Mood: “Am learning to ride a motorbike in Pai” (Thailand)

This has been my Skype status, since November 2009, and it occurred to me why I haven’t bothered updating it. My  first attempt to master “traveling alone in a developing country”, was my greatest achievement in the past year; and of my many travel highlights on this journey, learning to ride a motorbike was one of them!

A Cyclist’s Lesson in Humility

In Chiang Mai, scooters and motorbikes are the popular form of transportation. Every tourist, teen and Granny hot-rods it on a mechanized two-wheeler. Let me preface by saying, I’m bicycle-trained and a wobbly rider at that; in fact, a more fitting term for me is bicycle rider (than cyclist). Bicycle wheels creaking and a (probable) hazard to drivers on the road, I was choking on scooter exhaust, but diligently peddling. Why? My scooter rental request got rejected, because I told the awful truth:  I had never ridden a scooter before.  Sometimes, honesty doesn’t pay...

Waiting at traffic signals, is when the stone-aged cyclist (uh, bicycle rider) can feel especially… lame. Surrounded in a sea of motorbikes, when that traffic light changes, you get to watch as the swarm zips past you! In one situation, I had an old granny on my left, a midget person on my right and some a 3 person family packing a toddler, behind me. Let me tell you– a moment like that humbles you and it got me thinking, maybe I wasn’t truly such a remarkable person afterall.

My Three Lucky Buddhas

I had two days left in Chiang Mai before the expiration of my scooter dreams. Fortunately, Buddha willed three acts of kindness in my favor, in the same way life serendipitously work its quirky magic for solo travelers!  A spontaneous decision led me to Pai, rather than re-routing my travels to Laos to join some Irish girls I’d met on a trek. While I enjoy the company of other travelers, my traveler’s intuition longed for a spiritual retreat into the mountains.

Three hours north of Chiang Mai,  Pai is a small backpacker haven with bungalow resorts, a night walking street, a countryside of rice fields and a chill hippie-artist vibe. I knew little about the place, other than its name had a nice ring and it was close to Mae Ha Song.

•Buddha #1-  Making friends.

On the bus ride up a steep and windy road of 362 curves (Pai is very proud of this claim), I met Graham, an amicable 40-something U.K. expat, who was on a weekend visit. Having visited Pai several times, he was my Insider guidebook to this sleepy town. Regaling the resort he and his Thai girlfriend were staying at, he recommended that it be my stay as well… the Beung Pai Fish Farm.

Buddha #2-  Getting Lost and the genuine warmth of Thai people.

The bus dropped us at the town center. Rather than rent a bike early off, from the many nearby rental stand, I hoped to check out the town on foot. According to Graham, the resort was a 10 minute walk from the town. Graham was wrong. The resort farm was much further, nestled in a large field off the main drag. I was LOST.

If it weren’t for the kindness of Tip, a tour operator (Tip Off-Road Adventures) with an interesting life of giving off-road dirt biking tours, it would’ve taken me an hour to find the resort! Walking through the neighborhood, I’d stumbled across his garage where he was working on bikes. He knew where I was headed and gladly packed me on the back of his dirt bike (I had never ridden on the back of a dirt bike before! Yay!) and we sped off through the fields to my future stay. He was such a cool guy and his adventures of giving tours through Pai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, sounded so fun, that I promised myself, if I was ever daring and skilled enough, I’d take one of his tours!

Ask for Tip Off-Road Adventures for a wonderful dirt bike experience around Thailand.

• Buddha #3- Gentle and Nurturing Thai Hospitality
When I arrived atBeung Pai Fish Farm, there was a bungalow available and for 500B.

Oh my Buddha!… The resort was like stepping into an idyllic dream! It was a catch & release gaming fish farm, owned by a gentle and beautiful young Thai couple leading a vegetarian lifestyle!

Oh my Buddha! My very own bungalow at Beung Pai Fish Farm Resort (above);
Resort grounds (below). I’ll add more photos when I do my review of this place.

