When traveling long term free-style you just do what feels good, what feels right! Ask yourself, are you enjoying yourself? Is this an easy question to answer? Do you like the atmosphere? Do you like the people you meet? How's the food situation? Is the weather nice? Have you done everything you wanted to do, seen everything you've wanted to see? Is staying here burning a whole in your budget? Are you getting bored? Is this place too dumpy get me out of here?
To feel comfortable day-to-day one must be in-touch with oneself. How you are feeling and why you feel that way. If you feel uncomfortable, identify with what is causing this and make the necessary changes in life to make things better. Don't be complacent. This line of thought has a lot to do with how I decide to stay or go!
I often arrive at a new location planning to stay a certain amount of time; often a week give or take a little. I don't like to rush from place to place too much. You spend way too much time and money traveling and less time taking in the culture, exploring the area, and just relaxing! But, no matter where you go they'll be a time to say goodbye.
Upon writing this, my current situation is in Laos, I have 30 days in the country. I plan to see three locations here. I was thinking before I got here about 10 days in each location. My first visit was to the Capital, Vientien. Other than seeing the culture and some sights, there wasn't much to do there. It was dull socially, and it was kind of dumpy. Seeing the capital of Laos and walking through the streets and markets was the best part but I wasn't excited to do that day after day. So I cut my time there to only about 5 nights and headed to the adventure tourism capital of the country Vang Vieng.
I enjoyed it here much more. More things to do, nature to explore, restaurants. I got a better deal on my hotel. I've made friends, better food options, and stores. It's all around more comfortable here. This is much more of a backpacker paradise location than Vientiene. So I've stayed now for about 15 days. I'm leaving tomorrow to Luang Prabang the culture capital of Laos.
I haven't been there yet, and I already bought my flight back to Bangkok where I'll trek down to the Island of Koh Samet on October 1st. So, it doesn't really matter how much I like it there or not. I'm flying out from this city so I have 5 nights. To my understanding it's a bit more expensive, and it's highly a Buddhist cultural place. The highlight will probably be walking around and soaking in the sights like Vientain. I think I'll be happy with 5 nights there. Turns out my 30 days in Laos are going to be 25 for reasons of visa, air-fare, family, and business...taking me all the way to Florida then Ecuador for $550 in December. Now that's a post for another day!
So how do you decide to stay or go? It's simple, go with your gut feeling and weigh your options.
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