Rough Guy'd - The Beginning

By Rough Guy'd

Greetings all, this is the Rough Guy’d here and I’d like to start talking to you about a life-changing event that happened to me recently. In April 2009 I took a trip overseas that has seen me go through eleven different countries and put me through experiences that I never would have dreamed of before. I’ve met new friends, shared new experiences and tasted new foods that I will share with you now. From that fateful first day until now, I’ve still been overseas and whether this continues for much longer or not, I can’t say but I can say it’s been a hell of a ride so far and I don’t regret it.

While these experiences are what I took from each encounter, you may see them in a different light. What was awe-inspiring for me may be a snooze-fest for you, what was ho hum for me may be a life-changing event for you. But that is the beauty of travelling. Everyone will take something different out of even the same situation and I hope that by reading my blog, you will be able to compare my experiences to yours or maybe even inspire you to try your hand at backpacking. At the least, I hope you will find this entertaining and I thank you in advance for joining me in this journey.

A little bit of background about me. I’m from New Zealand and have grown up there my whole life. Everything I’ve done up until the trip was pretty routine and to be honest not very exciting. I went through school, did my time in university and then started working at a regular job. While this would be all fine and good and eventually lead to a wife, kids and a white picket fence house, I felt a desire or a need for something different, something dramatically different that would take me out of my comfort zone and give me a chance to be completely independent with no one to hold my hand. The dreams of a wife and a white picket fence home with a mortgage would have to wait, adventure beckoned.

With the thought in my head, the next step was to plan. Where would I go, what would I do, how would I get there and many more questions followed.

After a lot of deliberation and thought, I decided to do Asia. The reasons were simple; it was close; it was relatively safe; the food was good and of course, it was cheap. The same amount of money used for going to Europe would last me three times as long in Asia and while South America was also another option, I had some family in Asia much like many kiwis have family in Britain so I would be able to use part of the trip as a sort of family reunion.

With the destination planned, all that was left for me to do was to buy a Rough Guide guidebook (better by far than Lonely Planet in my opinion), buy the ticket and pack my bags. First stop, Bandar Seri Begawan and Brunei.