Enjoy your Travelling

Most travellers have had the feeling. You take one look at the heap of crap you’re supposed to be riding in, and you know it’s not right.

The bus looks like it’s falling apart, and the roads are terrible; the plane looks too small, and you have no idea if the pilot’s even qualified; the boat looks rusty and there are no lifejackets.

But you’ve got no choice if you want to get anywhere, so you climb aboard, and take a chance.

Most of the time, these crazy trips turn out fine – I’d guarantee most travellers have done plenty of them. But every now and then, as tragically demonstrated by the four Australian girls who were recently involved in a boat accident in Thailand, your worst fears are realised, and something goes wrong.

I don’t blame the girls for getting on that boat, even if they had their misgivings. I’d have done exactly the same thing.

Travel is a game of calculated risks, and if you spent your entire time ensuring everything you touched adhered to Western health and safety standards, you’d never leave the airport.

After all, you can usually persuade yourself that it’s all good fun, that the bus driver who keeps nodding off at 100km/h is all part of the experience, or that the twisting mountain roads with no guard rails must actually be a good place to overtake, because surely your local driver knows what he’s doing.