It was my biggest concern when I first decided to travel solo: would I have to spend all of my time alone? Sure, I enjoy my own company – but there’s something special about making memories and sharing experiences with friends in foreign lands. I was hoping I wouldn’t miss out on that, despite embarking on the trip by myself. I had no idea what to expect. [Read more…]
How to Practice Self-Care While Traveling
We travel because it’s what we love to do. It’s exciting and it’s challenging. But for independent travelers, it’s not all fun and games. There are trains to catch, new places to explore, and decisions to be made. For whatever period of time we’re traveling, we feel like we have to be on all the time. We sometimes feel like any time not spent doing is time wasted. It can be exhausting.
Because of this, it’s easy to get burned out. But this is your trip, and yours alone. You’re in charge, so it’s up to you to ensure you don’t get burned out. It’s not always easy, but it is possible. Here’s a list of my favorite ways to practice self-care while traveling. [Read more…]
What Happened When I Decided to Travel Solo
I wrote before about why I personally made the decision to travel solo for the first time.
I was confident in myself and my abilities to successfully navigate a new country by myself, but apprehensive about other aspects of this endeavor: would I get lonely? Feel isolated? Not branch out and try new things? [Read more…]
7 Things To Know About Staying in Hostels
The first time I learned about hostels, I was in middle school, taking a standardized test. It was the Reading section, where you’re supposed to read a short paragraph and answer comprehension questions. The paragraph was about the reasons why the author liked staying in hostels.
“Hostels?” I thought to myself, a kid with an above-average vocabulary and knack for finding typos in everyday life. “Do they mean hotels?” But as I continued reading, I realized that the experience the author described was unlike any hotel I’d ever stayed in, rooms full of people from every walk of life. I conceded to the idea that there were some things that my 12-year-old self did not know. [Read more…]
Hotel, Hostel, or Airbnb: Pros and Cons
Traveling can be exhausting! After the end of a long day, where will you finally get that much-needed shut-eye? Hotel, hostel, or Airbnb?
When I was growing up, lots of road trips meant we would usually stay in hotels. It also meant that we didn’t always know where we would end up at the end of the day. Since we didn’t have advance reservations, I remember my parents stopping at different hotels, trying to find one that still had a vacancy — while my sister and I hoped it would have a swimming pool. [Read more…]