Where are you planning to visit on your next big trip? Thailand? New Zealand? South Africa? Peru? Of course they are wonderful countries. Traveller hotspots are usually hotspots for very good reason.
But today I am going to say “yawn, yawn, yawn” to all the usual backpacker highlights.
When planning your next adventure I urge you to cast your net a little wider. I really am not exaggerating when I suggest that a great way of planning a journey would be to close your eyes and poke your finger wildly onto a map of the world. Open your eyes, discover your fate, and head off on a journey of discovery to a country you may not even have heard of!
Allow me to argue my case…
What do the following countries have in common?

  • Slovenia
  • Sudan
  • Lesotho
  • Colombia
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Georgia
  • Sierra Leone

Answer? They are all countries I have been to with low expectations or even a smatter of nerves. And they are all countries I have fallen in love with, for their wonderful landscapes, extraordinary cultures or welcoming people.
We all know that if you get off the beaten track, even in well-travelled countries, that local people will be more interested in you and keen to help you than they are in places where every other person is clutching a Lonely Planet book.
This principle applies even more strongly in more “random” countries. You will very rarely be ripped-off or over-charged in shops or restaurants. And, most importantly of all, you will escape the ghastliness of ‘Tourist Menus’, scruffily laminated and poorly translated into  many languages, that offer you a ‘Special Price’ for a pitiful imitation of a European meal, made little more palatable because it is served with a view of a famous tourist sight. A little bit of your adventurous soul dies each time you succumb to such an experience.
By all means go and see Petra and the Pyramids. It is a pleasure and a privilege to do so. But if you are planning a long backpacking tour or a round the world journey I urge you to be bold and brave and take a punt on a place that you know nothing at all about.
Better still, for adventure and discovery, pick two random places on the planet and travel from one to the other. The world is a strange and wonderful place of infinite variety. What a shame then to only travel to destinations you already know about to see sights you’ve already seen on telly a hundred times.
There is another aspect to visiting random, lesser known corners of the globe. You find yourself travelling with a more open mind, and with the best of all travel companions: curiosity. If you are visiting Baku, Bukhara or Bromsgrove simply because you have never been there then you are more likely to look around with fresh and open eyes rather than following the strict itinerary decreed by your not-very-Lonely Planet guidebook. Buy a local newspaper and read that rather than the latest Girl who Drank on the Loo paperback like every other backpacker you meet. Look around, be curious, talk to strangers and ask questions.
Go on, be bold! Spin the globe and jab a finger. Take a train to a town you have never heard of, and explore it. Be rash and random and spontaneous. Roll a dice, toss a coin, take a chance. In my experience you will not regret it.

This piece first appeared in Wanderlust.