I told them my story of Graham (who booked in the bungalow next door to me), Tip and getting lost on foot. The couple firmly agreed that a scooter was the only way to see the town and its countryside. Run, the male owner of the resort (that’s his name), would take me into town to rent a bike. But first, I needed to learn how to drive one!

Run teaches me how to operate a motorbike

Learning to Ride a Motorbike in Thailand

In the resort parking lot Run patiently taught me, using his motorbike. A motorbike is like a hybrid of motorcycle-scooter; a bit intimidating at first, but better to practice with an ox and downgrade to a lamb. Run gave me a quick run-through of operating the engine- turn the key and apply gas or breaks to the handle. Seemed easy enough. Then he set me off to practice circle 8′s in the driveway. This is where the real workout began. Mastering a turn took a bit of time for me to get the hang of– 50 minutes to be exact. The tricky part is to take wide turns, but not overshoot.

Finally, Run took me to town to pick out my first scooter! Graduation was here and my certificate was in the form of baht I was now paying at the rental desk. I couldn’t be happier! I was off to explore the countryside and incidentally, searching for streets, which didn’t have any turns.

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How to Get to Pai:
From Chiang Mai, you can have your guesthouse call the day before to book a reservation on the bus to Pai. The bus company will send a truck over to your hostel to pick you up and take you to the main bus shuttle area (all included in its rate). Pai is a small town so the main bus station is in the center of the town. Scooter and bike rentals across the street.

Beung Pai Fish Farm (website)
Bungalows. Fishing rod rentals, restaurant with homemade yogurt and granola, as well as vegetarian options. Under $20/night.
phone #:084-265-4768

Tip off Road Dirt Bike Adventure Tours (website)
Phone #:086-1905120
Email: tipoffroad~at~hotmail.com

A picture from my recent trip in Thailand: Guan Yin & the thousand arms:is known in many asian countries to be the goddess of compassion, prosperity and safe travels. She is known also as the protectoress of air travelers!

Before entering the new year, I always make it a ritual of spending time to assess the present year- its highs, lows, lessons and challenges. Then, I set my goals for the future. This time however, my humuna-humuna ritual time was eclipsed by work on New Year’s Eve, fatigue …and the sudden realization that unlike my previous years, I really hadn’t a clue as to how to go about goal setting for this upcoming 2010!

(Fuzzy, vague, dark to pitch black is how the actual picture of 2010 looked…)

2009 Takeaways: Things I learned as a solo traveler

I learned two valuable lessons  this year as a beginning solo traveler -

1) Believe in my self resourcefulness and its ability to handle the unknown, and
2) Go with the flow, while trusting things will work out in the way they were meant.

Such lessons are strong reminders to carry in my TRAVEL/LIFE tool belt right now. Why?

Surviving N.Y.C. in 2009 to surviving South Korea in 2010

In saying farewell to 2009, I am closing doors, to a New York/Hawaii lifestyle, career and identity that I have held for several years. Moving to Korea initiates a sparkling clean slate of life, with little to no familiar reference points to connect me to my native self, outside of my laptop and Skype. Talk about a blank canvas.

2010 Resolutions:
-  Learn how to read and speak the Korean language
-  Navigate the daily in’s/out’s and subtleties of Korean culture and etiquette
-  Make new friends
-  Learn the skills of my new job
-  Plan my next solo trip in Asia

… Yup, all of this sounds about right, but for the rest, I’ll have to “adopt a wait and see  attitude”…

For instance:
-  Career? …A big bold question mark.
-  City I’ll live in? …Placement pending.
-  New Job in Korea?…No confirmation yet.
-  Depature date (from the U.S.) … sometime in February.
-  My U.S. return date? …Up in the air.
-  Will I like Korea? …Won’t know until I try.
-  Which neighboring country will I make my next solo trip? …Waiting for a name to drop into my head.

Like I said-  not a clue…

Experiencing the “new” is definitely a welcome delivery from a worn life, but while it feels exciting and pioneering,  it’s also a tad scary.

