Katka and Mic are interesting travellers, who say it’s best to set forth without any (big) plans. Expectations are not really big and surprises along the way are priceless. They’ve been to 8 countries together, from warm places where they enjoyed paradise beaches and coral reefs, to cold places, where they gazed upon mighty eight-thousand meters tall peaks. They love to travel and experience and get to know the local and traditional cuisine and lifestyles wherever they go.
When did you start to travel and where did you go to first?
Our travels started when money allowed us to go. You work a little and save a little, so you can manage. As most young travellers we were taking shorter trips around Europe, and we were both in Indonesia before, which is a beautiful and diverse country. That’s why we spent 3 months there this year.
They were fascinated by the continent of extremes – Asia, with all of its charms, natural beauty and too many large cities, with the monks, food, but also dirt and poverty. In short – Asia with all its good and bad sides.
You say Asia made the biggest impression on you?
Asia is huge and diverse. You sometimes can’t believe how much the landscape changes after a two hour bus ride and we like it. If we didn’t feel well someplace, we looked at the options and were on the bus, on the way to discover a true paradise city (if we were lucky) the very next day. And apart from being diverse, Asia is also insanely cheap! But the biggest impression was in India, which has a lot of personality, is filthy and loud, people are nosey and you are an actor of a never ending action movie every day.
Determination and the desire to explore the world made them decide to go on long journeys. They planned to be away a whole year and even hoped it would take them longer. Collecting the coins in the piggy bank and other savings were enough to leave.
It’s not easy to go on such a journey. Where did the idea originate to go away for so long?
Mic always wanted to go on a long voyage and explore Asia. So we went together and just went with the flow. It’s nicer to travel together. We both found Asia interesting and it was not expensive. So we got a ticket for Sri Lanka and told everybody we’re going. IT’s not always easy, and when you’re traveling for 30 hours and get dirty and hungry, you are touchy. But still, you can manage. I can’t believe how little material things we really need to live.
They went without a real plan. The thoughts of getting in a fight (and splitting up) on the way, or running out of money, or even worse, never entered their heads. Hey just went with the flow and had a nice surprise!
Have you had any bad experiences while travelling?
We don’t have many bad experiences, there are just different flavours of different countries. Seeing museums didn’t appeal too much to us. Every now and again we might visit a pagoda or an art museum. We prefer seeing the pulse of the people and taste their traditional food, see the unspoiled nature and the sea, that we both love. We found so many common interests in each country that there was never a problem what to visit and see. But about the problems – our valet and camera got stolen. We had to get a new camera. It was basically just commodities, but the problem is, we had very little funds to replace them.
You travel on impulse. But still, there are a few things you need to plan ahead?
Before going we check out the country and the basic things and activities that appeal to us. Everything else comes along. It even happened we went someplace, but just changed the route. So we went to an ashram in India, diving on Andan Islands, trekking at the Base camp of Annapurna, live with the tribes of Siberutu and reaching the Banda islands (which isn’t easy). You need to plan things like that, but we never book ahead the place where we’ll sleep. We always look for budget friendly accommodation as sleep is just the basic necessity you can’t do without. So we really don’t care much, where we sleep – and we also negotiate the price.
Katka and Mic usually prefer public transport, mostly trains, which were the first choice in India and on Sri Lanka, as they are very cheap. Apart from trains they also use buses and say the most comfortable ones were in Vietnam. For exploration of the surroundings of cities the best are bicycles or motor-bikes. But if they had the opportunity they loved taking a rickshaw.
Traveling for a year must sound great, but is it really so wonderful?
The only problem we encounter is that we are a long time away from friends and family. Especially during holidays and birthdays you feel you are away from them. But for everything else you need to be quite focus, not to forget something, not to be to exposed and you will have to realize that something bad can always happen. Sure, we also had fights, but we both learned to keep calm, when such things happen.
As each traveller you must have had the “best moments”?
It’s hard to say, which palce was the best, as there really were so many unforgettable moments. A year is a long time to travel. Sometimes a day was just perfect, as for example when a girl in a small Philippine town invited us for breakfast, because it was a holiday. She took us to her home. We dined with her family and the local musicians were performing. Nothing like that would ever happen back home. But among best experiences are the visit to the Rajastan desert in India, the trekking in Nepal, the food in Thailand, the snorkelling at Banda and the life with shamans of Sibertu, but then there are also the temples of Myanmar and the friendly people of Philippines.
You visited many countries and the food isn’t always like at home. Have you ever eaten something really strange?
The most strange food we’ve tasted has got to be the fried black bees with larvae, which are a speciality and a rare treat for the people in Myanmar. But they were so nice to share with us, without even blinking. Next morning they also offered us fried red ants, but they say that’s nothing special. Mic also ate a live worm that feeds off the sagu tree. Yes, the Siverut was not a culinary treat. I guess the shamans don’t have time to cook. For diner we also got a pigs back side, which we couldn’t swallow and it finished behind our backs with the dogs.
As the travellers keep a very precise and interesting blog, their effort paid off, as last year there were among the 16 winners of the
Big Blog Exchange. Due to their logistic and financial problems they had to give the price forward to
Nina Kogej. Still, they didn’t stay empty handed as
STA offered them to take the to Philippines for two months.
Seeing how you got such a prize, I guess you won’t come back after a planned year?
No, we’re not coming home yet. One year of travel has consequences and returning to a previous life is not easy. So we plan to stop for a few months in Thailand. We said how much we’ve spent within a year, so we’ll try to find a way of funding and work online, or try to get a job wherever we are.
You wrote on your blog, you made two plans last February – a realistic one, and a more realistic one. The realistic one was to return home after a year and the more realistic one was to come home before Christmas to surprise the family. Neither happened and you are still traveling the globe.
Many planes changed along the way and they realized there is no real plan. They travel as they feel like it and wherever the road takes them. Wherever it feels better or more exciting. In the end they realized neither is planning. They travelled large parts of the world and had many adventures, which made them much richer and gave them a lot of energy to just go on. At the moment they are in Chiang Maiu and eat a lot.
