solo
I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ONE OF MY 2015 TRAVEL GOALS!
*Pops a champagne bottle!*
Striking of number 1 which was to travel alone to a country where english isn't their first language. If you don't already know, I lived in Paris for 3 months during my summer internship, but since I had a house, and 3G, and had to work almost everyday, I didn't really consider myself as a tourist. It was more of like a part tourist part inhabitant kind of deal. Traveling to Portugal alone for 4 days was my way of experiencing what it is like to be on the get go alone, navigating from place to place (I really suck with directions! But I think I'm getting better?), and experiencing a foreign place by myself! Also, it was a prelude to a probably longer solo-trip i'll be taking during the spring. 2015, is indeed a year for me to just go for it, live life to the fullest - with some restrictions, but y'know as full as I can!
When I travel alone within France and on some day trips around England, I realised I've developed the ability to talk to myself: See 3 Interesting Abilities You Gain When You Travel Alone. So I decided to put a little twist on this post, and take you through a conversation with myself on the first day of my travel in Lisbon (I wrote the paragraph whilst in Lisbon, so pardon the raw-ness of it)!
1. My gosh this is so exciting! I hope I have an awesome time!
2. Successfully made it to the hostel without getting lost *pats self on back*. I'm gonna conquer Lisbon!
3. Oh how I've missed the sea, waters the sunshine! *stares at buildings and sky and everything* This is Amaaazi-... F***!
4. Omg how did I trip on a step that is 1 cm in height. SHOULDN'T HAVE WORN MY ANKLE BOOTS.
6. Where on earth is the castle?! Ok let me walk the other way. oh!! Nice Graffiti!
6. Where on earth is the castle?! Ok let me walk the other way. oh!! Nice Graffiti!
7. Love all colorful houses and patterned tiled walls. This old town is not that touristy but cool!!
8. There is nobody here.. Maybe I should attempt to take an outfit photo!
10. So much feels! Lemme try and sneakily get the singing old man into the shot!
15. OH MORE PRETTY GRAFFITI!! I love such things! Hmm..This route looks nice. You know what, I'm going to walk down and see where I end up!
21. The night scene is so chill, and relaxed, people just walking around, enjoying dinner.
22. There are a couple of weird people hanging around this street... Should I walk through it? The other street looks scarier... K Just do it. Please nobody talk to me.
23. OH A BAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!
24. Why am I so hungry?! When was the last time I ate? Omg I NEED DINNER.
25. Back to hostel.
WHAT I WORE
Striped Top - H&M / Jeans - Primark / Shoes - Ecco / Coat - Coldwear.sg
7. But really.. How do on earth do I get myself to the castle. Stupid map you're not leading me the right way.
8. Where are the stairs to the castle? There should be a staircase here!
9. Urgh!! Shit where am I...Oh my gosh!!!! Who cares where I am! THIS VIEW. THIS IS INCREDIBLE. Getting lost isn't that bad after all!
10. So much feels! Lemme try and sneakily get the singing old man into the shot!
11. Watching as the sun sets is amaaaazingggg!!
12. My feet hurt. I feel like I should just take a tram or a bus. But I don't even know where to head. Oh man, this is the result of "Just go and wing it"!
13. Where is the castle...Should i give up finding the castle?
14. Wait. Wait. I've walked by this place haven't I? Oh no I haven't..
Wish Jerald was here to help me navigate. I'm taking far to long to get to one destination.
Where is the damn castle entrance?! Why does this road go down. The castle is up there!
15. OH MORE PRETTY GRAFFITI!! I love such things! Hmm..This route looks nice. You know what, I'm going to walk down and see where I end up!
16. What is this sorcery. Why am I suddenly so near my hostel. Oh forget it. C'est la vie. Let me explore the area of Rossio then!
17. -Got approached by a student making a video and he asked me for some help, and how he hasn't been able to get to interview tourists for his video- Poor guy, nobody seems to be helping him. I shall be nice and be one of his Interviewees. After answering some questions on video, we started talking and he said I was "crazy to be traveling alone" until I told him I was actually 21. And then he suggested a couple of places for me to visit in Lisbon.
