The UGLY Truth About Backpacking

A lot of people picture backpacking as glamorous, super exciting and one non-stop adventure but the truth is that backpacking isn’t just pure fun. Backpacking is challenging…VERY challenging. Mario and I have no income. We travel using our savings and it isn’t a lot. We have to fly budget airlines, buy groceries, share a twin bed, ride buses, and much more in order to do all the traveling we want to do. I’m not complaining, just stating facts. We enjoy traveling so much and have learned so many things about ourselves, each other, marriage, language, and traveling in general. So far, we have rode in 14 planes, 78 buses, 15 taxis (ugh, expensive), 6 subways, 4 boats, hitch hiked 13 times, and rented a car for 6 days total. That’s a lot of moving around. That’s a lot of money, too. Here are the major things people don't tell you about backpacking.

Work & Time- Backpacking involves a lot of research, work, and time. We aren’t always out having fun. We also sit in our place we are staying in for hours to either work on a video, write a blog, buy plane tickets, figure out the top things to do in the next country, edit thousands of pictures, find accommodation for the next week, send pictures and videos, post on social media, etc. It’s exhausting and can get boring at times. There are some nights where Mario and I have to edit 200 pictures, but we’re just too exhausted to do it and just want to sleep. All of the research takes hours of staring at a computer screen googling things or talking to other people about a certain country. 

Backpacks- Mario carries a 40 liter backpack and a 15 liter day pack. I carry a 40 liter backpack and a 20 liter day pack. And between the both of us, we have to carry our camera bag and our groceries (if we have any). Total we have about 75 pounds to carry. When you’re at the place you’re staying, it’s not bad. But, when you have to carry your stuff to the next place you’re staying or from bus to bus, then it can be exhausting. For example, the other day we rode 6 buses and it took us 7 hours to get where we needed to go. That means we had to take our backpacks on and off and on and off again and again. Mario is Mr. tough guy and can carry his backpacks and even mine. But, I’m little and it can get real heavy for my shoulders. 

The Comforts of Home- I told Mario the other day that I missed normal life. The hot showers with good pressure, toilet paper, comfortable beds, good wifi, a car, everything in English, and so much more is what we miss. We miss the simple things that made us comfortable where we lived. We miss our family (the biggest thing), friends, church, and even our own grocery store that has food that is normal for us.

Money, Money, Money- No one ever is content with the amount of money they have. I feel like we humans always want more of this and more of that. Traveling on a budget is hard. Without income, the amount of money you have never goes up. It’s hard to live like that. Thankfully, Mario and I trust that the Lord will provide…and he has! We have to be careful with what we eat and drink, where we stay, what flights we go on, the currency rate in every country, etc. Sometimes we buy groceries and eat the same sandwich every day for lunch just because we have a budget we have to stick to. It’s hard, but worth it. 

Not so Pretty Places- Not every place you visit, you will love. There have been some cities that are just blagh or dirty or totally not what we expected. Everything and every place you visit will not “wow” you. Also, when you travel on a budget, you don’t always get to stay in downtown Rome or right next to the Eiffel Tower. Usually with a budget, you have to stay outside the city and not near any cool attractions or beautiful sites. But, you deal with it and you may end up eating cereal since there aren’t any restaurants around.

Things will go wrong- Mario and I have messed up a lot since we’ve started traveling. The first day we traveled, we missed our first flight to our FIRST destination. It wasn’t our fault, but still! We’ve lost/left behind several things, missed countless buses, lost money, and so much more. Those kind of things really stink. When you research hard and take time to make sure everything goes as planned, it just stinks when it doesn’t. But, since day one of traveling we have had to have a plan B, C, and D for everything. 

Marriage- Mario and I have a wonderful marriage. I love every single part about marriage and wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s hard to travel as a couple. It really is. I’m not talking about a one week vacation to the Bahamas where you sit on the beach and drink smoothies all day. I’m talking about backpacking and traveling for months together. We are each other’s only friends. We’re together 24/7 and have been for the past (almost) three months. We usually stay in Airbnb’s or someone’s house which means we are in the same room usually the whole time. I am a social person and very extroverted. I love spending time with Mario just because I love him and he’s my best friend. Mario is an introvert for the most part and needs to re-energize by being by himself (He does love being with me too!). I re-energize by being with people…like him! Being together all the time is wonderful, but can be challenging. 

Attitudes- You have to be so flexible when you travel. You have to have good attitudes when things go wrong. If you lose money or miss a bus, it stinks. But, you have to tell yourself (or your spouse) “Bummer…nothing I can do about it now. What’s the next step or solution?”. You have to move on. It’s not worth fighting about or ruining your day. 

