People Who Travel: Morgan from Perth, Australia

PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL: MEET MORGAN FROM PERTH, AUSTRALIA

I’m Morgan, I’m a 27 yo Aussie guy that’s been on the road for 2 1/2 years now. I met Mick in Taipei back in March and then managed to catch up with him in Chicago a few month ago. I used to work in the oil & gas industry, it was hard work but paid very well which is how I funded my trip!

1) NUMBER OF COUNTRIES VISITED

49, I’ve been all through Europe, South East Asia and North and Central America.

My travel map as of November 2016- still a lot of blank space to be filled!

2) AGE AND FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRIP YOU TOOK

I was 18 when I went to Canada on a work trip. That didn’t really ignite the travel bug though, that happened years later when I booked a spontaneous flight to Tokyo. None of my friends could get the time off work, so I decided to go solo. In hindsight that trip was a major turning point in my life. 2 months later I was made redundant as the project I was working on reached completion. Rather than look for another job I sold all my stuff, packed my backpack and hopped on a one way flight to explore the world!

3) FAVOURITE AIRLINE

Like all Australians I’m very partial towards QANTAS, our national carrier (famously referred to as the world’s safest Airline in the movie Rainman). The best flying experience I’ve ever had is with Norwegian Airlines, can’t go wrong with free inflight wifi!

4) HOW DO YOU DRESS FOR FLIGHTS

I channel my inner bogan (Australian slang for an uncouth person), so a singlet, boardies and thongs – for those of you wondering what I mean, that’s a tank top, board shorts and flip flops! For long haul flights I always bring a jumper (sweater) and an eye mask. I also find sleeping pills a must! Benzos give me night terrors so my drug of choice is phenergan.

5) FAVOURITE COUNTRY AND WHY

Vietnam. I flew in to travel with two guys I’d met at a full moon party, in the first 3 days our group ballooned to 7 people. We travelled together for 2 months, since then I’ve travelled with and visited everyone else in the group at least once. Not to mention how cheap it was and how amazing the food is!

Somewhere in the south of Vietnam – May 2015. A month earlier I didn’t know any of these people, now we’re all friends for life.

6) FAVOURITE CITY AND WHY

Tokyo. It was my first ever solo trip, which gave me the confidence to travel long term and on my own. I also made my first “travel friend” – a Canadian girl who moved to the UK chasing love on my advice! Last I heard they’re still happy together and she’s even applied for Permanent Residency.

7) THINGS/GADGETS CAN’T TRAVEL WITHOUT

About a month into my trip I got pickpocketed in Spain and lost my phone. I survived for the next two years with only my iPad and my kindle. Now that my iPad is on it’s last legs (I’ve smashed and replaced the screen about 8 times!) I’ve finally gotten around to purchasing an iPhone SE. I like the smaller form as I feel it’s less likely to be stolen and I wear my clothes pretty tight!

8) WTF MOMENT

Travelling is filled with endless WTF moments, but it’s amazing how quick you adapt to the cultural differences. The first time I saw someone burning trash in the street I was shocked, now it’s common place and I don’t bat an eye.

Probably the weirdest moment of my trip was in Burma/Myanmar. I was travelling with a black friend, we got on a local bus and EVERYONE was staring at us. Then the TV started playing Burmese Karaoke and the entire bus starting singing along. I would have joined in but unfortunately the lyrics weren’t in English!

9) MOST EMBARASSING MOMENT

I think the biggest cause for embarrassment while travelling is the language barrier. I’ve had a lot of meals where I had no clue what I was eating – including some of the best and worst food of my life!

Here’s a hot travel tip for everyone. Download the google translate app to your phone, then go and save the local language offline. It can save you a lot of time and stress being able to find the local word for “chicken”, and if you enable the local keyboard you can have rudimentary conversations with someone who speaks no English! It’s also a good way to impress the local guys or girls depending on your preference .

10) FAVOURITE CUISINE

It’s a toss up. I love Thai food for the variety and intensity of flavours, though I learned the hard way to ask for “farang [foreigner] spicy”! My favourite meal of all time is pizza, so I can’t look past Italian food. I also can’t forget what is arguably America’s greatest contribution to the world – the humble cheeseburger!