18. Definitely have to go to Belem tomorrow (the guy said it was beautiful!)
19. I'm hungry... Oooh egg tarts!
20. It tastes like there is coconut... Hmmm.. Are these egg tarts??
21. The night scene is so chill, and relaxed, people just walking around, enjoying dinner.
22. There are a couple of weird people hanging around this street... Should I walk through it? The other street looks scarier... K Just do it. Please nobody talk to me.
23. OH A BAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!
24. Why am I so hungry?! When was the last time I ate? Omg I NEED DINNER.
25. Back to hostel.
That night, I had a lovely meal at Home Lisbon Hostel, which was cooked by a wonderful Portuguese grandmother (who, by the way, speaks 4 languages fluently and switches between them with EASE -it put me to shame). The hostel was a family run business and it was just the perfect ending to my night. For 10Euros, I got a 3 course meal, free flow of drinks - red wine/white wine/sangria you name it, and to end of the meal, everyone in the dining hall would toast with a shot. I met so many other solo female travellers and I was so surprised at how extremely common it is for solo-female traveling, and just intrigued by their stories and life experiences.
I think traveling alone can sometimes be a little intimidating for girls, especially Asians like myself, who have grown up in a decent, safe, and relatively sheltered environment like Singapore. My mum wasn't very agreeable when i first told her, but I has already booked my tickets before telling her, and she was cool about everything, so she just said "Stay safe, I'll pray for you!" An asian girl I met had to write a long letter to her father explaining her reasons for traveling alone before she was granted the permission to. However, I think it is important to take the leap of faith, and just go for it. Sure safety is always something to be worried about, but if you plan your trip well, and do sufficient research before hand, practice safe traveling habits (and pray!), everything will typically go smoothly, and you'll learn so much from the trip.
Traveling anywhere alone is such an eye opener be it for a day or a month. Not only do you get the freedom to plan your own schedule and do what you want, you are able to grow in terms of confidence, you become truly independent, and you learn how to be resourceful! Living alone, traveling alone, doing anything alone, gets you out of your comfort zone. For the first half a day, or first few moments going around alone, you'll think "CRAP, what did I just get myself into!" But after that initial mild panic, you start to enjoy every little bit of the journey. And it is nice to put yourself in a foreign environment and appreciate the culture, see how you deal with being by yourself, and who you meet along the way. It is an experience I highly recommend for everyone!
After spending 4 days traveling alone in Portugal, I'm now excited for my next solo trip to Scandinavia.
10 days of Scandinavian air! Wish me luck ;)
Solo Traveling Thoughts IN Lisbon
21 March 2015 Lisbon, Portugal
Traveling alone means, having to navigate around, taking photos for memories (or in my case for my blog), absorbing as much of the city, as well as capturing as much detail and information of places you go to all by yourself. Traveling alone can be really fun, and also stressful at times.
Case in point: waking up to catch a 7am train with no wakeup call!
But along the way you learn to rely on yourself, be a lot more independent, and also develop certain "special" skills/abilities. Here are some that interesting abilities I've inherited and starting to become a lot better (almost a pro!) at:
1. Handling Multiple Objects At Once
Another horrifying thing, happens when you have to pay for something. In that moment, you somehow end up having your phone in your hand, a camera around your neck, a dripping wet umbrella, and you have to figure out how to take your wallet out of your bag.
Well, hello to another weird new skill set. It is possible. When you don't have anyone to turn to and say "Could you hold my umbrella for one second?", your fingers/knees/elbows/whatever available body part becomes your next best shot.
2. Conversing With Strangers
Traveling alone encourages you to go out there and talk to other people. You're completely alone, there is no pressure to be a certain way, no expectations, no desire to please or accommodate to anyone. The only barrier you have, is the one with yourself.
I've always been quite outgoing, which means talking to strangers was something I seldom shy away from. But what I've realised is that there is a difference between small talk and actual conversation. When you meet people for the first time, it's pretty easy to strike up a conversation, but being able to make conversations last, is a lot trickier.
I was able to hang out with 3 strangers for an entire afternoon when I went on a solo day trip to Oxford - well they were really nice people so that made the conversation a lot easier.
I remember going on a day tour alone for the first time to Normandy and having trouble with continuing conversations over lunch. After the first 15minutes where everyone sharing who they are, and what they are doing in the city had passed, the conversation died down and the silence got awkward.