Language- There have been so many times where all I have wanted to do is just speak English with someone that spoke English. We have been with people that only speak Greek, Portuguese, Maltese, Arabic, and Hebrew. Lately it has been Arabic and Hebrew. Man, those languages are hard and I don’t understand any of it. When I’m at the grocery store, it’s all in Hebrew or Arabic and we’ve bought some interesting things because we didn’t know what it really was and just had to guess. When we’ve tried to ask someone where a bus is, we just get looked at in a funny way because…NEWS FLASH they don’t speak English and we are “tourists”. Sometimes it gets frustrating when you try to talk to one person after another and you don’t get any answers. But, we understand because it isn’t their first language. It’s just so hard to get used to sometimes. 

There ya have it. The UGLY truth about backpacking. There are so many wonderful things we love about backpacking, but these are the things that people don’t tell you. We hope you’ve enjoyed this and stay tuned for more videos, pictures, and blogs.

With love,

Mario & Ally

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Finally...an update!!

Hi friends!

Welcome back to our blog! I (Ally) apologize for the lack of posts in the past month. We had my parents visit us for Christmas and we’ve been so busy with traveling that I have not made the time to sit down and type. Here is our latest update on how we are doing, what we’re doing and where we are.

My parents were able to come to Madeira, Portugal to spend the Christmas holiday with us. They came the week before Christmas and we had a blast. We were able to show them around a bit, eat some good gelato, and laugh A LOT. After that, we spent our first Christmas together as a married couple. It was such a different Christmas. We were stuck in our little Airbnb because no buses were running, nothing was open, and we were staying up in the mountains. But, we watched a Christmas sermon, listened to Christmas music, watched Christmas movies, and even bought a little Christmas tree (approx. 8 inches long). We missed our Christmas traditions and our family, but we still enjoyed it. Then, we celebrated the New Year and watched the incredible fireworks display that cost about 8 million dollars for 8 minutes of fireworks. It was really impressive.

A few days after the New Year, we left for Malta. Malta is very small country under Italy. It was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cold and rainy, but we managed to see a lot of what we wanted to. We spent 3 days on the mainland of Malta and two days on the islands off of Malta. Follow along on Facebook if you want to see the upcoming pictures. We take thousands of pictures and videos and we were running these past few days. BUT, pictures are coming soon!!! 

NOW we are in Jordan. We just arrived yesterday. We flew into Israel and crossed the Wadi Araba border that goes into Jordan. We are excited for these next adventures…including sleeping in the desert. Overall, we are doing well! STAY TUNED!

We love you all and appreciate you following our travels!

Continue to watch for pictures, posts, and videos.

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Youtube: Mar&Al

Facebook: Mar&Al

Honeymooning & Some Challenges

Hi friends!

Thanks for following along on our journey. We appreciate every single one of you.

Since the last blog, we have experienced so much in such a little amount of time. We spent one week on the island of Santorini, Greece for our honeymoon. We experienced some MAJOR jet lag. There is a seven hour difference from Greece to the USA. The first day we arrived in our hotel, we fell asleep at 11 am and woke up at 7 pm. Every day we were in our hotel, we would fall asleep at 6-8 pm and wake up anywhere from 4-6 am. We both took at least one nap every day, too. Finally almost two weeks after we started this journey, we feel like the jet lag is over…thankfully! 

Our honeymoon was absolutely beautiful. We had a private infinity pool and indoor cave jacuzzi. We relaxed for the most part, ate a lot of dessert and street food, and explored some of the main parts of Santorini. (If you ever have the chance to eat a bubble waffle with gelato, do it. You won’t regret it.) Santorini is a such wonderful island. Right now, it is winter in Santorini and about 80% of restaurants, stores, tours, etc. are closed. This is the main part of the year that they do construction, building, and painting. The weather was nice a few days but it mainly stayed in the mid 50s. That’s a bit too cold for me (Ally). It only rained once and it was super windy some days, but it still was wonderful. We rented a car for a day and went from one tip of the island to the other. We got to see so many different cities, beaches, and views in such a short amount of time. One quick story: We were trying to drive back from the lighthouse at the end of the island to our hotel when all of a sudden people started flashing their lights at us. I (Ally) had the map in front of me the whole time trying to give Mario directions. Little did we know we were going uphill in a manual car on a one way road. We were the crazy white people that were going the wrong way. After we realized, Mario pulled over and since there was nowhere to turn around, he had no other choice than to go backwards. Then, our brakes stopped working. It was not fun. Thankfully, we got to the bottom and didn’t crash. Moral of the story: Stay calm when your car brakes stop working and try to figure out the one way streets. And to all the women that help your boyfriend/husband with directions in a place you’ve never been, I applaud you and I understand how hard it is. 

We’ve learned so much from this journey already. Our official backpacking trip started on Saturday (December 8th) when our honeymoon ended. Backpacking isn’t easy. Traveling isn’t all fun, pictures, and eating out. It is hard to fit all of your stuff in packing cubes and put them the same way in your backpack every time. It’s hard to know all the measurement and weight requirements for every airline. It’s hard to figure out transportation in another language in a place you’ve never been to. It’s hard to watch how much money you’ve spent and how to live without an income. It’s hard for someone to cancel your housing plans a few days before you stay there and having to find somewhere else to stay. It’s hard to drive a car and not know where you are, which roads are one ways, and where you can and can not park. It’s hard not being able to see family or friends for a long time and having to keep up with the changes between time zones. It’s hard to have patience with your spouse when all of these things are happening. But with all of that said, the Lord has been so good to us and has helped us grow individually and as a couple. We really enjoy traveling together despite the numerous challenges that are put in front of us. We are thankful for each other and the fact that we get to spend this time together. There are so many more positives than negatives when it comes to traveling and for that, we are grateful.

