7. Take a solo trip

a. This one was at first the scariest thing I had ever done in my life after my first clubbing experience at age 18 at Fur Night Club in Washington D.C. Just like my first clubbing experience, it was such a thrill to think I’d get to do something so adult-like. Then once you enter the club, you just don’t know the protocol- what do you do when you enter????? What are other people doing that is sooooo fun and thrilling that you’re missing out on???? But once you leave the club at the end of the night, you are glad you went, and you come out having a good time. That’s exactly how I felt when I first decided to spontaneously book a trip to Osaka, Japan by myself. I was in my early 20s. I stepped foot at Kansai Airport and not knowing any Japanese or how to get around, I discovered my survival mode and non-verbal linguistic senses, and found myself checked into my tiny hotel room. I went to the aquarium by myself, I went to Universal Studios by myself, I ate by myself, I saw the Osaka Castle by myself, I took pictures by myself, and I shared memories alone. Was it fun? Yes, in a way I discovered new things about me that I had not before. Was it lonely? Yes, I had no one to take pictures with, no one to ride roller coasters with, no one to eat with and no one to talk about my day with. It was in October, so I even had to encounter the zombie apocalypse at Universal Studios alone. I ran around like a headless chicken scared of the zombies ALONE. But I did get out of my comfort zone and met new friends- who I still am in contact with!

b. The second time I decided to travel alone was when I embarked on my solo journey to Jakarta, Indonesia and then to one of the Thousand Islands from the coast of Jakarta. This was later in my mid-20s. I landed in Jakarta late at night and everything was so dark. There was no one to greet me but the taxi drivers who were screaming to get business at that hour of night. I was scared but I decided to be brave and go for the small cycle rickshaw with a motorbike attached to the side. I had never been in such unsafe transportation before, and thought, WHY NOT?! The man took me to my hostel and I checked in. I was so hungry and wanted to eat so I went outside the hostel to find everything to be so dark and scary. I’m usually brave and don’t fear the unknown, but I found myself going back to the hostel still hungry. But that was the last time I contained my curiosity! I embarked on my own journey to explore the unknown and found myself making new friends and even going on a ferry to one of the Thousand Islands! I chose Pulau Tidung from the vast selection of islands because it was fairly closer than the other islands. But I soon found out, I was the only visitor to the island that day and there was only one boat going back to the mainland later that day. I had almost all day to explore the island, so I decided to go by foot. I walked the shore of the island for about 30 minutes to find out that I had walked the entire island. The island was tiny!!! I was panicking because I had already seen everything…actually there wasn’t much. There were about 100 or so inhabitants and no Wi-Fi- actually the kids didn’t even know what a phone was. I soon got over it and decided to take the day to play in the water by myself. I took pictures by myself and sang to myself. I guess this attracted the islanders, as they had never seen an East Asian before. They probably told each other that a crazy Asian visitor is just walking around by herself… because… hours later I started to get really hungry and there were no restaurants on the island, but an islander came to my rescue. He motioned with his hands to come follow him and I followed him to the other side of the island. He had led me to his home and told me to sit by the table outside. I had no idea why he led me here but to my surprise he came out with Indonesian cup noodles and Coca-Cola! The islanders knew I was visiting and had come to a non-touristy island with no restaurant. They anticipated that I would be hungry around this hour. I was so so thankful that despite the language barrier and the fact that I was a complete stranger, that they would be so hospitable to me. This single experience made me appreciate the Indonesian people and also left a great impression on solo travel.

Thank God for Good People!

The man who gave me Cup Noodles and Coca Cola!

@ Palau Tidung, Thousand Islands, Indonesia

@ Jakarta, Indonesia

c. Any more? Yes! Come December I will be traveling to Kenya, Tanzania, and London by myself. Other countries are not yet decided but if you see pictures posted on my Instagram, you know that I made another spontaneous trip!