I often wonder how is travel different from tourism. When I think about pretty places, I don’t usually have bucket list items. I just want to be there. And last month on my 26th birthday I had a very interesting time of life. It was the first time when I wasn’t working, the first time when I wasn’t studying, basically the first time when I had no strong obligations and I decided to go backpacking in Thailand for 10 days.
I will write about my experiences here so I can remember how beautiful it feels, the next time I get a chance to do something like this.
I decided to write this blog when I was sitting on a ferry on Chao Praya river to go to MBK.
Why don't more people travel solo?
Besides the obvious safety and cost concerns, I can think of two big reasons why I don’t see many people traveling solo. First, people are too used to external stimulation that they are uncomfortable with being alone. And this seems more like an Indian thing. Most of the “groups” I experienced on my journey were Indians or Asians and the first thought they had on learning I’m traveling alone was that I didn’t have much friends. When I asked them why are they not traveling alone today, they said they’re afraid they’ll get bored.
Second, people are used to things happening to them. Which sounds comfortable enough, only problem being that the best experiences in life need to be pursued actively.
Is it a fair trade off though?
From a place of privilege, I can say that the cost concerns don’t apply to me. To be fair to me, it’s not exactly privelege because I have paid for that several years back with time and sweat. Anyways, the other reasons of safety don’t apply as well because I have always been open to risks (in a surprisingly smart and safe way). So with those two aside and having experienced this trip myself, I can safely say the benefits associated with being alone in a strange country far outweigh the risks of being bored.
There is extreme power in doing things your own way. With no pressure of “deadlines” or “must do activities” you can just do what you want. Feel like sitting at a beach all day, that’s a solid plan. Feel like having all the best things to eat, be my your guest. And the best part is if you realize all this feels too much and you’re not cut out for it, you can just book a flight back home.
But you are going to see so many people (some even on indefinite travel) busy doing their own things, that you won’t feel like flying back home. You can literally do anything and no one is going to remember that because everyone is too busy enjoying themselves.
I’ll conclude this section by mentioning that any experience where you learn something new about what you like (and dislike) is priceless.
A little about what I liked best
While I was on my flight, in between multiple rounds of sleep and food, I was thinking about what I can effortlessly recall from all the trips I’ve had before. To count a few - that one evening when I was trapped in a tunnel in Chicago with 3 other students because it was raining outside, walking around and remembering the neighbourhood of where I stayed, be it Goa or my house in Westwood, California, visiting the San Diego Museum of Man, and obviously ROLLERCOASTERS!!
So I focussed on doing more of these things, along with exploring new unknowns. I need not write much things I did and liked because I have so many photos to remember them by so I’ll mention some highlights which couldn’t be “captured”.
Wherever I went, my top experience was talking to people there. Doesn’t matter if they’re locals, tourists or travellers like me. Listening to their stories will make you think about there’s so much fun yet to be done. Another perk of making international friends is that when you travel in a strange country, you might have a friend you can call up. I met this one guy who ran a weed store in Phuket. I met this 60+ woman from New Zealand who was here for her dentist appointment. I met a 19 year old Taiwanese student who works double shifts so she can earn enough to travel for weeks every few months. I met this other French Japanese girl who was travelling indefinitely since last 2 months because she realized she didn’t like what she was doing. This list would never end.
Figuring out travel in a new city is very fun as well. I remember sitting on Mochit Bus station, Bangkok for 30 minutes before realizing that the bus that is supposed to take me to Pattaya would come to another station also called Mochit for some reason. Lol.
Obviously, there’s so much new food. Few things that I ate again and again in Thailand were Shrimp Pad Thai, Mango sticky rice and ready to eat cheese toasties from their 7-11. While we are on the topic I will mention a big con of travelling alone. You can’t eat too risky stuff because it might make you sick since your stomach isn’t adjusted for it and there’s no one to take care of you. I saw a lot of fancy things on Khao San road, Bangkok like fried scorpios, snakes, spiders, barbecued crocodile. Although I’m not sure I’d have eaten them even if I was with friends.
I remember sitting at the Red Hot Club, Phuket on Bangla road, listening to the band singing all these rock songs that it felt for the first time that I “belong” here. I’m sure that was a high from all the alcohol stuff and all the good expriences I was having, but it felt really good.
Ending with some tips
Every night I went to bed thinking to myself I cannot have more fun but every next day I would surprise myself. Believe me when I say there is so much more to life than enjoying your usual day. If this inspires you a little to travel alone but you’re not sure where to start, I’ll leave a few tips.
- Start getting comfortable with going alone to experiences near you.
- Sit down and make a list of top 10 life experiences you’ve had or read about. Ask chatGPT where can you have them.
- Ask strangers to take photos for you.
- How to start talking to someone new? Genuinely compliment them. Believe it or not, they are a friend now and may even fight for you. Now you can now go say hi to them anytime.
- Start saving money.
Written by a changed person after this trip.