Effort versus Payoff

I have been learning on this trip to assess whether the effort to get somewhere is worth the payoff when you get there, and using that to decide where to go.  For example, take southern Laos.  The most popular places to visit are in the North, where I spent all my time in the end.  Down south there are 3 locations that travellers see, Thakhek, Pakse and the 4000 Islands.  To get there the route would be Thakhek, Pakse then the Islands.  Due to the bad roads in Laos, a bus ride from Vientiane to Thakhek is 8 – 12 hours, then the same to Pakse and a bit quicker to the Islands.  When you get there, there are 3 or 4 day ‘loops’ to see waterfalls and caves and limestone scenery in TK and coffee and tea plantations and rolling hills in Pakse.  You have to book your own hotels and either hire a motorbike or a driver.  I don’t ride motorbikes and a driver would be $240 US dollars.

Nong Khiaw

A long walk up but certainly worth the effort

I am not jaded from my travels at all, and often have that ‘wow’ moment at something new, and take photo after photo of places that excite me, but waterfalls and caves do not fall into that category, unless they are very special.  Had it been easier to get to, or easier to get around, with day trips I could have booked or just needed a driver for a day, I would probably have visited these extra places in Laos.  But... and that is a big but...the effort and cost did not seem worth what I would see at the end. 

I also have lost the need to see everything in a country or a place I am going.  I am starting to prefer to take things a bit more easily and go only where I know, or at least think, it will be something I will enjoy seeing.

Another example is Sri Lanka.  I decided to go on a tour, for various reasons, which I will outline elsewhere, and gave myself 2 weeks at the end of the tour to go back to places I like and on the beach.  The tour did not cover the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. I would probably have liked to see them, but then several travellers along the way told me they are nice, but a bit like other places I have been, such as Borobudur in Java and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  It was going to be a long way to get to them, having a days travel each way and then overnight in a hotel and arrange a tour for the next day.  I decided that the payoff at the end was not worth the time and effort to get there. 

I also make some choices about where not to go because they are harder as a solo.  The example above about Southern Laos is a good example.  Had I been travelling with someone else, I would probably have gone.  Not because it was any easier, but it would have been nice to share the long journeys, the joy of seeing things when we got there, and the anxiety I sometimes feel when going to new places alone.  (More of that in another post). 

So in summary, I am making choices based on my interests and how difficult it is to get there or see the place in question.