:25:40 GMT
At the risk of putting my foot in it, I'd advise you to have a serious talk with Señor G before leaving for the trip. You are not responsible for his comfort, and any griping to you about things beyond your control will only ruin the trip for both of you. It's not fair to expect you to be continuously fretting about whether or not he's having a good time when you should be having a good time.
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Post by gringalais on Jul 10, 2009 17:42:52 GMT
Bixa - yeah, as I mentioned in my first post, we did have a talk about this and I voiced the concerns I did here. He's been reading up on traveling in Bolivia and also talking a lot to his co-worker that has traveled in Bolivia a lot. So, at this point I feel like I should take his word that he is going to be okay and that he knows he needs to try and relax a bit if problem does come up.
An ex of mine in the states was the WORST to go traveling with. I think deep down he really didn't like to travel, but he felt like he should like it and most of our friends also were into travelling, so he would feel out of place if he didn't. Half the time he suddenly wouldn't feel well, so I would just leave him at the hotel and I'd go off and wander around on my own. It was definitely one of the strains on our relationship that led us breaking up eventually. We are still in touch by e-mail from time to time and recently he admitted in a message that he never really liked traveling, which was why he was such a pain on our trips.
At least my husband isn't like that. We've traveled a lot, and he enjoys it ialmost all the time. It is just when things don't work out the way he wants them to that he can get frustrated and stressed.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2009 18:12:54 GMT
I took my parents on a trip to Kenya once and they were getting crankier and crankier, no matter what I did. I would get complaints like "they gave us the room with the longest walk to the dining room!" -- and they were not invalids. Who cares about such things? The dining room was not going to run out of food, and we were not going to get exhausted walking there an extra 30 seconds.
Then, as we arrived in Mombasa and left the train station, a man ran up to my mother and ripped the gold chain from her neck. A nice man took us to the newspaper where he worked while my mother calmed down after crying some. The chain was not extremely valuable, but it had sentimental value for her.
Then we got a taxi and went to our very nice hotel on the beach. My parents were transformed and were pleased with everything from that moment on, although I had imagined that things were going to get even more hellish (along the lines of "why did we ever come to this horrible country?"). We had several lovely days there, and they retained very nice memories from the trip (including laughing about the article in the Nairobi Daily Nation about the shocking incident with tourists at the Mombasa train station. "What do they mean, 'elderly tourist woman'?!?").
I guess the attack just made them realize that certain details are not important and that as long as you are with your loved ones in good health, life is wonderful.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 10, 2009 18:35:41 GMT
Kimby - yes, I suppose I was fortunate, in many ways, not to marry him  Kerouac - I didn't realise you've travelled in Kenya which is one of my favourite places. |
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Post by bjd on Jul 10, 2009 20:02:30 GMT
The first time my son and two friends went to Kenya, they were walking around in Nairobi when a guy ripped the girl's chain from her neck. Since all three of them were runners, they chased the guy down the street. Since Kenyans hate thieves, people were encouraging them and trying to trip up the thief. They finally caught him and got the chain back.
Two years later, my son went to teach math and English in a village school in Kenya for 4 months. I went to see him there, and after 2 weeks, we took the train from Nairobi to Mombasa, then went to Lamu for a week. It was wonderful. Not that we stayed in a fancy place on the beach. We stayed in a guest house with a roof terrace and spent evenings sitting with our feet on the railings, eating mangoes in total darkness. The only other white people in there were a young pair of Danish hippies on their way to India, who seemed to spend their time arranging the boy's dreadlocks.
We both got a bit sick from eating street food, there were only cold showers, the toilet didn't work properly but my memories of that trip are among the best in my life.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 10, 2009 21:39:53 GMT
My husband is pickier about roughing it than I am. We took an REI Adventures Tours trekking and bicycling tour in Southern China and he says he would never go there again (the food was awful, cleanliness was lacking, toilets were awkward, showers were laughable, etc.).
I felt that the inconveniences/discomforts were worth the amazing places we got to see and the tribal Yao people we mixed with, but he had a hard time getting past the $220 USD per person per day we were paying for this lack of creature comforts.
And it's not that he isn't accustomed to roughing it - we ARE backpackers in real life (the mountain hiking/camping kind, not the backpack traveller kind).
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Post by gringalais on Jul 12, 2009 23:55:41 GMT
Kimby - that is my main concern. That sort of atittude. But at least the cost is a lot less per day. I have backpacked in California a lot. Can't imagine him backpacking. For me, as long as he is willing to do day hikes (which he is), it's fine.
