5 Important Lessons that We’ve Learned About Full-Time Travel

Plus first impressions from an over-touristed Lisbon

Greetings from Lisbon! That’s right, we finally made it to Portugal after multiple failed attempts (thanks, Covid).

And we’re not just in Lisbon; we ended up renting an apartment right in the heart of Alfama. This is the oldest neighbourhood in town, having survived the earthquake of 1755 that devastated the rest of the city.

Alfama is also a major draw for anyone visiting the city. Whenever we leave our apartment, we need to wind our way past the ubiquitous guide with a flag and a trailing group of tourists.

We don’t normally make it a point to stay smack in the middle of a tourist attraction but we couldn’t resist this particular Airbnb. Not only is it a traditional 18th century apartment loaded with antiques and charm but it came in at a surprisingly decent price. Despite all the inflation, it’s still possible to land a deal — as long as you book six to eight months ahead and negotiate for a better rate.

Avoiding the tourist crowds

The interesting part about staying in Alfama is that we actually consider it to be a relatively quiet corner of the city. Since our arrival, we’ve been shocked by the sheer volume of tourists swarming through Lisbon. The lineups for the city’s top attractions are easily hours long — and we’re not even in the peak season.

Of course, we would never fault fellow tourists for wanting to experience a beautiful place. After all, that’s what we’re here to do. But our visits to a number of must-see destinations this past year — Prague’s old town, Medellin’s Comuna 13, the Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest — have prompted some soul-searching about where and how we should be spending our time as travelers.

Our favourite experiences have all been well off the beaten track: Ioannina in northern Greece, Novi Sad in Serbia, the Accursed Mountains in Albania, the Bohemian Paradise in the Czech Republic, and Translyvania in Romania (while steering clear of the wildly popular Bran Castle).

We may not always be able to avoid the crowds but we still believe that there are authentic experiences to be found. It just takes a little research and an appetite for adventure.

What every traveler needs to know

This autumn marks our “travel anniversary;” we’ve now had four years of life on the road. Of course, that’s not just four years of special, wonderful experiences; it’s also four years of challenges, mishaps and frustrations.

We thought, let’s not keep all our mistakes to ourselves. We’ve turned all our experiences into five absolutely essential, must-know lessons for the full-time traveler. We’re talking about loneliness, boredom, burnout, and, everyone’s favourite topic, making a life of travel work within a set budget.

For those who prefer reading, we’ve also got a blog post available on this topic (and it offers a lot more detail than we can cover in a video).