“Adventure“, “solo travel“, “flexibility”, “open-mindedness” and “trust” are my new keywords for 2010.  In starting upon a new life and job in a new country- I want to be open to exploring new avenues and skills,  free to follow fresh insights and where they lead. Thus, I’m giving Korea the time frame of a year, with the considerable possibility of an extension.

Alternately, placing my career on hiatus, in exchange for a life abroad,  feels like the equivalent of placing a ‘love life’ on hold.  Afterall, I love working in the entertainment industry; so, dealing with the career transition in, might be like dealing with a lingering lover that has unresolved issues… What will my new identity be? Will I be able to work a possible 9 to 5 schedule after having been freelance? And a biggie- what will become of my old career when I return to the U.S.?…Let’s roll some dice.

In the best case scenario however, I do wonder if transition will evolve into transformation? Will  living abroad inspire a new talent or livelihood? Will I discover a new and better lifestyle fit with Korea? Or will I stumble across a way to make traveling and living abroad a permanent lifestyle?…

For now, the year feels like one big open-ended possibility.

Happy and Safe Travels in 2010!

Christine

The gamble we take in following dreams is that we are never certain of the outcome; yet, a staid and sensible path can be just as uncertain.

Finding the GRRR to embark upon bold new adventures, which remove us from trusted and worn paths, can feel both terrifying and exhilarating. Terrifying, because we must call upon our self-belief to guide us through “the unpredictable and unknown”. Exhilarating, as we are released from our own self-created prisons and given freedom to grow towards our passions, experience new challenges or changes within ourselves and to create a lifestyle that is potentially more meaningful and extraordinary.

When our country’s recession created a drag in my career as Shooter-Producer of reality TV shows, I started reflecting upon the type of self-survival tools I learned over the years. The job world was squeezing out only a few hopeful opportunities; and my career had become both, my life and love. Why didn’t I equip myself with alternate dreams of a life outside of it? And after 8 years of living in Manhattan, I was tired of  championing a “ hardened city warrior survival mentality”. I wasn’t satisfied with my closet collection of daily armor, the stopwatch race of running through daily checklists nor a lifestyle, where I needed to leave the city in order to experience brevity. My life was in need of more than just a few “tweaks” but an entire makeover.

When life closes one door, another open for you to realize your dreams.
I had read how the changing economy had forced an awakening for many, to cut loose from their 9-5 corporate suits for sexy flashpacker lifestyles, globe-trotting from country to country tethered to their laptops or volunteering aid to impoverished countries abroad. This all resonated in me– it had been a longtime dream of mine to live and experience the lifestyle of another country as a local. If others were daring enough to brilliantly achieve a new and extraordinary life, then why couldn’t I do it too?

How could I have a life as an expatriate?
My personal deadline was to hatch this goal A.S.A.P. or by early 2010.  Gluing myself to the internet– I researched and brain-ticked schemes, while assessing my personal skills and scouring resources.  Enlisting and going butch with the U.S. Army or the Peace Corps? Industry jumping as video journalist or travel photographer?  Become a flight attendant or courier? Volunteer at an orphanage in a Nepal?...

Am I courageous or crazy? The truth is– I have less “brave” bones in my body and more ridiculously stubborn ones when it comes to surviving my passion for travel.

GRRRL TRAVELER CHALLENGE #2:  “Living and Moving Abroad.”
While I continue traveling and blogging my adventures and discoveries as a beginner solo traveler, there’s one  twist–

March 2010, my new home base will be South Korea.

*Blog cliff-hanger: my exact coordinates are still the works and the job solution I arrived at will be revealed in a later blog. So stay tuned…

Until,

Christine

PS. The GRRRL TRAVELER Challenge #2 Contest is now out! (click on the GRRR) See how you can enter and win.

