I saw this post from Lauren at Never Ending Footsteps and I realized I myself have a few regrets from my travels.  Though I haven’t been traveling for six years like her, I’ve done enough to have a few regrets.  Like always, I think it’s important to share the less glamorous side of travel and what I really think of things and places, this includes things I wish I did or wish I did differently.

Not taking more pictures in Slovenia

As someone who has always loved photography, and took two study abroad trips for photography classes to New Zealand and Ecuador and the Galapagos, I saw Slovenia as a break from having to take a lot of pictures.  This meant i came home with maybe 800 and sooo many were of walls and the ground.  They were cool, but I wish I had more of cities and scenery.

I saw it as a break from my camera, and I’ll admit, it was nice when I was there, but looking back, I wish I had more pictures.

Skipping the robot restaurant because it was too expensive

I was sitting in the terrible excuse of a common room of my hostel in Tokyo when two girls came in debating if they should go to the robot restaurant or not.  They decided to go and invited me.  At the steep cost of somewhere between $50-$70, I passed because “it was just too much.”

No.  I should have gone.  Everything I’ve seen about it since I got back has made me wish I went.  I even came home with money left (thankfully since I had a little road trip planned,) but I had enough to spare to have gone to that.

Taking two weeks to really try Taiwanese food

I don’t like Asian food.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  I was afraid to try food in Taiwan for the longest time, like two weeks.  I avoided it in Hualien and Taitung as much as possible.  I had so much coffee and Ritz Crackers there, it’s ridiculous.  Then if I did get food, I probably wouldn’t eat all of it or it was breakfast and the least Taiwanese thing possible.

I was afraid to go in restaurants because I couldn’t tell if they were open and i wouldn’t know what to get.  In a way, I was practically starving myself.  I ate, but it was just enough snack foods to get me by.  Finally back in Taipei with new friends, I went to night markets and actual restaurants and ate actual good food.

Not hiking into the Grand Canyon

After a week and a half of driving, desert, and National Parks, we made it to the Grand Canyon and were over it before we saw it.  At this point I think we were worn out and maybe a little sick of canyons, which is crazy to think after wandering through them all summer.  We drove along the South Rim and stopped at the overlooks like good visitors, then we left and went to Bedrock, which was way more fun.

I wish we would have hiked into the Canyon because it sounds like an awesome experience.  I think it would be a super cool new perspective and will definitely be back to do this and someday fly over it.  Mark my words!  It helps only being a few hours away from it, too though.

Skipping Angels Landing, then turning around halfway the next try, and even skipping it a third time

The first time I went to Zion I’m not 100% sure why we didn’t do Angels Landing.  Maybe it was too late?  I think one of us was afraid of heights so we figured it would be best to skip it for the time being.  We skipped it and went back the next spring and decided to do it.  I had a horrible cough and sore throat and felt like my lungs were going to burst into flames about halfway up.  Finally, my third and most recent time there in September last year, it was SO BUSY we didn’t even stay in the main part of the park.  We went down Kolob Terrace Road instead, which was totally awesome.

Next time I go, I will hike all the way up Angels Landing and maybe even do the Narrowssometime in the near future.  I always come up with excuses, but it looks so cool!  (Update 2020: I’m not as upset about this as before.  I honestly won’t even be mad if I never do this.)

Not going to Kawaguchi in Japan

When I was in Japan I wanted to see the suicide forest by Mt. Fuji so bad, but I didn’t, which is why it’s on this list.  I really just want to see Mt. Fuji in general, too.  I looked into it, but I decided not to go because it was kind of hard to get to.  I would have had to stay another day in Kyoto and take a night bus, or go back to Tokyo then take a train there and I just didn’t have the time for it.  It also would have been fairly pricey.  The weather also looked bad, so I skipped it.

There is so much more I want to do in Japan that I wish I would have instead of aimlessly wandering around Tokyo for four day on my own.  I did basically nothing there.  I’m a little disappointed in myself, but it’s more reason to go back.  It’s one of the places I will definitely return to someday.

Avoiding snorkeling at all costs

I hated snorkeling, like, a lot.  I’ve put it on my list of things to do last year and successfully avoided it, as well as this year, and I’m guessing the same thing will happen.  I’ve finally acquired a GoPro, so maybe that will finally get me in the water.  I’ve been in some really awesome places and just won’t do it because it freaks me out.

I wish I would have gone in Mexico.  I wish I would have gone in Nicaragua.  I wish I would have gone in Panama.  I wish I would have gone in the Philippines.  You get the idea.

I’m not mad I didn’t study abroad for a semester.  I still got to see two amazing countries on shorter study abroad trips.

I don’t wish I went on longer trips.  Being home long enough helped me save for my next trips and I was able to keep my jobs while I was gone.

I’m not upset I didn’t save almost any money working seasonally because I still got to see so much of the US.

No, these aren’t bad things, just poor planning and being a bit of a scaredy cat on my part.  I didn’t cancel trips.  I didn’t miss out on anything once in a lifetime experiences, just regular old backpacking and road trip things.  I’ve had and will have more chances of doing these things as I travel more.  I’ll have other experiences and see other things.  This is nothing life changing, just cool stuff I could have done.  I’ll get to them someday.

Have you done any of these things?  Do you have any travel regrets?