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The Traveller World Guide | Best Travel Tips and Vacation.

What Was Your First International Trip?

Travel Blog - Ross French - December 13, 2011

beer

By: Hogga

What was your first life changing trip that made you think, Hells yes! This whole travel thing is the sweet ass!?

Mine was a trip to Australia.

After I graduated University I jumped straight into the rat race. I got an awesome paid internship at Yahoo! Canada and worked there for a year. When it was done, I worked freelance for the Marketing department but they did not have the head count to hire me full time so I thought I might as well take off to Australia and visit two friends who were both going to school there.

Margyle, whom many of you lovely readers will know was teaching English in Japan at the time so I decided to stop off there on the way. Although I was not as excited to go to Japan, I wanted to see Margyle’s stupid face.

I didn’t do any research on what to see, the culture, food or prices; I just went to Japan with absolutely no expectations. When I look back I feel like I was so naive, but in a good way.  I thought hostels were stinky and gross, until I actually stayed in one and I don’t think I even had travel insurance or knew that I needed it. I was relieved to find out that other countries also have beer and I did quite a bit of ‘taste testing’… you know, to integrate myself into the culture.

beer

I still remember walking outside of the airport with Margyle into the THICK and HOT air. Turns out, Japan is pretty warm and humid in August, who woulda thunk? I definitely make an effort to check climates before I travel to a destination now.

The real game changer was when my friends talked me into travel to Cairns, Australia, ALONE. I’m a.. err… ‘bold’ person, but it took a few pep talks for them to convince me I wouldn’t be lonely or wake up in a gutter missing my kidneys. They couldn’t come with me because they had school and to be honest, that one week in Cairns gave me the balls, uh, I mean… guts and confidence to travel solo later in life.

I realized you’re not really alone because you make new friends from all over the world in hostels and on tours or even in the street. I wish I knew sooner about these things called ‘hostels’ where there is a bar in my living room and majority of the people staying there also want to drink their faces off and frolic around town.

As it turns out, people from around the world like beer as much as I do! Again, who woulda thunk?

hostel_fun

My parents helped pay for my trip as a graduating present. I learned so much on that first international trip. Between the culture shock of Japan and my week of partying in Cairns, I fell in love with travelling. About a year and a half later I sold my life away and took off to travel around the world.

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37 Comments

  • Margyle December 13, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    Haha yeah that was awesome. I still remember us outside the station in Kamakura when you and Kaori got those portable cigarette containers and we were all sweating buckets. So gross. Never go to central Japan in July/August… It is death.

    My first time was Switzerland to see Hogga’s and my buddy Max. Spent 2 weeks in Lausanne and then a week in Barcelona – awesome memories… Definitely helped with the Tokyo thing that was only 3 months later!
    But I think we’re probably saying international without counting the US right? Cause that was definitely first.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 13, 2011 at 10:31 AM

      whaaa??? I wasn’t in Switzerland!?

      Reply
  • Jackie December 13, 2011 at 10:23 AM

    Hahaha, loveeed this! My first international trip was when I was 10. My mom took me to Italy and all I wanted to do was sit in the hotel room, watch cartoons and eat McDonald’s. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself.

    The “game changer” trip was, like you, a graduation present. My aunt handed me her GIANT timeshare catalog with a bow on it and said “pick one.” I went with Paris. And then for good measure, I tacked on London and Amsterdam on my own dime. That trip changed everything. 🙂

    It’s funny you mention the Australia/Japan thing because just yesterday I booked a trip to Tokyo for the end of this month. I’ve never traveled solo before, and never been to Asia. So it’s terrifying and exciting at the same time. But after reading this, I’m a bit more excited than terrified now.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 13, 2011 at 10:33 AM

      Haha! Amazing. When I was younger I just wanted to hang out in the hotel too, but it was places like Florida and Montreal…

      You can drink beer anywhere in Japan… really, what more could you ask for in a country??

