The Tell-All Guide to Love and Sex on the Road

It's Valentine's Day!! (Traveler's Edition). So let's talk about love!

And sex!

But first a word of caution:

To any travelers who want to avoid future heartbreak, it is important to keep in mind that love and sex on the road are usually not interchangeable. Especially in hostels of 18-25 year olds drinking, partying, eating and showering under one roof, hook-ups become inevitable. It is similar to university dorms, but without the commitment. In university, frequent hook-ups can be awkward since you're living with the same people for an entire year. In hostels, it's almost a free pass. Travelers come and go, and the person you hook up with one night, probably won't be around the next.

Okay, let's go first with sex.

Where does it begin?
If you're at least decent looking, it is fairly easy to hook up with someone, especially after a few drinks. Travelers are more willing to make a first move, especially toward girls/guys they may feel "out of their league," because of the mentality that they'll never see them again after that day. You've already given up the comforts of your home to venture to the other side of the world, so sending a few drinks to the person you find cute doesn't seem like much of a gamble...

Making First Impressions
First impressions are key when traveling, because most travelers meet so many people a day, it's hard to remember who is who. Whether people admit to it or not, there's always an air of superficiality when it comes to travelers. There's a saying that goes, "women decide within the first 30 seconds of meeting a guy if she will sleep with him," which certainly has some truth to it. Travelers want bragging rights, and they want to show their friends pictures of the hot foreigner they've hooked up with, so being well-groomed goes a long way.

Where does it take place?
Depending on how you look at it, there can either be a lot of places or very limited places to hook up while traveling. The most common is in hostels, where the majority of travelers reside. One thing I have to say though, is that having sex in a hostel dorm full of people is not cool, especially to those who are really loud doing it. We are here to travel, not to involuntarily be in a porno. If you're looking for some alternative places to hook up in a hostel, this guy has some interesting ideas (clearly this was written before The Hangover came out).

Is it true love...or a fling?
Let's take some time to drink a nice cup of tea, eat some biscuits, and take a look at this diagram before we proceed:

http://www.rosiepiter.com

The Importance of a Good Book on the Train (A Swiftian Satire)

I love travelling by train. For one thing, there's the scenery which you miss when flying, and the comfortable seats that are nonexistent by coach bus. Unlike the "horrors" of flying or taking a bus, Hollywood is always trying to present train travel with an air of mystery and romance. I mean, didn't Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train? Didn't Wendy profess her love to Xavier as he boards a train? Didn't Harry Potter go to Hogwarts...by TRAIN??

And while I have yet to stumble upon a school of wizards by simply taking the train, I'm sure we have all heard some story about a friend of a friend who once met the prince of some random country, or their future husband/wife on a train (or maybe just some hot guy/girl they hooked up with for about a week), to know that train travel is indeed very, erm... magical.

Which is why it's highly advisable to always bring a good book with you when traveling by train, in case you really do end up sitting next to a prince, your future husband/wife, or some hot guy that you will hook up with for a week. I mean while we are secretly dying (just DYING!) to read about Brangelina in the latest issue of COSMO magazine, would you want to be tallying up your score of HOW GOOD ARE YOU IN BED?*, only to find out that you've been sitting next to the cute great great great great grandson of Voltaire the entire time?

Exactly.

Therefore, the key is to find a book that should suggest to the world (aka your seat partner) that you are in fact a clever, highly intelligent person, who would be a delight to talk to. You don't even have to be reading said book; as long as it's stratgeically positioned on the pull-out tray table with the book title prominately showing, so that your seat partner is fully aware that you are, in fact, the owner of such a book.

Note: It's best to buy said book secondhand to give the impression that you've read it several times. It should also not be listed in the TIME's 100 Novels of All Time...because then it looks like you're trying too hard.

Here are some suggestions.

• Dangerous Liasons - Choderlos de Laclos 
• Flappers and Philosophers - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
• Death in the Afternoon - Ernest Hemingway
• The Beach - Alex Garland

And now I bid you all, a happy book hunting!

* Why do the quiz on a train, when you can do it from the comfort of your home here.

** Also speaking of quizzes, the last time I took one (err...a really long time ago, of course), it suggested that I immediately dump any guy I date who owns in his posession, a Drake album. I've therefore come to realize that these quizzes are actually all created by a psycho ex-girlfriend of Drake, and therefore these quizzes are not credible at all.

*** I scored really high on that quiz by the way.

Tips for backpackers on staying healthy and active on the road

ralph lauren

With Thanksgiving behind us, and the holidays just a few weeks away, we all know that it's finally that time of the year where we can wear our much anticipated holiday sweaters with pride, buy large quantities of alcohol without being blamed for being an alcoholic, and decide where we will strategically place our mistletoe...

One thing most of us tend to forget during the holidays is how easy it is to gain weight, especially when it's so hard to resist homemade pie, or stuffed turkey, or eggnog...

For those on the road, it can be especially difficult to stay healthy and active, given that traveling, especially backpacking, almost always requires a lifestyle that's largely void of schedules and routine. The place we arrive to in the morning isn't necessary the one we'll remain by sunset. Add in the never ending parties, copious amounts of alcohol and high carb foods, it's easy to lose the months of dedicated cardio workouts and high protein/low carb meals we've worked so hard for to get those abs pre-travel.

Therefore, now is a great time to start thinking about how to stay healthy and active on the road, right before the holiday season begins!

Drink lots of water
Keep in mind that we're supposed to drink a minimum of eight glasses everyday. Water helps to rid our body of toxins, makes us less tired, gives us better skin, and helps us to lose weight. And above all, it's free! I usually bring a water bottle with me on my trips and fill it up with tap water. I hate disposable water bottles since they create so much havoc in our environment, and the cheap plastic is filled with toxic chemicals. For travel in developing countries, I would recommend investing in a good purifying water bottle.