So I guess after a few more tries of talking to strangers, and meeting different people, you figure out how to go about continuing the conversation. You figure out how much of yourself you'd like to share, what you can ask other people to find out more about them, and you start to appreciate the initial awkwardness that comes when you meet new people.
For me, I don't share too much about my thoughts, emotions and life with people who aren't close to me. Somehow, there was always a wall. This meant that despite being an extrovert, at times I second guess if I should approach other people, and I become a little too self-conscious.
Its not as though i'm being a different person, but its more like they're only getting 50% of who I am - a more toned down version. So figuring out how much I'd like to share with people I meet for the first time took a while, but I realised I definitely got better at holding conversations with new people I meet, and better at getting over my self-consciousness.
P.S. You also learn not to get offended when someone chooses to not talk to you ;) I think this means greater self-confidence, and thats always a plus!
3. Entertaining Yourself/Talking to Yourself
I listen to music or books from audible on my phone when I'm alone. Unfortunately, my iPhone is old and has a crappy battery life. Also, having to handle multiple things at once (see point 1) means that you rather not have the additional problem of fumbling around with your earphones.
Being able to hold conversations in your head, I've come to realise, is a VERY good ability. I used to think most people do it in general (you know, like have little conversations and debates in their head/play both the angel and the devil/have a Lizzie-Mcguire-esque alter-ego), until one fine day, people started telling me, I talk to myself.
Yes, occasionally I think aloud without realising.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm literally talking to myself instead of keeping the conversation in my head.
Then again, in a new environment when you're all alone, you don't have to be too self-conscious. Nobody is around to judge. At most, you'd just look like 'The weird girl talking to herself'. It's not like they'll remember you. Right?
I start to understand why children from single-child families have the ability to be alone ALL THE TIME - *cough* Jerald *cough*, or why my brother had imaginary friends when he was younger.
I can now hold hours and hours of conversations in my head, pretending to talk to somebody, or just thinking about what I would say to whoever when I would next meet them. I imagine what I would say if I had someone on the trip with me, I imagine what I would say if I were to be writing a diary entry about the trip - diary entries that unfortunately have yet to materialise.
I must say, skill 2 and 3 complement each other really well. After adopting both abilities, you can pick and choose to either hang out with yourself and enjoy the company of 'Me, Myself, and I', or build new friendships to expand your social circle, find out more about people coming from different parts of the world, and listening to their stories.
I would say I'm pretty much an expert on skill 3. But, its a good thing that i've been getting better at skill 2!
Hmm, after typing that, I now wonder if I'm an introvert or an extrovert. People who've known me for a long time will say I'm the latter, but I think i'm in transition. Whatever it is, as long as I'm comfortable. Thats all that matters. There's no reason to put a label to it!
What other interesting skills or abilities have you gained while traveling? Do you think there are any other i'll learn along the more I travel to and explore different places alone?
Pictures from my recent trips to Oxford, Barcelona and Brighton.
Case in point: waking up to catch a 7am train with no wakeup call!
But along the way you learn to rely on yourself, be a lot more independent, and also develop certain "special" skills/abilities. Here are some that interesting abilities I've inherited and starting to become a lot better (almost a pro!) at:
1. Handling Multiple Objects At Once
Bag, iPhone, wallet, DSLR, Umbrella - all with 1 pair of hands.
Using your DSLR to take photos whilst holding an umbrella so the rain doesn't slap against your face is actually A LOT harder than it sounds. Especially so when you're trying to prevent the strong threatening England winds from destroying your new cute purple umbrella (my room mate bought me one for my birthday!)
I initially struggled with holding my umbrella with one hand AND trying to adjust my DSLR. The result? I got rain all over myself AND my camera (don't worry my camera is fine! Thank God). Now, I have the ability to use my neck/elbow joint/cheek/ whatever else to hold the umbrella while taking photographs! Otherwise, I estimate how much zoom is probably needed on the camera for a shot, adjust it, and then operating my camera with one hand.
I initially struggled with holding my umbrella with one hand AND trying to adjust my DSLR. The result? I got rain all over myself AND my camera (don't worry my camera is fine! Thank God). Now, I have the ability to use my neck/elbow joint/cheek/ whatever else to hold the umbrella while taking photographs! Otherwise, I estimate how much zoom is probably needed on the camera for a shot, adjust it, and then operating my camera with one hand.