Back from my GRRRL TRAVELER beginner solo trip with lots of cool experiences to share from Thailand and what I’ve learned about being on the solo road! Everything from mastering squat toilets and cold showers while trekking in the mountains, eating bugs, drinking tiger penis soaked whiskey in Laos, smoking with Buddhist monks, practicing circle 8′s with a guesthouse owner’s motorbike so I could rent a scooter, getting lost virtually …everywhere and more. I have the promise of upcoming tips and advice for beginning GRRRL soloists like myself, the leak of a  GRRRL TRAVELER contest and challenge#2, and much much more…

Firstly, a shout out of warm Mahalos to all the friends following my fun updates on Facebook (sorry Twitterverse- you got gyped some…). Special Mahalos to those who super-caring and supportive of my first solo-solo and who went of their way to make sure  I was safe and well-armed with Thai advice. You all Rock! my heart.

Here’s a breakdown of what I learned as a beginning solo traveler-

The Good:
I survived my first beginner steps of GRRRL Traveler challenge#1 becoming a female solo traveler (of developing countries) and guess what- I loved every moment of it! I am converted- I totally understand how people can be attracted to both, Thailand and solo travel! Thailand is one of the easiest and safest countries to travel for a first time soloist: it’s well-traveled, the Thai are beautiful people (super-friendly and full of helpful smiles -the antithesis of NYC!) and the convenience of having multiple modes of transportation options (I’ve used almost all of them), ensured that I was never stranded or worried as to how I would get around. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and in Thailand, you are given many ways! Most importantly, as a female traveling alone, I always felt safe– even walking or biking home late at night.

….

When I first initiated my challenge to travel the developing world solo, I wasn’t sure what to expect or whether I would like it.  All I knew is that expanding my notion of travel to countries which persevere through developing hardship and have an enduring cultural pride towards their traditions is my new passion. While this type of travel can feel physically demanding and challenging, I’ve found it definitely worthwhile experiencing.  My first giant step however, was erasing the fear to find the confidence of traveling alone. (* Dealing with fear and trip preparations for this challenge are in my last 3 blogs).

Friends, family and the people I’ve met on my trip, all thought I was “brave” for doing this trip alone. No one would openly admit to me-  that given the opportunity to travel solo they probably wouldn’t want to; and that being a female solo traveler in popular theory, probably ranks as high as the guy whose job is to clean up elephant poo!  It hardly seems like a fun, hip and sexy way to travel. After this trip, I’d have to disagree.

The Hip and Solo (…but wouldn’t advise ‘Sexy’) Traveler
Carrie Bradshaw is the least of my role models when I travel. Why? I’m strapped to a backpack, a wardrobe of 3′s (shirts, pants & underwear) and camera equipment,  sweating through 90 degree weather in a country with conservative traditions; sexy is hardly the attention I want to draw to myself!  Still, unless your idea of traveling fun is bar-hopping with friends or a romantic getaway (you can still have these experiences as a soloist- it’s really dependent upon you!); then sometimes, being fixed to a partner or group can actually be more limiting to your experiencing the cultural interactions you’re there to explore! By drawing upon daily local encounters and being open to exchanges with a variety of people, I felt like I was sampling Thailand not only through the Thai, but through a mixed palette of cultural perspectives found in fellow travelers. In fact, I seldom experienced moments of feeling a l o n e (and these very remediable exceptions I’ll explain in a later blog).

My new group of friends (left to right: Kong, Aswin, Fiqi, myself and Evelyn) and I band together to make our own group sightseeing tour of Ayutthaya. (Photo thanks to Aswin Andrean)

For my shy friends:
Traveling solo has a natural way of inspiring social confidence, even if you don’t know the language!

1- You utilize your most basic human survival skills .
You MUST interact and initiate conversations with people in order to get around and upon doing so you quickly find that you WANT to interact with people! All people are interesting …especially when  not from your own home country!

2- Everything around you is foreign but YOU are actually The Foreigner.
Waiting for their bus, Thai sisters- Kew and Nu- watched, giggling at me as I took photos of a neighborhood altar. Nu followed me to a Kuan Yin statue around the corner, then reported me back to her sister. Their curiosity with me paved a perfect opportunity for me to approach them conversationally about Thai religion. In my travel incarnation, I was re-born as “exotic and interesting”, even if just a curious American.