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Post by bazfaz on Jul 13, 2009 9:06:34 GMT
My experience of travelling in Bolivia (1985) was that it was a crazy country. There was a general strike. The railways didn't run. The highways were blockaded so the long distance buses didn't run. Aero Lloyd Boliviano ran a single plane that made heroic attempts to cover the country. I had been stuck in Sucre for a week when I heard the plane was due in next day, flying on to Santa Cruz. I went to the airline office that was besieged by a mob of a couple of hundred hopeful travellers. I lurked in a side alley for half an hour until eventually the door opened to let out an employee. I had a press card which I'd got in El Salvador so I thrust this in the startled face of the employee and shouted "La prensa." It worked. I was ushered inside, offered coffee and a ticket was given to me for the next day.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2009 9:10:03 GMT
Hmmmm.... So this would put you in the category of "don't like to rough it," right? |
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 13, 2009 10:22:16 GMT
I once went on a trip from Macao down to Kuala Lumpur with a short stopover in Hainan to visit the ancestral village. To my surprise my mother asked if she could come along, she was 65 at the time. I quite liked the idea and so we went off together, we took about 10 weeks to do the trip and towards the end I was quite happy she'd decided to join me because my money was running out... She roughed it alright, including a couple of bad days on the Sino- Burmese border where we must have swallowed a kg of immodium. |
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Post by lagatta on Jul 13, 2009 11:56:18 GMT
Brava, your mum! Although I'm a good decade younger than she is, I can't rough it as much in many ways because I have a bit of arthritis; when it flares up there are certain types of walking (such as on rugged terrain) that are not good for me.
I have never especially enjoyed roughing it; I'm not an outdoorsy person, though I'd certainly done so to explore interesting places and meet unique people or see various works of art and craft. Not that I'm at all interested in 5-star hotels (where one has no contact with the people of the place, even in 1st-world countries) but this slight physical restriction entails a need for a bit of comfort. (Cycling a lot helps as strenghtening muscles relieves the joints - though I wouldn't try very steep climbs now).
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 13, 2009 14:49:39 GMT
Wow ~ that was a trip of a lifetime, HW. It must have been great to spend that much time with your mother as an adult, and to visit places special to your family. Sounds like you all didn't cramp each other's style at all.
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Post by gringalais on Jul 13, 2009 16:18:34 GMT
Well, we bought the plane tickets last night, so I guess there's no turning back now.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 13, 2009 17:49:23 GMT
bjd - I know Lamu well....it's a heavenly place.
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Post by gringalais on Jul 13, 2009 19:16:25 GMT
My experience of travelling in Bolivia (1985) was that it was a crazy country. There was a general strike. The railways didn't run. The highways were blockaded so the long distance buses didn't run. Aero Lloyd Boliviano ran a single plane that made heroic attempts to cover the country. I had been stuck in Sucre for a week when I heard the plane was due in next day, flying on to Santa Cruz. I went to the airline office that was besieged by a mob of a couple of hundred hopeful travellers. I lurked in a side alley for half an hour until eventually the door opened to let out an employee. I had a press card which I'd got in El Salvador so I thrust this in the startled face of the employee and shouted "La prensa." It worked. I was ushered inside, offered coffee and a ticket was given to me for the next day. Lloyd Boliviano, I flew with them once, coming back to the US from Chile the first time I lived here. Pretty bad airline, but it was the cheapest option and I was poor. They are no longer in business. Fortunately, after a few years of a lot of protests, roadblocks and all, things seem to be pretty calm right now. Hopefully it will stay that way, at least until we are back in Chile. |
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Post by Kimby on Jul 19, 2009 16:37:36 GMT
On roughing it, people are always asking me why I don't try out for "Survivor" since I've been camping since a babe in arms, backpacking since 16 - and still at 55 - bicycle camping, girl scout leader and day camp director, etc. etc.
I would be the biggest washout on that show, and I know better than to sign on to such torture. I hate rain. I hate being cold. And hungry. I hate bug bites - and react terribly to some of them. And I don't suffer fools gladly, so would alienate all the other survivors.
I'd be voted off the island immediately. If not sooner.
So I'm happy to stay at home and watch the show from the comforts of my own TV room.
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Post by gringalais on Jul 20, 2009 0:06:34 GMT
Well, we have been making some plans this weekend and deciding more on an itinerary, so I asked him again if he was sure about this because I don't want him complaining if there are delays or if things aren't the most comfortable. He again said he understands this and we actually had a good laugh about his little tantrum out in the desert.
We shifted around the days a bit so that instead of a bus ride that sounds pretty bad we can take the train, which is supposed to be a lot better. We decided to head straight to Bolivia on the first day. That way if there are delays, we have some leeway to get back to Arica in the north of Chile for our flight to Santiago and if all goes well we can relax on the beach for the last few days.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 20, 2009 2:53:34 GMT
Sounds great, Gringalais. And you get to take the train! You can walk around on a train, which makes it so much less tedious, plus train tracks can be cut into some very sheer places, making for fabulous views.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 23, 2009 11:07:14 GMT
On roughing it, people are always asking me why I don't try out for "Survivor" since I've been camping since a babe in arms, backpacking since 16 - and still at 55 - bicycle camping, girl scout leader and day camp director, etc. etc. .... And I don't suffer fools gladly, so would alienate all the other survivors. I'd be voted off the island immediately. If not sooner. Akela! When I was in Derby I was a cub for about a year. |
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