      Reply
    • Margyle December 13, 2011 at 10:59 AM

      Tokyo is so awesome – if you are there on new years you can go into the imperial palace grounds and see the emperor – only happens 2x a year… It’s crowded but worth it. Definitely check out Shibuya at night, go to Odaiba for sunset. You can’t climb Fuji but you can do a smaller mountain just outside of Tokyo called Takao – I climbed it 5x! Oh yeah, and take a day trip to Kamakura if you can. Seriously, so much to see and do… Man I wish I was going back…

      Reply
  • DTravelsRound December 13, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    My first international trip was in high school with my theatre department. We were one of the first high schools to perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. It was awesome!! Of course, we snuck beers and late nights, but it wasn’t until a few years later I went out again without “rules.”

    Reply
    • Hogga December 13, 2011 at 5:37 PM

      Awww that’s adorable!

      Reply
    • Margyle December 16, 2011 at 11:11 AM

      I’ve been to that festival! Not intentionally though as it just happened to be there while we were in Edinburgh…

      Reply
  • Ayngelina December 13, 2011 at 7:40 PM

    Wow Japan is a pretty tough place to be the first place you travel to, although the bonus is that it’s clean.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 14, 2011 at 7:28 AM

      I know right!?
      I loved it though… it’s still in my top 3

      Reply
  • Stephanie - The Travel Chica December 13, 2011 at 8:10 PM

    Technically, it was to Canada on a school trip, but I really do not count that one.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 14, 2011 at 7:27 AM

      Haha no?

      Well what was the one that was your ‘game changer’

      Reply
  • Camels & Chocolate December 14, 2011 at 12:24 AM

    My first time was with my PARENTS to England when I was 15. I used to sneak out of the flat we rented and walk to the corner to stock up on Cadbury chocolate and consume it all in secret…yes, I was SUCH the rebel, ha.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 14, 2011 at 7:29 AM

      when we werent allowed to leave the hotel we would ride the elevator and ask people what floor they would like haha.

      Reply
  • Jessica - Of Revolt December 14, 2011 at 9:44 AM

    Ooo, my game-changer was definitely France. I studied abroad there in 2005 with my two best friends which, as you might imagine, was a shitshow of the most epic kind. Some of the people I met through our program are still really close friends today ( I even attended a wedding for one in Alaska!) and France still holds a place in the cockles of my heart. And everyone knows, cockles rule.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:19 AM

      HAHA! Amazeballs!
      I also received an A+ in drinking while at school… but I did manage to pass all my real classes, I’m a multifuckingtasker like that.

      Reply
  • Federico December 14, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    My first trip was a two week solo across Costa Rica. I´ve been hooked since.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:20 AM

      wow! first trip is 2 weeks solo! that’s impressive duder!

      Reply
  • Andrea December 14, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    How cool that you went to Australia first! I went to Europe for the first time with my father when I was 19. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip to London, Paris, the French Riviera and Italy, but enough to give me a taste for more.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:20 AM

      You just need that one little taste of it… then it becomes an addiction!

      Reply
  • Abby December 15, 2011 at 1:17 AM

    I really need to go to Australia. The end. Besides that, I have been a traveler all my life. I blame my parents.

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:21 AM

      haha! lucky girl, have you been to NZ? I would say go to NZ over OZ unless you plan to stay/live there for a while.

      Reply
    • Margyle December 17, 2011 at 11:08 AM

      I agree with Hogga… especially the South Island.

      Reply
  • Erica December 15, 2011 at 2:05 AM

    God I love Japan.

    God I drank so much in Japan.

    I love beer.

    Reply
    • Margyle December 16, 2011 at 11:14 AM

      Amen to that… And chu-hi. Mmmm chu-hi – diabetes in a can.

      Reply
      • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:23 AM

        blah chu-hi… yum beer-hi

        Reply
  • Bret @ Green Global Travel December 15, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    My 1st international trip was a 3-week tour of Italy with the Atlanta Boy choir, which culminated in singing for Pope John Paul II in the Vatican 5 days after my 12th birthday. It was pretty extraordinary, and I’ll be posting about it soon!

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:24 AM

      !!!! That’s so crazy! Man, I should have joined a choir!

      Reply
  • Mariellen Ward December 15, 2011 at 12:28 PM

    Fun Fact: I lived in Japan, in 1992. I totally remember the heat and humidity in August.

    My life changing trip was going to India by myself — and by myself, I mean alone! — for six months in 2005/06. I had NEVER done anything even remotely close to this before, so it really was diving into the deep end of the pool. I figured it would either kill me or completely change my life (and my life needed changing because I was stuck in a deep depression following the sudden and unexpected death of my mother.). Luckily, I had an amazing time, and I will always be grateful to India for holding out loving arms and embracing me. When I needed it most.