3- Soloists get instant Damsel-in-Distress sympathy.
…even if there’s no emergency to which you need rescuing! People were more inclined to approaching, helping and watching out for my safetybecause I was alone.

4- Language barriers are EVERYONE’s biggest stumbling blocks.
Truth– Aside from myself, even my Malaysian and Indonesian friends (southern neighbors to the Thai) were stumbling in their communication attempts in Thailand. In Thailand, the native tongue is Thai and the secondary tongue is Thai (not English); thus, not all Thai people speak English or even read it.

Advice and tricks to dealing with language barriers
Be resourceful and always carry a sense of humor about yourself ! Everyone finds their own way of communicating across the great divide- from pointing at pictures, attempting to speak while “butchering” the language or accidentally discovering, as my Malaysian friends did, that your taxi driver knows Chinese!

Aswin (my new travel friend from Indonesia) made his own brilliant "point-ready maps" to help get him around. Thanks to him and his maps, we were able to direct our taxi driver as to sites we wanted to see in Ayutthaya. Pretty cool, huh?

I came equipped with all of three Thai survival phrases: “Hello”, “Thank You” and “Where is…?” Whenever I hit a barrier I couldn’t “butcher” or “point” my way through, I surrendered to the game of comedy- I Charaded my communications! I find people usually warm to you when you debase yourself at their expense… But being a foreigner amidst other foreigners (locals and travelers alike) is an opportunity to laugh at yourself as you experiment with fun (and not so clever) but creative means of communication.

Now “The Bad”:
The most life threatening thing that happened to me in Thailand- my DSLR camera didn‘t survive and is off to repair as we speak. The irony: it started going wonky just as I was about to take my very first shot. One purpose for my traveling is photography, so this was a major NON-work-aroundable drag.  And while I carry a backup consumer video camera to document my experiences- it’s really the last thing I care to use. Other things inevitably went wrong also – my backpack didn’t arrive with me in Bangkok, parts of my itinerary fell through, I accidentally peed on my shoe, and got lost and LOST… But this all makes for interesting blogging.

A sign in a wat garden of Buddhist proverbs (Chiang Mai).

Humans generally feel the need to control their experiences. When things inevitably go wrong, we try to force it into what we think it should be,…sometimes limiting our potential.  This is a shame – usually a very positive and surprising gift is attached to it!

I’m a big believer in the universe, love surprises and feel most things occur for a perfect reason; even if at first, it seems like crappy luck. In fact, my most rewarding experiences have been a  result of many moments of “uncontrollably crappy luck”.

Without my camera, I realized-  switching in and out of lens gear, feeling compelled to shoot everything before I could experience it (in the way I’d shoot a reality show)… was actually burdening my enjoyment of this trip. I was growing resentful of it. While I was experiencing a lot of cool- embarassing- brave- horrific things for the first time, my camera was becoming a big ball and chain! Afterall, my first soloist journey wanted to be lived.

I spent half a day searching for a fun touristy point-and-shoot to at least salvage personal memories. What I discovered was a perfect and *completely genius* GRRRL Traveler camera, the Samsung ST500 (aka Samsung Dual View LT220 to the States). I am in absolutely crazy about this camera- I’d recommend it to every GRRRL soloist! The main feature: dual LCD screens so you can snap photos of yourself! What does this mean for a soloist? You know, those lonely moments when everyone is “click-happy” with friends and you’re trying not to look pathetically bummed you’ve got no one to take your picture? GONE!

That's me taking my own photo with my new Samsung ST500!

The Inevitable (but hidden secret of surfing solo travel):
Initially, I believed the solo traveler’s myth- that “traveling alone” means you have to be 1o0% brave, in-control and self-reliant in your travels. It’s why I initially leaned towards a well-worn tourist path, guidebooks and itineraries… But the big irony once you get there and “get into” your journey, is you actually find you have very “little” control and this is perfect!