"eat us!"

Take multivitamins 
It can be really hard to eat our recommended daily servings of food on the road. Especially when it comes to backpacking, we tend to buy cheap, filling foods such as bread and pasta, and sometimes forget  to eat as much vegetables as we should. That's why, multivitamins are a great way of making sure we get all our nutrients everyday.

Get some sleep
When you're traveling, there's so much happening every single moment that we don't want to miss out on anything. I know that feeling of getting of the plane, and although jet lagged, I would hardly sleep because of all there is to do. Obviously we're young and want to live in the moment, but getting some beauty sleep is important so that we're actually awake enough to have fun. You're not missing out on much if there's a party every night.

Being active daily
This shouldn't be a problem for most backpackers, especially since most of the ones I know have a deep love for sports and adventure. Whether it's soccer, hiking, surfing, skiing or even mountain climbing, every country has an abundance of energy pumping sports. The trick is of course, making sure we're active daily. Some sports such as skiing, may be too expensive to do regularly, but exercises (albeit less fun) such as jogging is free and you can do it virtually anywhere. If you have a laptop and internet, youtube is also a good source for workout videos. The "8 minute series" (abs, bum, legs and arms) are quite popular.

shorts from Lululemon

Bring your gear
I feel nothing guilt-trips you as much into staying active, as simply bringing your gear with you, whether it's a surf board or a yoga mat. The fact that you've found space in your luggage to put it in, and lugged to another country is pretty motivating in itself. Having nice gear also helps. For instance, a nice set of workout clothes will encourage you to put it on (and show it off to your cute foreign workout buddy).

Have a goal
Having a goal makes everything that much more attainable. If you're goal is to live a healthy lifestyle, then great. Most of us however, have more superficial goals, which is okay as well. A goal's a goal right? So what if our fitness aspiration is to have abs like David Beckham or Gisele Bunchen? If that makes us run that extra mile, all the better for us.

Have lots of (safe) sex
Although preferably with the same person and not several (as nobody wants to be labeled a slut, and there are many risks with sleeping around). 30 minutes of sex burns 90 calories (it adds up!) and it's a lot more fun than doing crunches!

Top 10 Hostel Pet Peeves

The word "hostel" is synonymous with partying and (for the slightly paranoid) a certain series of slasher movies. While Iuckily I can only relate my hostel experiences with the former, and have quite enjoyed my time in most hostels, it's hard to be a backpacker without encountering at least one unfavorable situation at any given hostel.

From loud snorers to loud sex, here's my top ten hostel pet peeves. Which ones are on your list?

1. People who snore loudly.
Maybe some people can't help but snore loudly but it's really frustrating when there's that one guy who snores like a lawnmower and everyone else in the room is tossing and turning. As there are designated smoking sections in restaurants, they should also have a room for loud snorers.

2. Turning on the lights in the middle of the night.
This is the person who gets back to the hostel after a night out, and despite the room full of sleeping people, disrespectfully turns the room lights on, and spends the next 20 minutes noisily getting ready for bed, and effectively waking up everyone in the room. I know whenever I get back to my hostel room at the break of dawn, I usually use the light from my cell phone. Or sometimes I just blindly find my way around in the dark, and find myself with a few bruises in the morning. Better bruises than enemies, I'd say.

3. Thieves.
I find that when my stuff do get stolen, it's never in the dorm room, but rather the kitchen or luggage rooms where I guess it's more of a free for all. Also, when things do get stolen, it's never anything expensive, but rather small items that tend to go by unnoticed. This one time I had my bag in the luggage room, and later when I went to check into my dorm room, I noticed that my shampoo disappeared, although my MacBook was still safely in the bag (not that I'm complaining!)

4. Wet laundry.
Rather than paying a few dollars for the dryer, a lot of travelers hang their wet clothes on the side of the bunk beds to air dry. I know I've done it a few times, especially in the east coast of Australia where it's so sunny, it dries almost instantly anyway. What really annoys me is the people whose wet clothes take up the whole room. It's very unfortunate if you're the poor traveller who checked in last, and is stuck on the top bunk with wet underwear dangling next to your face.

5. People singing in a foreign language.
People singing is generally a sign that they're drunk. Singing in English is ok since it's an universal language, and if everyone else is equally drunk, it usually leads to a fun mini musical rendition in the hostel room. Singing in a foreign language however, is a totally different story. This one time, there were these three Dutch girls who wouldn't stop singing, and pretty much forced everyone else out of the room due to annoyance. They were also guilty of committing pretty much every crime on this list, to the point where I ended up going down to reception to complain (and I almost never complain about anything). The receptionist guy pretty much just told me that they're unattractive and overweight so I shouldn't let them get to me, which didn't really help solve anything (needless to say, none of them partook in number 6, which is pretty relieving).

6. Loud sex.
If one really must have sex in the hostel, there are way better places to do it than on the bunk beds in a room of 10 people. Or in situations where for some reason it's absolutely necessary to have sex in a room with 10 people, it's not ok to make excessive noises in the middle of the night. C'mon now, we're not shooting a porno, there's no need to impress.

The Ironies of Hostel Sex

(image from sheknows.com)

Chances are, most of you have probably encountered some form of hostel sex while traveling (and although reluctant to admit it, partaken in it as well).

These love-struck travelers usually try to sneak in some passionate sex during the middle of the night when they think everyone else is asleep. However, this usually never goes very well when you factor in the squeaky mattresses, the loud moaning, the perverted guy hoping to see some flashes of ass, and the now traumatized bunkmate sleeping on the top bunk bed…