Travel is about more than the places you visit. It’s even about more than the people you meet and the things that you do. Travel is about what the experience means to you – how it makes you feel in the moment, what it changes about your attitudes, and how it influences the way you live your life.

Personally, I enjoy writing about my travels from a journalistic point-of-view and tend to only insert myself into the story when it’s relevant. But I should also confess that my favourite articles by others are usually full of personality and first-person emotions.

I wanted to share a few of the memorable stories from 2011 that took us on the journey with the writers. In reading these adventures, we were alongside them and we laughed, we feared, and we even potentially vomited…

Swimming for your life

Adventurous Kate, as the name suggests, is always looking for adventure… but this is probably taking it too far. A five day boat trip ended prematurely with a shipwreck in the middle of the night, a frantic swim to an island full of dragons (Komodo) and then one last bitter surprise. In this post from Indonesia, you truly feel the fear, the urgency and the anger of this terrifying experience.

You can follow Kate on twitter here.

Finding what really matters in life

When Rob from Stop Having A Boring Life when to a small town in Moldova, he didn’t know what to expect. It turned out to be a visit that he says has changed his life. In his post from Rusesti Noii, he introduces us to the characters who live there and the impact they have on him. At times you’ll want to smile and then, suddenly and unpredictably, you’ll want to cry.

You can follow Rob on twitter here.

Getting a bit toey for a drink

If I say that Ben from Adventures With Ben felt a bit toey at a bar one night, it’s not what you think. It’s all got to do with what he drank and the mummified toe that was in that drink!! You hear some pretty horrific stories about what people consume while travelling, but this story from Canada is one of the worst. For added viewing pleasure, there’s also a video here.

You can follow Ben on twitter here. 

Coping with being robbed

The most compelling thing about Brendan’s account of being robbed is the range of emotions he cycles through – and the one that he chooses to finish with. This post from Quito, Ecuador, is one of the worst fears of every traveller (especially in South America) but you never truly know how you’re going to react until it happens. I’m not sure everyone would be the same as Brendan.

You can follow Brendan on twitter here.

Exercising your freedom

This is a beautifully-written story that reminds us how the ghosts of history’s crimes will never completely leave. Lauren from Lonely Girl Travels was doing research in Phnom Penh about Cambodia’s horrific past when it intersected unexpectedly with her contemporary life there. But is it just Lauren who can’t let go of the demons?

You can follow Lauren on twitter here.

Thinking it’s too much to bear

I want to say that this story is about nothing, but that might come across as insulting to Mike from Nomads On The Road. I suppose what I really mean is that this hilarious tale from Canada is about how just the idea of something can make a great personal travel story. It’s interesting, as global nomads, how much we let cliches, rumours and generalisations affect us.

You can follow Mike on twitter here.

Travel can’t always be perfect but it can always be an experience. Theses stories prove that. Hopefully there will be a lot more experiences for all travellers in 2012… just hopefully a little less talk of vomit!

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