Every bad is inevitably a good. Always remain open and trust that the right experience will come if even if it’s not in the form you initially wanted!

My second day in Bangkok and my itinerary was already  unraveling. A major meditation retreat I planned fell through.  I had several days in Chiang Mai that I wasn’t sure how to fill as this  retreat was the meat of it! Eventually, recommendations and advice from others activated creative improvising and a better plan. While I didn’t get my meditation retreat in Chiang Mai, I did get abducted by a monk in Sukhothai and got my chance to peek into the ordinary lives of monks…which actually was my real objective. Crazy universe!

Monk friend reveals to me the secret wisdom of monks discovered through all those hours spent sitting in meditation- Joint and pain relief ointment!

Your trip can become 10x more amazing, when you surrender your need for control and just go with the flow!

Very surfer Zen, I know.  Very scary. So I wouldn’t dump the idea of itinerary planning for my next trip, just yet…  But developing this intrinsic trust of knowing things are going to play out perfectly- as long as you do your part of acting from wisdom or getting yourself to a certain place on time- is very liberating.

The advent of GRRRL TRAVELER challenge #2:
So while I will be blogging more about my *beginner* solo GRRRL Traveler adventures and discoveries in Thailand, my GRRRL TRAVELLER challenge #2 and its contest needs to be mentioned because it is coming up very very quickly (it’s already been partially leaked on Facebook which I’m sure have some of you guessing)! Let me just say- I am very passionate about travel and I will go through great and stubborn lengths to make it more of a lifestyle for myself. My new GRRRL challenge will offer a surprising twist for those of you who know me but can’t see how my mind silently ticks schemes about ways to travel. For me, it will raise the stakes of my GRRRL Traveler challenges for myself, so please stay tuned…

Thanks for your attention spans!
Until,

Christine

I have two crucial saboteurs to my GRRRL TRAVELER challenge: Becoming a Female Solo Traveler. Unless I find a way to deal with them, my plans are stillborn and I will not clear my challenge hurdle.

Here’s some steps I’ve taken as an attempt to deal with them:

FEAR #1:   A Lone Female traveling in a Developing Country is Unsafe.

…Just ask my mom- you’ll hear the above replied.

There’s a tendency to see another countries and cultures as scary because it’s  foreign. Foreign equates unsafe. The notion of a third-world country only heightens that paranoia. Meeting cultural change in a new country and as a female traveler, means acknowledging new territorial rules, political systems, social customs, traditions and laws that you will be expected to abide by when you’re traveling. It is wise to approach any new cultural surrounding with a bit of caution. And as a female solo traveler, you must do your homework about the country, its religious values and social traditions. How should a woman act and dress?

Solution: Choose a safe country to begin with.

Safety is a large priority in my mind. It defines my comfort level and the overall confidence I have that I will be able to deal with any emergencies which arise. A good starter country for me- Thailand, in this case- needs to be reassuring, relatively safe and present at the most, “bite-sized” chaos and dangers.

a.  Take your dream list of countries; select the one which appears manageable.

Go with your gut instinct.  It will help you filter your list to something smaller.

b.  Check out country travel warnings

www.travel.state.gov is a good resource for checking out possible dangers of each country for U.S. travelers and it’s kept fairly up to date. Minor warnings of crimes: scams, petty theft and pick-pocketing, may seem scary, but are fairly common. Major alerts like political unrest or violent crime  are big and brilliant red flags best avoided.  While initially I had planned on backpacking through Guatemala, it was not a good starter country for me. It’s propensity to violent crime, high poverty,  bus hijacking (buses are its primary transportation) and its community’s tension towards women traveling alone (in lieu of recent child snatching cases)… did not inspire confidence I’d be safe as a beginning soloist.

c.  Get different perspectives and feedback.

