The GRRR Story

What is a GRRRL TRAVELER?

About a year ago, while on a backpacking tour through India and Nepal,  I was abruptly separated from my friends and had to forego the rest of my travels alone. While I am absolutely in love with India, anyone who’s been there knows that traveling it for the first time, can feel challenging, overwhelming, sometimes extreme. As a solo female traveling a developing country, such as India,  for the first time, the degree of difficulty felt…well, HIGH!

Thrown into a crazy and dizzying world both, beautiful and ugly, I navigated through the chaos of touts, scam artists, abject poverty, heat, pollution and haggling tuk-tuk drivers, which left me stranded in the middle nowhere.  There were moments I felt uncertain, vulnerable and at times, “a little chicken” of a sheltered Hawaii girl.

Finding my  GRRR!

The only thing I knew I’d never do was give up! So I did the only thing I could-  I dug my claws in. I pulled every self-survival trick and resource I could think of to flip my rupee over into positive change.  I worked my humor, wit, vulnerability, quirky personality traits, “brave bluffs”, stumbles and all I considered to be my worst New Yorker attributes! In emergency situations, I accessed my Mac Gyver of ridiculous, but resourcefully-sound solutions. Together, these all created a courage to lean on and helped change what could have been the worst trip in my life, into the greatest!

Returning home, I realized what had gotten me through it all… it was my GRRR!

Having GRRR! is not about “having or finding bravery and courage”, though there is a warrior aspect to it. Finding GRRR! is using all the travel survival tricks and resources to overcome trying situations in the best way we know and sometimes, flawedly. Every woman has a GRRR! in them to create opportunities for positive change and carry out their dreams. Whether traveling thousands of miles overseas or just one mile outside of the house, GRRR! is always accessible. Living by this GRRR! as a traveler is what I hope to continue discovering, exploring and sharing.

GRRRL TRAVELER challenges:

Aside from penning my travel adventures, I want to make travel a lifestyle; thus, I’ve  initiated some fun GRRRL TRAVELER challenges for myself to keep my goal in check. Below are just a few challenges and survivals.

Grrrl Traveler Challenges:

• Become a solo traveler (The Good, Bad & Inevitable of Becoming a Solo Traveler)
• Taking a Gap Year  (Gap Year: Teaching in Korea )
• Becoming an Expat  ( GRRRL Goes Whimpery in Her New Korean Location )
• Try my hand at long-term solo travel (Long-term solo travel and three mistakes I wish I avoided)
• Overcoming solo and age (Fear and Diving: Overcoming Age and Solo Birthdays on the road.)

Highlights:
• Brush with fame ( I’m visiting who… the Karmapa? , Do Bollywood Stars Haggle in India?)
• Reach for a star ( I Want to be a Bollywood Extra! , Travel Bucket List 2012: Booking a role on Hawaii Five-O (Part I) )

When things go awry:
• Pass the Paper: Experiencing Culture Shock in Korea
• Confronting Korea with my Weygook card
• Long-term solo travel and three mistakes I wish I avoided
• 7 Tips to using the Bangkok bus (or How to Get Lost on a Bangkok Bus)
• Surviving the overnight seater train to Laos
• Where to lay your head in budget India?
• Getting Sick in India

Disclaimer: This is a travel blog. The contents on this website are based upon my opinions and observations of people, places and events that I experience in my journey.  This wouldn’t constitute me as an expert to a country or culture. The best advice I can offer is to go and experience a country on your own, as everyone’s experience is different.

Safe Travel Wings to All!

Christine

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Based on a work at www.grrrltraveler.com.