    Great discussion, Lindsay!

    Reply
    • Hogga December 17, 2011 at 10:26 AM

      I didn’t even know heat like that existed until I got off the plane in Japan!

      Wow, that is diving pretty deep for never having done anything like that before. Bold and brave for sure though. That is so fantastic that it changed you in a positive way!

      Reply
  • Jeremy December 17, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    I was in Japan last August. The heat was brutal. I think I lost 10 pounds or more in just 4 weeks of walking around there.

    My first international trip was to Canada when I was 6 or 7… but since that doesn’t really count we did a couple cruises when I was ~9 and 17. I think my first major international trip was 4 weeks in Europe when I was 22. Yup.

    Reply
    • Margyle December 17, 2011 at 11:14 AM

      I love how Canadians and Americans don’t consider travel to each other’s country ‘real’ travel. Maybe it’s the similarities, the distance or the ease at which you just get in a car and cross the border (not to mention for years we didn’t need passports of any kind).

      I arrived in mid August and it was death – it was like 34 at night, the cicadas were deafening and you felt like you could float wherever you went because the air was so thick. Crappy thing is, as a teacher, it’s probably the only time I can revisit it lol. BUT anyone out there thinking about going to Japan (Tokyo in particular) – Autumn is amazing and not as crowded as Spring when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

      Reply
  • fotoeins | Henry December 17, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    First trip ever outside of North America was my first working trip to a 60-cm telescope which the University of Toronto used to operate at Las Campanas Observatory in north-central Chile. I had two weeks in the middle- ot late-September back in the year of 1995.

    I was so naive.

    * Packed way way too much. Way way stupid.

    * Guy I worked for “used” me (like a frikkin’ mule) to carry a couple of imaging filters with me, which I would also use for the imaging observations at the telescope. He should’ve shipped them down to Chile, and done all the correct export/import things, especially because I was flying via the U.S. But he wanted to save the money, but almost got me screwed in the process. Took some fancy talk to convince the U.S. border patrol/customs agent that I wasn’t going to turn around and sell the filters.

    * Took the 6-hour bus ride from Santiago to La Serena : it really is very scenic, and reminds me of the coastal highway from southern to northern California.

    * On the return bus journey back, I struck up a convo with my seatmate – a nice Chilean woman, about 25. My non-existent Spanish and her non-existent English were clashing for the competition for “who can say the simplest thing without being understood.” I had to switch bus terminals in Santiago, and I thought she was telling me she knew the way. Next thing I know, I’m *in* her apartment with my oversized luggage in tow, and I think I’m about to get mugged. But no, she offers me tea and gives me her contact information. Minutes later, we’re out the door again, and she takes me to the company offices for the bus I’m taking from downtown to airport. When I’m back home in Toronto, I write to her on a postcard in Spanglish, thanking her for her hospitality. Of course, I eventually lost her contact information …

    Reply
    • Hogga December 19, 2011 at 11:23 AM

      I know that feeling! But it’s almost a gift now to be so green before a destination.

      Reply
  • Margo December 17, 2011 at 7:21 PM

    my first big international trip was eurailing through Holland, Belgium and France after college graduation. It was amazing. And a very long time ago. 🙂

    Reply
    • Hogga December 19, 2011 at 11:23 AM

      Isn’t it so weird to look back on these trips and think of how different you may have been and they way you traveled was as well maybe? I sure do! HIZZAH!

      Reply
  • Alexa Meisler February 20, 2012 at 3:07 PM

    It is probably a good idea to be prepared but I am truly amazed by your spontaneity to just get up and go. That kind of attitude will definitely get you to places and Australia is always a good way to start your international experience. The people there are just so friendly!

    Reply
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    About Me

    About Me

    Ross French grew up outside Toronto, blah blah… he went to the University of Western Ontario for fine arts and like any degree, has since done nothing in that field. More seriously, Ross French is a travel junkie & a tech nerd with a slightly concerning love for beer & wine. he a has a great awareness of life outside the 9-5 and hopes to aspire to be a hammock bum one day.

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