Ask friends for feedback/advice on your country, especially if they traveled there. Also read travel blogs, reviews and travel forums for other travelers’ experiences.  Ideally, I want to hear encouraging things about a country’s safety, bearing in mind to also take all feedback with a grain of salt. While an online article recently listed Thailand as one of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries for Travelers, the enthusiastic personal accounts from friends/other female travelers about it being “travel-friendly” and safe was very reassuring.

d.  Consider purpose-driven travel, such as volunteer programs, schooling, training, home stays.

Volunteer, home-stays, schooling and reputable NGO programs allow you to make a positive impact on a developing country as a form of tourist-ing it. With volunteer programs, the downside is- they are typically available to those who can afford a base sum of $1200+/week (flight not included).

e.  Blend-in ability.

“Try to blend into the culture where ever you go-  act and dress like locals and not a tourist.” is typical travel advice.  And if you’re a card-carrying member of the ethnic race- use it! I know if I choose an Asian country – the fact that I’m Asian, myself, lends to the possibility of local blending!

Additionally,a couple of alternate things to consider- although I wouldn’t necessarily rule out a country, if it didn’t meet these requirements:

Research out the Transportation options available in your country

Is the main form of transportation hitching a bull-cart? Ideally, I’d like to have safe transportation options: reliability, frequency and connections.  However with developing countries, often I’m looking at just one (two if I’m lucky) form of transportation to get me around.

With Guatemala, public buses and tourist vans were the primary means of wheels. Considering the prevalent problem with bus hijackings, I felt I’d be rolling the dice, saying a prayer and leaving my life up to fate.  Thailand’s transportation system on the other hand- bike, scooter, bus, taxi, tuk-tuk, railway, metro, boat, Skytrain, motorcycle taxis,…-you name it, they have it all!

Take a sightseeing 1-3 day tour package options

I’m not a big “touristy tour” person but tour packages provide “a safe formula”: they skirt you to sights quickly and help you to efficiently check off your sightseeing checklist. As a result, they afford you more time to enjoy the remainder of your days at a slower pace and free you up so you can seek out more cultural interactions.  Another perk – you have the opportunity to meet fellow travelers on tours.

For me, Thailand’s plethora of available and easy-going GRRR! budget day tours gives me an option as to whether I want to receive itinerary support through a pre-planned tour.

SOLUTION #2:  Determining the length of your vacation stay

HOW LONG is too much or too little? This is a personal decision- it depends on how confident you feel you’ll be able to handle your solo-ness in a foreign country.

A large part of me was tempted to  3 weeks to a month, because I’m a slow traveler and this is just enough time for me to ease in and get quality time in, without feeling the stress of a rushed experience. However, the ugly head of fear arose: What if I hate being there and things are going wrong?? I cut my trip short to 2.5 weeks (with the option of an extension if I find it navigating solo manageable)
OK- so after I get the green light on the safety factor and a have a good feeling about my starter country, I hit my second roadblock of fear: committing to my trip.

FEAR #2: I NEED MORE TIME TO DECIDE AND AM NOT READY TO BOOK MY TICKET JUST YET…

SOLUTION #1:  Just Do It: Book the flight ticket ASAP!
Booking the ticket can actually be the biggest hurdle to travel fears.
Why? Up until this point, I’ve just been planning and dreaming. Until I’ve booked my ticket, my travel dream is a big What If, and vulnerable to endless hypothetical reasons as to why I should not go. What if I am stranded or encounter theft? What if I get sick and no one is around? What if there aren’t any western toilets?… By attempting to solve all my worries before I book my trip, I easily find myself plowing a huge excuse for my trip to NOT happen.

So I close my eyes, mantra my confidence that this country will work for me and that all the open pieces will fall into play once I ….LEAP!

SOLUTION #2:  Deal with logistics later.

Men can sometimes be great examples of good risk-taking. They are directed by a simple and practical thought of-  Should a future problem arise,  I will find a way to deal with it! While I know most of my travel worries are extraneous and have a 20% probability of occurring, I also know I can never prevent a bad thing from happening if it’s meant to happen. What I CAN DO – learn to trust myself to deal with problems when they arise; not create them beforehand.

