5 Things I learned in my first solo trip

Do you consider yourself as a wanderlust since you have been to so many places with your peers and special someone? Have you ever thought of bravely wandering alone by yourself? Possibly, most of us finds it endearing to travel with someone since it’s more enjoyable and hassle-free. Perhaps, most of us thought of traveling alone but are hesitant to do so because of some risks in their safety.

In my case, I love it when I get to travel with my family since everything is taken care of whereas I love to travel with my friends because we do all activities altogether. Yet, I must say that I have been wanting to travel solo since I always on the look-out of challenging myself and discovering further my capabilities.

Danny Kaye once say that to travel is to take a journey into yourself. Thus, traveling is not only exploring far flung places but also unearthing the best and worst in you.
Nevertheless, it took me a little while to gain courage of travelling solo. Thanks to Travel Guides n Deals for making it happen last April.Anyway, if you’ve been reading my blog lately, perhaps, you have come across of my story of winning a trip to Banaue, Sagada and, Baguio City from Travel Guides n’ Deals.

On a serious note, I must say that my recent trip made me realized a lot things about travelling and about myself. So here are the 5 things I enjoyed in my first solo trip.

1.Meeting new people 

I consider myself a very shy person, I don’t usually have the courage to start a random conversation with my seatmate on the plane or to smile at anyone on the train.

Possibly, I was never taught to mingle when I was a kid and perhaps I am just that behave little fella who never wanted to be included in the noisy list. I even don’t have any extra-curricular activities or friends in my neighborhood since I was never allowed to go outside our house.

Then again, it was just in my late-20s when I finally realized that meeting strangers is surprisingly fun and interestingly insightful especially if you share the same vigor to travel.

In my recent trip at Sagada I met a girl named Jeszza. I think she’s a bit younger than I am. She mentioned that she’s always on the go and she’s been into different places alone. I was flabbergasted by her overflowing passion to brave exploring unfamiliar places alone. It was when I started to get more earnestly motivated to be more spontaneous and be more audacious to escape to the unknown.

 2.Trying out new food

As said earlier, traveling with your family is the best since everything is arranged from transportation to accommodations and, itinerary to food. Despite of this hassle-free arrangement you would also realize that being with your family has a lot of restrictions. These include the choices of food you have since your parents would pay for most it. Thus, they have the prerogative to choose wherever and whenever you can eat.

For example, I am a big fan of dishes with cheese but my mother hates cheese. Thus, whenever I’m with my parents we cannot eat in any place that serves mostly pasta or pizza.

Being alone is like having a limitless freedom of devouring into dishes that you love and you love to try for the first time. Like in my recent trip in Sagada I was able to try out at least 3 restaurants. Isn’t it amazing?

3.Going out at night

Another restriction when you’re traveling with your old-fashioned parents is that you just can’t simply go out after dinner. Yeah! This might sound unbelievable for my age but that’s always been the way for a girl who grew up in the province and studied in a Catholic school since her nursery years. I am not saying that my parents are strict nor I am not saying that I don’t break the rules. Yet, I just don’t want to give my parents serious headaches during our trips. Hence, I usually adapt with their activities and time whenever we travel. In much simpler words. I break the rules when I am not with them. ;p

Then again, it was in Sagada when I had the full liberty to stay all night long outside.

4.Discovering your capabilities  

Possibly, most of the people would see me as a delicate damsel in distress since I am too girly and too clumsy at anything relating to sports. I must agree with these prejudices yet I don’t like people be bothered with my limitations.

That’s why I feel extremely fulfilled when I survived the gruesome ordeal of going to the deepest part of the cave. Accuse me of rhapsodizing, but after I successfully conquered those rocky slimy cave, I felt that I can survive everything.

I felt that I am unstopable.

 5.Exploring café 

Everyone who’s closest to my heart knows that I can’t live without coffee. I don’t know why but whenever I am in a new place there would always be an intense whim to experience some local brew. For me having a chance to experience some local brew is like having a taste of a certain place’s culture.

Indeed, traveling alone has its pros and cons but I seriously recommend you to start hitting that long road and enjoy the ride.