Getting there is half the battle especially in Myanmar

It sounds so blissful, bouncing around the world in a perpetual state of vacationland. While in many ways it is just that. What you may not see from the photos we share or our merry check-ins with family and friends when we exclaim "it's so beautiful here." Is the fact that getting around, especially on a backpackers budget is not always glamorous. Anytime we move destinations we generally invest 12+ hours on travel, taking numerous modes of transport from old taxis with no AC to buses and even the occasional boat.

For example, I took a 13 hour bus ride from Yangon to Nagapali beach. There was a flight offered but costing $100 compared to the $11 bus ride, my tight travel budget demanded the slow route.
In SE Asia the horn seems to be the driver's best friend. They use it at every corner, passing every dog, pedestrian and car on their way. This sharp piercing noise pared with blaring Burmese music for 13 hours straight was akin to Chinese water torture. Now comes the fun part, during the twist and turns of the dilapidated roads my fellow wary car sick travelers started using what they affectionately call "happy bags."  Several times during our journey the bus driver would pull over and they would throw buckets of water on the engine to cool it off, making me question the integrity of said engine and these rest stops boasted nothing more than outhouse squatty potties.  Oh the joys of traveling! But hey, I arrived almost $90 richer than if I had taken the plane and I got a lot of character building out of it. We get a lot of that these days and the destinations are always worth it.