SOLUTION # 3:  Trust your GRRR!  NEVER underestimate your instinct for survival

When there is a will to survive, you WILL find a way. I have gotten into some tight travel spots where I was alone, thinking I was screwed. But in emergency survival situations- I have always pulled from my resources some solution or a work-around to get me through and I have always found help from strangers, when I called upon it.

So now let’s book my flight!

Until…  Christine

by Christine Ka’aloa

The saying,  “A stone’s throw in a pond creates a ripple effect…” feels true of the moment. As of recent I have been juggling a lot of weighty decisions about travel, making it more of a lifestyle and what happens when you have no travel partner.

My GRRRL Traveler Challenge #1 : Become a  female solo traveler of developing countries.
My GRRRL traveling dreams and the courage required to embark upon them don’t magically create themselves, without some effort on my part to rub two stones together! I rub and I rub and ask myself- Why would I want to travel alone? That little voice inside says- “…because you love to travel…You love to explore new cultures and have adventures . Why WAIT on someone else to allow you to do that? Go for it -or – regret not trying ! And there you have it.

For me, solo travel is an opportunity to continue my travels, without being :
a) at the mercy of friends’ work-vacation schedules or luxury budgets
b) searching for travel buddies to match my wish list of developing countries
c) dealing with others’ fickleness

While twiddling my thumbs waiting, often I feel like I’m standing out in the rain, praying for lightning to strike me into two people! Solution: solo travel.

Proving to myself that I CAN
While I’m super excited to be continuing on with my travels, I’m invariably nervous also. Being a Pacific Asian USA gal, backpacking through non-Western and developing countries is one of my more weightier challenges. I see it as requiring a rugged and worldly survivalist spirit. I’ve always been sheltered, a bit naive and the kind of gal that accidentally wanders into trouble!

Also, until this point, I’ve not gone “full commando” as a soloist. My trip to India and Nepal last year, was an “accidental crash course” in navigating solo and through very challenging and chaotic foreign territory. While my Solo counted- I also had a safety valve of friends that I either started with or joined up with periodically and I’m not confident I can do it again.  This GRRRL Traveler challenge- I will be backpacking and roughing it entirely on my own, working with a tight budget, staying at hostels and guesthouses… earning my hobo confidence!

How do you hurdle the FEAR of  traveling a developing country A.L.O.N.E ?
If I knew the sure-fire answer to this question, I wouldn’t be asking it. Soloists love to regale the joys and freedoms of traveling as ONE. No one actually lets you in on HOW they hurdled their first-time “fears”. It’s like no one has them. As such, soloists are still a bit of a mystery to me.

I can only imagine that you gain the confidence of a expert female soloist after you’ve Jack Keroac’d your way through several developing countries, acquired powerful squatter legs from the lack of western toilets, rode all forms of transport down to hitching a bull cart, experienced a variety of scams, Delhi belly and… an entire list of frightening things no beginner soloist wants to think about.

With over 30 countries under her traveler’s belt, my GRRRL Traveler friend, Regina, is going on her first solo RTW trip and she will do so without the aid of guidebooks (maybe a peek at a Lonely Planet page here-&-there; but in general, she doesn’t DO guidebooks). Instead, she says her biggest effort planning her trip is figuring which countries to see. A part of me really wants to believe some people are born fearless.  I also think there’s a trick to this…

This upcoming backpacking trip will certainly test my GRRR! and allow me to discover the truths and myths of solo travel. With U.S. domestic travel- traveling solo for me is a snap, as I’ve grown up with a largely westernized lifestyle and outlook. Work-wise- if tomorrow I were flown out of country alone with my camera for a shoot, I’d probably have a super-human travel confidence because sometimes, money turns us into fearless soldiers! Traveling developing countries solo for personal reasons- quite a different story and I can be just as big a baby as anyone else!

So let’s get this GRRRL Traveler challenge underway!

Until …
Christine