Taking part in La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain – August 2014. Not my most flattering photo but it does show the mayhem!

11) HOTEL, HOSTEL, OR AIRBNB?

I usually travel solo so I spend 90% of my time in hostels, purely for the social aspect. If I’m travelling in a group I love staying in Airbnb’s, the price is comparable to hostels if there’s enough of you and you have your own space. Every so often I’ll splurge for a nice hotel and spend the whole day in a bath robe watching movies, being 6’4 it’s also good to have a double bed to stretch out in!

The more I travel and make friends all around the world, the more I visit people and stay at their places. To me, that’s the best place to stay – not because it saves you money, but because it means you’ve made such an impression of someone from a different country, sometimes with a different mother tongue that they’ve invited you to be a guest in their home. I can’t wait to have people visit me down under when I finally return home!

12) MOST MEMORABLE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

Waaaaaay too many to count! Some great highlights include San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain; Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, Thailand; ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Visiting the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas; 4th of July in Newport Beach, California and of course meeting Mick in Taipei!

While I’ve had some tremendous hangovers travelling (Damn you, Rakija!), hiking Mt. Rinjani on the island of Lombok in Indonesia stands out. It had only just reopened after erupting so the ground was super slippery. I also have a dodgy right knee, it wasn’t so bad on the ascent but descending was pure misery. Still, it was all worth it for the view!

Photo taken from the summit of Mt. Rinjani; Lombok, Indonesia – December 2015. The three close islands are the Gili islands, in the distance is Mt. Agung and Bali.

14) BEST TRAVEL ACTIVITY

I absolutely love SCUBA diving and plan to get my Dive Master Certification some time in the next year or two. I’m also an avid skier, doing Ski Dubai was incredible purely for the fact of seeing (fake) snow in the middle of the desert!

I’ve also indulged my nerd side quite a few times travelling. I used to be a submariner in the Navy, so visiting submarine museums around the world is a hobby of mine. I’m a bit of an aviation and space geek too, so the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington DC and the Intrepid Sea & Air Museum in New York City made me feel like a kid again!

15) FAVOURITE TRAVEL SOUVENIR

I’m not one for material goods, I’ve done my whole 2 1/2 year trip out of a carry on sized bag. So by far the best things I’ve gotten from travelling is my friends and the experiences, in that order.

16) MOST LIKED INSTAGRAM PIC

I’m not a huge instagrammer, I only have five posts. But my first photo posted which is me at the border of Nicaragua/Costa Rica earned a snappy 56 likes!

Crossing from Costa Rica into Nicaragua, May 2016

17) FAVOURITE TRAVEL PICTURE TAKEN

I think this picture of a sunset in Copenhagen is the best picture I’ve ever taken.

Sunset in Copenhagen, Denmark – September 2015. Copenhagen was a city that pleasantly surprised me with how beautiful it was – but my bank account wasn’t a fan!

18) FUTURE TRAVEL PLANS

At the moment I’m just about to head home and make some money for the next trip! But I’m planning a trip to New Zealand sometime next year, it will be a great place for the milestone of 50 countries!

19) BUCKET LIST

I’d like to visit every continent on earth. I’m also a massive cricket fan, so I’d love to go on a tour of India, and also watch an Ashes test at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

I love visiting cultural festivals, so a few choice ones I’d like to do are The Swedish Midsummer, Burning Man and Carnivale in South America.

20) YOUR TRAVEL INFLUENCER(S) AND WHY

I don’t folllow many travel blogs (except for trotterhop, of course!) but I have a mindset that every person you meet knows at least one thing you don’t. So I look for inspiration and motivation from every single person I interact with in my travels.

Skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland – October 2015. The mountain behind me is the famous Matterhorn.

21) FAVOURITE TRAVEL QUOTE

I’m going to use two quotes, neither of which are explicitly about travel but guide my approach to both travel and life.

“Of all the things which wisdom has contrived which contribute to a blessed life, none is more important, more fruitful, than friendship” – Epicurus

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they’re after” – Henry David Thoreau

Morgan is not a big instagrammer, but follow him so maybe he will finally be pressured to post some of the pics he’s taken while visiting all these countries! His instagram is @instterham

If you want to be featured in People Who Travel, drop me a line! mick@trotterhop.com