earlier
this year, i went to catanduanes. all alone. and just like my solo travels in in
the past, the question i get is always… "are you alone?". some even
go overboard by blurting lines like "don't you have any friends" or "i
can't imagine traveling all by myself". others ask "aren't you afraid
traveling solo" or "why travel alone". well, the simple answer
is why not. many writers have already noted the joys and advantages of
traveling solo. i follow solotraveler.org and this community has provided not
only travel itineraries for solo travelers but more importantly, wrote many
articles on travel safety and do's and don’t's when traveling all by yourself.
for me,
what solo travel gives is that true sense of freedom and independence. during
my weekend in virac, i didn't feel like going back to the hotel right after a
tricycle tour of the town of bato. so what i did was to check out the small but
packed catanduanes provincial museum since i still have 30 minutes before it
closes. the following day, i didn't feel like having breakfast so had my head
shaved first before heading to the carinderia right beside the hotel. one can
easily tweak the itinerary during a solo trip, no one to argue with, especially
if you're travel companion is a "queasy" or itinerary-nazi one and
striking a compromise is not even needed.
a solo
traveler has the freedom to think of no one but himself. i long wanted to see
borobodur ever since my asian civilization subject during second year high
school. so when i was given the chance to be in jakarta for a business trip, i
grabbed the opportunity to book an airasia flight to yogyakarta and spent 2
days to see borobodur and nearby prambanan. again, i didn't have to consider
factors such as your companion having no enough budget or that someone wants to
cut the trip short. i'm pretty flexible when it comes to accommodation so there
was no need to deliberate over prices or even location. it was an easy breezy
affair.
on the
subject of food, a solo traveler has the wild abandon of eating what you want,
when to eat main meals and where to eat. from nong khai to vientiane, the bus
ride was about 2.5 hours. the only hassle is the long line in the immigration counter
entering laos. i only had cupcake provided by the bus company so i didn't have
anything to eat. good thing, lunch can come in bamboo tubes courtesy of a nice
lady selling rice cakes cooked and packed in a bamboo tube. while waiting for
the rest of the passengers to come back to the bus, she offered me 2 options, 1
sweet and the other one a bit spicy. i of course went with the sweet one but
didn't have any clue on how to get the sweet treat inside. she took back both
bamboo tubes and broke them in one swoosh. i had my early lunch ala pinoy's
inangit.
you have
all the time to dilly-dally when you're on a solo travel. on my last late
afternoon in virac, i felt like doing nothing but to just walk around the town
center and that was what i exactly did. i realized that i haven't seen the
newly built pier yet so off i went there and spent a good 40 minutes watching
the waves and young kids practicing their dive tricks. early in the evening,
there was a program in front of the town hall so i sat there watching the province's
named personalities dance the night away. sometimes it's also a good thing to
be a bit indecisive and veer away from your schedule because that leads you to
some nice discoveries such as a very nice lugawan/mamihan right across the one
and only fastfood joint (jollibee) in catanduanes or a crowd-free temple in
bangkok.
solo
traveling also gives you the choice to not conform or to somewhat change
someone else's view. if you feel like not talking to anyone, you can keep your
mouth shut and only talk when asking for directions or placing an order. but if
you feel like striking a conversation, you have all the time to do so. of
course, oldies have long said that we should not talk to strangers but solo
trips provide a venue for free expression of one's thoughts to complete
strangers. in vientiane, i went to check out the happening scene near the
river. many foreigners were already having their beers but i wanted a good laotian
dinner. so i chose an al fresco restaurant and ordered grilled fish and salad
(yes, very un-pinoy!). while waiting for my order, a mid-40s european lady sat
on the next table. i thought she was waiting for a friend but it turned out
that she was also traveling alone. some few smiles here and there and in no
time, we were already chatting about travel. she said that she's already in her
4th week of travel in indochina but is afraid to travel eastward to the
philippines because of security concerns and manila has a lot of touts and con
artists. but the pinoy in me said that a tourist can get conned anywhere in the
world, even in a quaint city like vientiane or moreso in cosmopolitan and so-called
romantic cities like paris or rome. after downing our 2nd bottle of beer, we
waved goodbye and she said that she'll be in manila soon.
of
course, there's that feeling of uncertainty when traveling alone. after all,
you're exploring all by yourself and you do not really know how the trip will
turn out. but i must say that my solo trips were some of the best decisions i
made. i booked a trip to cebu in december 2013 and up to the point that i
already got to cebu city's south bus terminal, i still haven't decided where to
go. i opted to stay in the city for a night and took to the bus station to go
to argao the following day. that turned out to be a wonderful decision as it
signaled a fun-tastic 3-day tour of southern cebu. historical walk in argao,
quiet time, rock climbing and centuries-old church in boljoon, culminating in
whaleshark watching, tumalog falls all to myself and heritage trail in oslob…
superb trip!
in more
ways, traveling solo is more relaxing. aside from having no one to bicker or
compromise with, one would have a lot of quiet time. quiet time that you can
use to look within yourself and examine your long-term plans. clichés put it
well… "colors are more vivid and sounds are more meaningful" when
traveling alone. one gets to appreciate the beauty all around you because you
can have all the time in the world to stare at an artwork or a beautiful
landscape. a forumer even said that solo travel allows for individuals to hear
and appreciate history even more. during solo travel, one does not have to sit
through incessant chatting especially with a talkative companion.
worry
not… there will be a lot of interpersonal conversations as well. traveling solo
will allow for tête-à-tête with random individuals, who by the way are not
always after your money. aside from getting me to a nice, comfy and cheap
accommodation in oslob, kuya mike (the trike driver) and i talked about how the
bohol earthquake destroyed heritage trail in bohol as well as re-aligned cebu's
eastern shore. in my chiang mai trip last october, the sawngthaew driver and i
talked about life choices and how we are lucky to have our own families.
with all
the joys of solo travel, i'm not saying that all people should do is to go
traveling solo all the time. we still need to connect with our own kind. travel
is a shared experience that reinforces bond between family members and friends
and according to cheche lazaro, keeps a marriage intact. but once in a while,
it's always good to be on your own… your own travel all by yourself. every men
and women must travel solo even just once in their lives. solo travel is an
investment that never grows old, can never be taken away and actually enriches
you as a person.
so what are you waiting?! travel pa more and travel solo. as henry david thoreau said, "the man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready."
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