Your twenties are a time when the world is literally at your feet. Despite having ‘blossomed’ (read thrown in to) adulthood, you don’t have the responsibilities that will be at the forefront of your mind later on in life. Your hands aren’t tied by a mortgage, there are no pitter patters of tiny feet and, while your starter job doesn’t pay as much as you’d like, financially you’re better off than in your student days. Travel opportunities don’t have an age limit, but there some best enjoyed with time on your side. Travel in your twenties is about as life affirming as it gets and here at Scriptoeris HQ we have a few ‘twenties travel’ experiences that have stacked up on our to-do list. We are the kind of ladies who define the decade, passport in hand!
Great Rail Journeys
For me, there is something nostalgic about rail travel; a kind of adventuring that harks back to times before we were blinded by cheap airfares. While it forces you to take a slower pace, rail travel shows you parts of the country that you’d never otherwise see. Not only that, especially in less developed countries, it gives you a real insight in to the way of life of a person. One of my defining travel moments of my early twenties has been the night train from Moscow to (what was then my home city) Voronezh. Whilst we only had the pleasure of a short 12 hour stint in third class, the train itself continued to Tashkent in Uzbekistan a mere three days ride away. As we set up camp, pulling down our beds for the night, some bearlike men set out their picnic. Bottles of vodka, a whole chicken, the biggest jar of pickles you have ever seen all laid out in ceremony on newspaper, shared with friends for life made in the 30 minutes since we’d pulled out of the station. Although their wolf like snoring kept us awake for most of the journey, it’s a memory that sticks with me. Would you get it on a plane? Nope. Could I see a 45 year old me gaining the same from the experience? Probably not.
The list:
The Trans-Siberia. Route: Moscow to Vladivostok. Time: 1 week (without stopovers).
Goa to Mumbai. Time: approximately 12 hours.
Inter-railing. Time: Infinite! With a number of pass options available, you can go for just a week or a month, exploring just one country or the whole of Europe!
The Festival Circuit
Less glamping and more mud wallowing in Hunters, mosh pits and nausea-inducing toilets aren’t for the faint hearted. To me, festivals seem like a rite of passage in which I’m yet to partake. Spending hours pushing to the front of a 120,000 strong crowd just to be in with a chance of holding the headline cutie’s hand, hoping to god that the inside of your tent won’t resemble the swamp that the main stage has become, wearing that inadvisable headpiece doesn’t appeal to me. Outside of the girl guides when I was 10, there have been zero occasions when I’ve just kicked back and chilled in a tent with friends. Combine that with seeing not only established acts but finding new tunes in the newcomer’s tent, and you have a recipe for greatness. Excluding the clearly still punk hard-core ones, there are very few grannies who grace the likes of Glasto with their presence, so pack up your sleeping bags and your dry shampoo and get on your way.
The list:
Glastonbury. Location: Somerset, South West England. Duration: 4 days.
FIB (Festival Internacional de Benicássim) Location: Benicássim, Spain. Duration: 4 days.
Backpacking breaks
What’s not to like about classic hostel hopping? Play it by ear, if you fancy it you can have the ‘new day, new city’ approach or you could choose to set up camp for a good week or even a month before you move on; the choice is yours. In this day and age hostel doesn’t necessarily equal hovel, one of my best city breaks was spent in a hostel that cost me £13.50 a night (it had a swimming pool, sauna and free beer on arrival!). Dorms and hostel bars are great places to meet temporary friends who are just passing through just like you – ready made sightseeing /wine drinking/tapas eating friends waiting to be met, making hostels great even when flying solo. And now with wheelie backpacks, even girls in heels have no excuse!
The list:
The ‘Down Under’ in Australia and New Zealand.
The ‘Gap Year Classic’ in Asia.
The ‘Aztec’ in South America.