Begin at the Beginning
I want to tell the story of my travels. It was my first time traveling alone after all, and it had a profound effect on who I am and how I see the world. Will I be able to convey that through a blog? Who knows. The message may get lost in the details. We will see. I hope you’ll be patient with me as I figure out how to tell the most incredible story I have ever experienced.
Warning: Every country I went to and every thing I did was the “BEST EVER”. I will say that, or something similar, over and over again. Paradoxically, it is true. Everything single thing was the best single thing ever, in that moment.
My desire for this blog is that it not only tell my story, but also act as a resource for anyone who is planning or even daydreaming of setting off to travel the world alone. Be that for 1 week, 1 month or 1 year. With that in mind, I will try to finish each post with a list of resources and/or recommendations.
But a journey has to begin somewhere, and this one began in Korea.
Leaving Korea was surreal. Life abroad as an expat has one constant: people leave. You make friends, they leave, new friends arrive. But it is never your turn to leave, until one day… it is. You close your apartment door, turn in the key, and take the bus to your friends apartment for the last time. As I rode away from Bangbae on bus 406 I actually thought to myself, I may never ride on this bus again.
Considering I rode that bus everyday, that was kind of a big deal.
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| One of my last meals, a traditional Korean spread. |
I was excited of course. I was flying to BORNEO tomorrow. BORNEO! Where the hell is that? Is it even a country? (No, it is not, it is an island split between 3 countries)
Was I sad…? not really. Or if sadness was there, I wouldn’t feel it for a few weeks. There was too much ahead. I was nervous, and somewhat anxious. I had never traveled alone! I had spent the last 2 months attempting to “plan” my trip to Borneo, but every time I sat down to plan I got overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task and simply read other people’s accounts of Borneo on trip advisor, or the pages in my Lonely Planet.
In fact the morning that I left for my trip I had absolutely nothing booked, and only the name of a hostel in Kota Kinabalu, my first destination, where I hoped to spend a night. I would later learn that when traveling “on a shoestring” this is the preferable way to do things, because you can often get the best deals if you just show up, but leaving from Korea heading into a black abyss of uncertainty, I was plagued by insecurity.
But mostly, I was excited. Got some beers with friends and coworkers. Went to sleep on my last night in Korea at my friend Gregor’s apartment, and woke up at 4am to catch my 6am flight to Kuala Lumpur. Even the name sounded exotic. Getting on that plane was so overwhelmingly thrilling I got chills. I had a heightened awareness of the fact that I was heading into something I had no expectations of, no understanding of, and no preparation for. I was terrified and it was exhilarating.
You don’t leave for your first trip as an experienced traveler. You leave confused and nervous and green, and that is exactly how it should be.
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| Somewhere over China, en route to Kuala Lumpur |
One more topic I want to cover… packing.
Packing up your whole life into one backpack is a daunting task. The good news is, you don’t need to get it exactly right, you just need to get it MOSTLY right (pro-tip: socks and underwear are a must, but not tooo many pairs) and then you can fill in the gaps on the road. In fact, filling in the gaps can be its own adventure as you try to find out where on earth do they even SELL toothpaste in this country!?
So I wanted to tell you guys what I had packed on the day I left from Korea but I gotta admit I can’t remember. One thing I do remember, I only had one pair of shoes and no flip flops. In S.E. Asia, this is a big mistake. Also I brought waaaaay too many pairs of underwear and socks. (Pro-tip: wash these in the sinks or showers of hostels, it saves money and time on washing if the rest of your clothes aren’t that dirty)
Bag when I arrived home at the end of 6 months (keeping in mind the fact that I bought some...ok many... things along the way):
-still waaaay too many pairs of socks and underwear
-dry fit shirt
-underarmour shirt
-trekking pants
-2 cotton t-shirts (one was used exclusively for sleeping)
-3 tank tops (unnecessary, should probably only have had 1, but they were 30 cents each in Thailand)
-2 pairs of flowy funky pants (picked up in Thailand)
-1 pair of yoga leggings
-1 pair of shorts
-2 scarves picked up in Laos
-1 sarong from Cambodia (used as a towel)
-1 dress (picked up in Thailand)
-1 bikini (and actually, I lost this in Indonesia so it wasn’t technically in my bag when I got home)
-hiking shoes
-flip flops
-toiletries bag (toothbrush/paste/floss/shampoo[which I also used as bodywash]/coconut oil/nail clippers/razor)
-rain coat
-fleece
-hoodie (picked up in Indonesia)
-gloves, knitted socks, mumu thingy (picked up for trek in Nepal)
-first aid kit
-headlamp
-converters
-phone/charger + camera/charger
-journal and pens
-tennis balls (picked up in Indonesia for self-massage)
-yoga mat
-jump rope
-hiking poles
-sleeping bag
-pain killers + sleeping pills
-passport/wallet/photocopies of passport/extra passport photos
-way too many knick-knacks and things picked up as gifts along the way
-another, smaller, backpack that functioned as my “daypack” (but I ended up also buying a purse in thailand because I was tired of only having a backpack…)
I think that is it. My bag was very heavy by the end, but that was necessitated by the wide variety of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go during my trip. I had to have clothes and equipment for a yoga teacher training in Thailand, swimming/snorkeling in Indonesia/Malaysia, and trekking in… well in every country that I visited, but most importantly trekking in the cold high elevations in Nepal. If you really wanted to pack light, of course it is possible. Could I have eliminated some stuff? Yes. Just figure out what you think you want to DO during your trip and pack for that. If you only want to party and sit on the beach (which would be an awesome trip, I’m sure) you really don’t need to bring much at all.
The night I left Korea I remember packing so particularly. Everything had its place. By the end of my trip I had established a perfect system for packing my bag, developed over 6 months of constantly unpack and packing. I knew which clothes I wore most often, and they were nearest the top, with everything else shoved underneathe at different levels depending on its level of importance to me/my journey. This is something you develop overtime. The first time you pack your bag may very well be the worst time you pack your bag.
I will say this: you do not need to have a sleeping bag. Seriously. Unless you want to be the kind of person who goes camping, but do your research, there are not that many opportunities for independent camping in S.E. Asia. Be adventurous but also realistic… do you really need all that crap? Probably not. And you’ll be happy down the road if you pack light.
Okay, I think that is all for now. Next time I’ll tell the story of the very first night of my trip. And maybe I’ll get to the first few days, we shall see.
Adios amigas!
Recommendations:
For Finding Flights: www.skyscanner.com
For Basic Research:
-Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com I used other brands, but Lonely is the most widely used and useful. Just remember it is a jumping off point/crutch, once I get somewhere I almost never used it).
-www.tripadvisor.com some of the people who write on here are not to be trusted, but you can get some really good ideas, referrals, testimony of other people’s experiences.
-www.workaway.info I’ll bring this up again in a later post, but if you are at all interested in volunteering during your trip, this is a great place to start.
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