With love,

Mario & Ally 

Instagram: Marplusal

Youtube: Mar&Al

Wedding fun & Missing our first flight

These last two weeks have been crazy! We transitioned from our normal day lives of working, wedding planning, and travel preparations to final touches on the wedding, the wedding day, and full time traveling. We had such a wonderful time with our family and friends as they visited from the States to help out with wedding craziness. We are thankful we could spend time together before our traveling started. 

On Tuesday night, my parents dropped us off at the San Pedro Sula airport in Honduras. We left at 1:45 am and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 5:15 am. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale for about 14 hours. When we went to check in for our 9:35 pm flight, we found out we had missed our flight. There was a schedule change that we weren't informed about. After three hours of talking on the phone trying to figure out why we weren't informed and how we were going to get to Greece, we were given a new flight and a place to stay. We knew there would be challenges, but we never expected our first two days of traveling to be completely changed. 

Proverbs 3:5-6Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Our wedding was one of the most special days of our lives. I (Ally) never knew how hard it was to plan for a wedding. Planning a wedding for 200+ people out of the country was the most challenging thing. We had a lot of help from family and friends. It was such a spectacular wedding and was one of the best days of our lives! Thank you for all of the sweet messages, comments, and love! Wedding pictures should be here in two weeks. But for now, here are some phone pictures! Enjoy!

After 3 flights (15 hours total), 4 days, 1/3 of our liquids being taken away, a loss of a water bottle and pillow, and extra baggage costs, we are safely in Athens! We plan on heading to Santorini tomorrow morning. 

Much love,
Mario & Ally

Continue to follow along on Instagram: Marplusal and on Youtube: Mar&Al

We're leaving the country and not coming back...for now!

Hi! Welcome to our blog! Let me introduce Mario and me. My name is Ally and I am 21 years old. I have a wonderful husband Mario, who is 19 years old. We both love Jesus, each other, family, friends, traveling, eating, and much more. 

Now for the good stuff. You read the title correctly! Mario and I are headed out of the country (USA) starting November 11th of this year. We are going to have our wedding ceremony in Honduras on November 24th and after that, we start our “no ending date backpacking trip.” We are planning to hit 34 countries as of right now. 

Here is our list:

Greece, Portugal, Malta, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Andorra, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland,           Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland

We have been praying, planning, and researching for the last year or more for this. It has taken hundreds of hours to pull this trip together and we still aren’t finished! The Lord has blessed us greatly with the opportunity to do this. We can’t wait to meet people and be able to share the gospel wherever we go. 

How are we doing this?

Money- We have been saving for awhile now and using our money wisely while we’ve been in the States. We aren’t being funded in any way and we definitely don’t have a huge amount of money to spend.

We are staying in hostels, workaways, couchsurfing, and with a few friends:

Hostels are usually not as nice as a motel, they have shared rooms (sometimes private), and are made for backpackers. 

Cost: $5-10 a night

Pros: Cheap, meeting new people, convenient

Cons: More on the sketchy side, can be dirty

Workaway is a family, couple, or single person that wants you to work for them in exchange for food and/or accommodation. If you work 2-3 hours (5 days a week), you get free accommodation. If you work 4-5 hours (5 days a week), you get free accommodation and food. 

Cost: Free

Pros: Meeting new people, learning new experiences, FREE

Cons: Working (Ha!), not having full week days to go explore

Couchsurfing is an online website where you find people across the world that are willing to host you in exchange for sharing dinner, teaching them a new skill, someone to talk to, etc.

Cost: Free (except the yearly subscription for the website)

Pros: Meeting new people, exploring daily, tips from the locals, FREE

Cons: Can be challenging to find a place, not completely private

Friends is the best way of accommodation and our favorite! We love staying with friends and being able to spend time together.

Cost: Free

Only pros…no cons!

Food- We plan on eating street food, shopping at the market and making our own food, and very rarely eating out.

Transportation- We will fly to and from most of the islands we go to and to the farther away places. Besides that, we will be taking buses, trains, or walking.

Well, hopefully you have made it this far and if you have, congrats! Thank you for reading and we hope you continue to follow along with our crazy adventures. We would love if you could pray for us and our safety throughout the trip. We also have Youtube channel where we will be uploading videos and vlogs. Check out the link below.

YOUR part: If you have any suggestions on what to do, eat, or see in any of these countries, please let us know! Also, if you have any friends that would be willing to host us in any of the countries, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Want more details? Or want to find out how to do it yourself? Feel free to ask.

Much love,

Mario & Ally Paz

Click to see Youtube Channel!