Another horrifying thing, happens when you have to pay for something. In that moment, you somehow end up having your phone in your hand, a camera around your neck, a dripping wet umbrella, and you have to figure out how to take your wallet out of your bag.
Well, hello to another weird new skill set. It is possible. When you don't have anyone to turn to and say "Could you hold my umbrella for one second?", your fingers/knees/elbows/whatever available body part becomes your next best shot.
2. Conversing With Strangers
Traveling alone encourages you to go out there and talk to other people. You're completely alone, there is no pressure to be a certain way, no expectations, no desire to please or accommodate to anyone. The only barrier you have, is the one with yourself.
I've always been quite outgoing, which means talking to strangers was something I seldom shy away from. But what I've realised is that there is a difference between small talk and actual conversation. When you meet people for the first time, it's pretty easy to strike up a conversation, but being able to make conversations last, is a lot trickier.
I was able to hang out with 3 strangers for an entire afternoon when I went on a solo day trip to Oxford - well they were really nice people so that made the conversation a lot easier.
I remember going on a day tour alone for the first time to Normandy and having trouble with continuing conversations over lunch. After the first 15minutes where everyone sharing who they are, and what they are doing in the city had passed, the conversation died down and the silence got awkward.
So I guess after a few more tries of talking to strangers, and meeting different people, you figure out how to go about continuing the conversation. You figure out how much of yourself you'd like to share, what you can ask other people to find out more about them, and you start to appreciate the initial awkwardness that comes when you meet new people.
For me, I don't share too much about my thoughts, emotions and life with people who aren't close to me. Somehow, there was always a wall. This meant that despite being an extrovert, at times I second guess if I should approach other people, and I become a little too self-conscious.
Its not as though i'm being a different person, but its more like they're only getting 50% of who I am - a more toned down version. So figuring out how much I'd like to share with people I meet for the first time took a while, but I realised I definitely got better at holding conversations with new people I meet, and better at getting over my self-consciousness.
P.S. You also learn not to get offended when someone chooses to not talk to you ;) I think this means greater self-confidence, and thats always a plus!
3. Entertaining Yourself/Talking to Yourself
I listen to music or books from audible on my phone when I'm alone. Unfortunately, my iPhone is old and has a crappy battery life. Also, having to handle multiple things at once (see point 1) means that you rather not have the additional problem of fumbling around with your earphones.
Being able to hold conversations in your head, I've come to realise, is a VERY good ability. I used to think most people do it in general (you know, like have little conversations and debates in their head/play both the angel and the devil/have a Lizzie-Mcguire-esque alter-ego), until one fine day, people started telling me, I talk to myself.
Yes, occasionally I think aloud without realising.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm literally talking to myself instead of keeping the conversation in my head.
Then again, in a new environment when you're all alone, you don't have to be too self-conscious. Nobody is around to judge. At most, you'd just look like 'The weird girl talking to herself'. It's not like they'll remember you. Right?
I start to understand why children from single-child families have the ability to be alone ALL THE TIME - *cough* Jerald *cough*, or why my brother had imaginary friends when he was younger.
I can now hold hours and hours of conversations in my head, pretending to talk to somebody, or just thinking about what I would say to whoever when I would next meet them. I imagine what I would say if I had someone on the trip with me, I imagine what I would say if I were to be writing a diary entry about the trip - diary entries that unfortunately have yet to materialise.
I must say, skill 2 and 3 complement each other really well. After adopting both abilities, you can pick and choose to either hang out with yourself and enjoy the company of 'Me, Myself, and I', or build new friendships to expand your social circle, find out more about people coming from different parts of the world, and listening to their stories.
I would say I'm pretty much an expert on skill 3. But, its a good thing that i've been getting better at skill 2!
Hmm, after typing that, I now wonder if I'm an introvert or an extrovert. People who've known me for a long time will say I'm the latter, but I think i'm in transition. Whatever it is, as long as I'm comfortable. Thats all that matters. There's no reason to put a label to it!
What other interesting skills or abilities have you gained while traveling? Do you think there are any other i'll learn along the more I travel to and explore different places alone?
Pictures from my recent trips to Oxford, Barcelona and Brighton.
3 Interesting Abilities You Gain When You Travel Alone
29 November 2014
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