Today on World Travellers we welcome Davide Vadala from Nomad Travellers. Hailing from Italy, Davide and his partner Oti share some crazy adventures which have taken them to places like Nepal, the Northern Lights and Kerala in India. Peekaboo!
World Travellers: Davide Vadala and Oti of Nomad Travellers.
Who are you?
I’m Davide from Nomad Travellers, but we are actually two, since I’m sharing my life and also this project with my better half Oti.
Where are you from?
I’m from Italy, Rome, even if I actually was born in the south, a small city just on the tip of the boot in front of Sicily called Reggio Calabria. Oti instead is from Calarasi, a “forgotten” city in the south of Romania at the border with Bulgaria. We obviously have met while travelling, we were attending the same rock climbing course in Hungary almost 3 years ago.
World Travellers: Davide shows us his home country of Italy – Cinque Terre Rriomaggiore!
Where have you been?
I visited so far 38 countries in 3 different continents, but mostly I traveled in Europe and Asia. Still so little if I think of how big the world is. Oti is still trying to reach me, but considering that we always travel together, she won’t manage!
Where are you now?
We are in Romania, we came back to visit Oti’s family for Christmas and spent some time here, but now we are getting ready to leave very soon. We are still not sure where we will go, but usually we don’t choose, opportunities are just coming, it’s about being ready to go.
World Travellers: Davide Vadala at the Northern Lights.
What are the top 3 places you’ve visited?
It’s always difficult to answer this question, since it depends if it relates to my experience, the beauty of the place, the hospitality of the people. I’m always eager to tell stories about Nepal and Turkey, so I would have no doubt to include these two countries on my top 3. For the third place I would probably choose Norway, for its amazing nature and the Northern Lights!
What is the best travel experience you’ve had?
Well I had so many that I could write an encyclopedia. The biggest gift I had from my travels, was of course meeting Oti and sharing my life with her. While the best experience was no doubts another gift, this time from the side of Mother Nature: an explosion of colors, feelings and movement that men use to call Aurora Borealis. It was my third trip to Scandinavia to http://www.nomadtravellers.com/backpacking/98-budget-travel/111-northern-lights-what-is-the-best-moment-best-place-to-see-aurora-borealis see Northern Lights, the first one with Oti, but this time after one month over the Arctic Circle, we got the perfect night with clear sky, no wind and high solar activity lasting for many hours. If it was about me, I was there every winter, but unfortunately Oti hates cold weather.
World Travellers: Davide Vadala of Nomad Travellers.
What is the worst travel experience you’ve had?
Well I had many, even if none was so bad to ruin my trip. It’s normal having also bad experiences while traveling, that’s life. What I remember as the worst episode, still happened in India maybe because it’s the land of extreme experiences. While I was on my way to Leh, Indian Himalaya, with other travellers on a minibus, the trip was canceled almost at the beginning because of the weather conditions. So I went back to the travel agency that sold me the bus ticket and asked for a refund. The employee started to lie, saying that it wasn’t them to sell me the ticket, and eventually kicked me out of the office, threatening he was going to beat me. I had to go to the police, and eventually somebody came to apologize and gave me a partial refund.
What is the funniest travel experience you’ve had?
A Turkish truck driver that picked me up while I was hitchhiking and that was watching 7 hours non stop porn movies while driving from Ankara to Istanbul. He didn’t speak a word of English, but he was eager to ask me for the nationality of the “actresses”. I was just guessing and saying “Swedish! American! French!” and he was really satisfied with my answers.
What is the scariest travel experience you’ve had?
At a first flush I might think about the Rhinoceros that was running after me in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, but actually I think it was scarier being hospitalized for one week in a remote village in Kerala (India), with a viral fever and a body temperature higher than 40°C and no apparent improvement. Eventually I got healthy again, and I’m here to tell the story.
Stuck out in the cold! Oti hitch hiking on the Arctic Circle!
What is the most random job you have had on your travels?
Still not so creative on this field: we got to work as Camp Counselors with kids, but that’s not that impressive.
How do you fund your travels?
Our main trick is to be extremely frugal, so that we need very little money. We usually travel on a budget of 100€-200€ per month when we are moving, and less than that when we are in a single place maybe volunteering. We started with some limited funds that we raised from our previous jobs, me as a green Architect and Oti as an assistant manager. And then to cover our daily expenses we worked in Switzerland as Summer camp leaders, plus we constantly do some random internet jobs. I’m more active than Oti in particular with travel writing for magazines and travel photography, my real passion. I would have many http://www.nomadtravellers.com/backpacking/98-budget-travel/179-traveling-jobs-22-ideas-to-make-money-for-your-trips ideas to make money, but since I’m against consumerism and capitalism, I rather prefer to volunteer and spend little money, than earning more to be able to have a luxury travel.
What 3 tips would you give a new traveller before they set off on their adventure?
– Don’t listen to your family and your friends, they are trying to brainwash you, because that’s what they were taught to do: if you want to travel, just do it!
– Don’t worry too much about not having money on the road, but if you are planning to travel for many months, keep some extra savings for your health.
– Get inspired by other travellers, but don’t try to copy them, just find your own way!
What are your future travel plans?
We are applying for an international program in Indonesia, we are planning to go there to study local craft techniques for 1 year. We can’t wait to see if we will be accepted, Indonesia has amazing flora and fauna, and we can’t stop thinking of the rainforest!
Biography
We are Davide and Oti, a nomadic couple trying to experience a different lifestyle on the road and exploring our planet on a budget. We love nature and the outdoor, we like to give as much as we can, to share our experiences with like-minded travellers and to get inspired every day.
For more travel tips, stories and photos, come and visit us at Nomad Travellers and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus (all links below)
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Photos captions:
1- One of the shots taken by Davide while watching the Northern Lights in Norway
2- A photo Davide is proud of: Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre
3 – Davide resting under a bush in Camargue, France
4 – Oti and Davide having some fun during a city break
Thanks to Davide and Oti for being the latest in my series of World Travellers! If you travel the world and run a travel blog or are a travel writer, please get in touch, you can be featured (there’s a HUGE waiting list at present), either e-mail jonny (at) dontstopliving (dot) net or head to my contacts page and get connected! You can also subscribe to Don’t Stop Living by filling in the form below! Safe travels!
Music. Soccer/Football. Porn. Apparently, three topics that unites all! Love it! 🙂
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