Last Updated on November 18, 2017 by Christine Kaaloa

Are you ready for what’s coming? You might want to stand back.

I’m back from nearly a month-long travel in Asia/Southeast Asia, with gawd… a  ton of exciting travel stuff to share with you.

This trip was a much needed charge to my batteries. Hawaii’s employment has been so low, I’ve been wanting to string myself up with a noose! I was in a depressed rut. There’s nothing like travel to renew my spirits and  make me feel like I can conquer this limitation .

What’s new: 

GRRRLTRAVELER is on YouTube with Travel Survival Tips!

If you haven’t yet made it to my GRRRLTRAVELER YouTube channel, then mosey over in the coming weeks. I’ve been busy shooting videos on this last trip and you won’t want to miss them.

I’m featuring  2-minute travel videos of unique places I’ve been and  quick “GRRRL TRAVELER Travel Survival™ Tips” , where I answer questions that  travelers only think to ask after it’s too late to ask them!

For example…

•    “How do I enjoy street food in a foreign country when I’m not an adventurous eater?”
•    “Where can I get my Canon camera fixed in Bangkok? ”
•    “Did you know there’s currency in Myanmar/Burma that you should never accept?“

This is just the icing off the fun. There’s more…

Most of my tips come by way of me, suffering at the hand of travel. Hence, why I call what I do,” Travel Survival™“. As such, much of my tips will be shot from-the-field, in-the-moment (or close to), with one hand and using the most available camera!  For instance, there are times  you’ll get me shooting with my iPodTouch, just because I experienced something I wanted to share with you, while it was happening. You’ll get my raw advice of how you can survive travel,… smartly, safely and any way you can!

My  3 month backpacking trip

•  As you know, I went to Thailand for a travel bloggers conference. Aside from the meeting crazy ( good) travel bloggers, whose pursuits of travel passion I’ve only known through their sites, I’ve  learned more about how travel bloggers and travelers are shaping the new voice of tourism through blogging and social media.

•  If there’s one country you’d never thought I’d wing full solo, Myanmar/Burma would be it. Thus, I’m living proof that traveling it isn’t as scary or hard as you think. To tip the odds in my favor, I went during low season. To tip odds against it, I traveled solo, made only one hotel reservation, booked my flight and got my visa, just 5 days before flying off. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jeannie Mark of Nomadic Chick, she can verify my near meltdown.

•  If you can stand the sweaty climate, Thailand is one of my favorite countries to travel: food, transportation and budget-wise, the Thai are fabulous hosts.  I might just love it more than Korea.  I stayed at posh 5-star hotels overlooking Bangkok to  a “river floatel” (aka a hotel on the river) which gave us gas lanterns to light our rooms at night and river frogs to burp us to sleep. I visited a famous waterfall, which is home to flesh-eating fish and rode on a railroad, which tragically claimed over a thousand of POWs lives.

•  For my adventure in Korea, I focused on Suwon, an ancient walled city and some uh,…interesting places, which sparked unholy curiosity. You might have guessed that I visited a jjimjilbang or two, but as a travel survival challenge, did you know I j-banged it all the way? Yup, you’re getting an inside look of the snazzy jjimjilbangs this crazy mid-lifer made her hotel!  Insanely cool or hobo, your call…

•  Japan is well… Japan. Part freaky and hip, part symmetrical and square . It’s a lovely country, which I’ve pride in calling ‘my ancestry’. My time there was swift, but I still have tips to share on how to travel on a shoestring budget.

But I’ve tons more fun surprises in my lineup so stay tuned!

What questions do you have for my Travel Survival Tips series?