We’ve all had a bad trip, and I don’t mean the hallucination and seeing naked fairies and purple unicorns kind of trip. I’m talking about a bad, really bad, travelling experience – the kind that makes you fall down into a heap of misery and wish you stayed home and watched back-to-back series instead.
Now I don’t want you to wallow in self-pity, I’m here to tell you why this bad experience is actually good for you. Yeah, you heard correctly, a bad travelling experience can be good for you!
First of all, your friends are sick and tired of hearing about your "life-changing" experiences. They've had their fill of tales about “you know, when I went to Italy I stumbled across this quaint little pizzeria at the…” or “this coffee shop is lovely, it’s a lot like XYZ in NYC”. They've heard enough about the glitz, the glam, the 5 star resorts and the glitter. We've all heard enough. Let me be the first to tell you: secretly they think you’re full of it, that’s why they lose interest in the first couple of minutes.
Secondly, what people want to hear is the dark side of things, people love dirt. It makes them feel good to hear about someone’s bad experience – we’re all sensationalists at heart. Your peers will be hanging onto your every word and you will be the center of attention the entire night when you share the bloopers. Did you trek through the Himalayas and trip into a pile of your trusty old pack-mule’s crap? People want to hear about it and laugh at with you! Were you stranded without an airport transfer and robbed of all your possessions except a pair of underpants? People want to hear this too! Did you take a wrong turn and end up in a strange, unmentionable place? Spill!
Sharing these moments will gain the interest of people, instead of making you appear smug. You will have more friends – everyone wants to brag about having a friend who had to MacGyver his way out of a sticky situation. A bad travel experience may not be funny right there and then, but a few months down the line you’re left with memories you would not have had otherwise! You’re left wiser and richer in life experience.
Embrace the bad experiences, learn from them and more importantly SHARE them!
Written by: Christine Kleyn
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