75 Days of Solo Travel in Asia

Why I Decided to Travel Solo:

I decided to travel solo for this trip. Partly because I have no friends but also because I wanted this trip to be one of those character-building sorts of trips. I wanted to have some scars by the end of it. And I think that is a lot harder to do with a friend. In hindsight it may have been nice to have someone to tell me “hey you know that it’s forecasted to rain halfway through your motorcycle trip,” or “hey that train carriage says it is for pregnant women only,” or “hey maybe that nice couple who started talking to you is a little bit too nice?” Sure, it would have saved me some pain and embarrasement if I had a friend in those moments but looking back at it now some of these moments were my most memorable of the trip.

Why Asia? Asia, especially South East Asia, is a great starting point for solo travel. Originally I had wnted to travel to Europe first but I feel so fortunate that I was able to learn the ropes in Asia first.

Where I went: Shanghai, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Tao, Georgetown, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Hulian, Yuli, Macau, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Mihn City, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue, Dong Ha, Dong Hoi, Vinh, Ninh Binh, Hanoi, Beijing, Pyongyang, Nampoo, Kaesong. I traveled from city to city by way of plane, taxi, overnight train, bullet train, highspeed shuttle, bus, watertaxi, water ferry, and motorcycle.

My Favorite Place: Bangkok, Thailand

My Least Favorite Place: Guangzhou, China

What I learned About Myself: I learned that I really like climbing things. Great Walls in China or Ancient temples in Cambodia – I just really enjoy climbing them. If there were a career path that was just climbing things, I think I would definitely consider it.

Something I Learned About Traveling: Time moves slower when traveling. I don’t mean slow like in a watching paint dry kind of slow. I mean like in a Wow, I can’t believe breakfast was only five hours ago cuz it feels like it was two days ago. You pack so much into a day. The past 2.5 months of traveling actually felt more like a year.

Most Memorable Moments:

1. Getting scammed on my first day in Asia @ Shanghai, China
2. Realizing that scuba diving is the creation of the devil @ Koh Tao, Thailand
3. Buying a counterfeit motorcycle and driving it across Vietnam in the rain @ Vietnam
4. Using the only cash I had to buy tokens for an arcade because I thought that it was actually a change machine @ Shenzhen, China
5. Having a large medical bill due to a scuba diving incident, not being able to pay the bill due to my credit cards being declined, and upon having my mother wire me money via Western Union having it end up in China and not Singapore becuase my mother thought Singapore was a city in China. @ Singapore
6. Winning $500 at the slot machines and then gambling it all on one game of roulette (I lost) @ Singapore
7. Our guide in North Korea promising us that there is at least one (possibly more) McDonald's in North Korea. @ North Korea
8. Spending an entire hour skillfully bartering between two t-shirt vendors, eventually creating a price war and thus saving me an entire dollar @ Chiang Mai, Thailand

My Tips for Solo Travelers:

1. Pack Light - I lived out of a single backpack for seventy-five days. It's the opposite of what you would think but the longer you travel the less luggage you should bring. The reason for this is simple - If you are just spending a week in a single city then you can afford to bring lots of luggage. You will only be staying at one hotel so the only time you will be moving luggage will be from the airport and back. However, if you are traveling to multiple countries that luggage will become a hindrance to your speed and flexibility. If you can live out of a backpack for five days then you can live out of a backpack for five hundred days. The biggest hurdle is laundry but in Asia there are laundry services everywhere that will launder your clothes for only a few bucks. Anything else you may need or have forgotten can almost always be purchased
2. Take Advantage of the Internet - Buy a SIM Card at every airport. I have huge respect for anyone who can solo travel in a foreign country without a data SIM card. In Southeast Asia SIM cards are cheap, and surprisingly reliable. Use them for Google Maps, Google Translate, TripAdvisor, and most importantly SnapChat.
3. Find Friends - Solo traveling can be lonely. Part of the fun of traveling solo is making friends along the way. The easiest way to make friends is to stay at hostels instead of hotels.
   Find The right Hostel -The right hostel can make or break how enjoyable a city is. Use Hostel World's rating system to find the best hostel to fit your needs. Some hostels are more oriented towards partying - others not as much. It is crucial that you don't spend all your time in your dorm room - at least venture out to the hostel lobby!
   Be Proactive - If you are reading this blog chances are you are a fluent English speaker. You have no idea how lucky that makes you when traveling. The default language at hostels and tourist areas in general is English. So you already have a huge advantage in making friends. My best tip for actually meeting new people is to hang around the hostel lobby and just start conversations with other guests. Most hostel guests are fellow travelers like yourself and will love to talk about their past experiences.
   Use CouchSurfing.com - I never used CouchSurfing to find a place to sleep, but I had a great amount of success in using it as a platform to meet locals and get a free insider’s view of the city.
4. Give Yourself Challenges - It's an extremely privileged thing to say but backpacking for months at a time can become almost mundane. Seeing the seventh tallest building in the world loses its wonder if you just saw the fifth tallest building last week. So I always challenge myself to do something new in each country or city. For me this was photography which forced me to go out of my way to get an interesting shot
5. Don't Be So Serious - You've got to learn to go with the flow if you are going to survive living in a foreign country with a language and culture that is different from yours. Sometimes things won't work as you expect. You are going to make a fool of yourself A LOT. If you can't learn to laugh at yourself and your own mistakes then you will have a difficult time.