MY BIG SOLO TRAVEL HIATUS

Hey hey hey!!

In February this year I put Night Creatures on pause to catch a flight alone to Asia.

Six months of (mostly) solo travel adventures later... I am back!!!!

Writing an attempt to sum up this experience feels like trying to hit the moon with a tennis ball. Where on earth do I start!???

I ended up writing a lot… so to make this more accessible to any of you reading, below is a helpful contents list to help you navigate to each section you may wish to peruse. To anyone who reads the whole thing, hell yea. 

Contents:

1. Preface - Introductions and reflections

2. My favourite places with pictures

3. My personal advice and what I would do differently

1. PREFACE AND REFLECTIONS

I didn't travel to become a travel blogger, though I considered it at first. After a little experimentation, it felt unnatural trying to squeeze productivity out of this time I'd blanked out for doing a whole lot of whatever I felt like - I was on holiday!! 

I say holiday with a pinch of salt, backpacking was rarely glamorous or especially relaxing - but it was absolutely always fun (most of the time - minus various horrors, mishaps, blood sucking insects, etc.). 

Living out of a backpack is messy, and I didn’t feel like filming anything beyond for whatsapp. I am still pleased with this decision, though it is fun to rewatch your own content… and I sometimes wish I could. This is my retroactive effort therefore.

I wasn't travelling to be my best looking self, but it was impossible regardless (sweat sweat sweat and perpetual frizz) - of all the makeup I took I think I used it twice (I stopped caring quickly). I was often nervous and awkward, I made a lot of mistakes, I lived many days as the worst versions of myself as well as the best, and for all the amazing memories there are plenty of bad ones too. I think attempting to turn this into content would have cheapened it, and I have a bone to pick with many travel influencers already. 

So, developing on this, how do I recollect these experiences in a story that's cohesive and interesting? I sometimes think that in these 5 months, I've gained about 3 years worth of memories at least. I realised very early the ridiculous amount of lore I was acquiring and would continue to collect. I remember in a book I read in Thailand - Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch - the narrator returned from his travels across California to a friend in Glasgow. When the friend asked all about it, he explained that all the stories would just have to just come out when they needed to, as he’d never do it justice then. I do relate highly to this feeling… 

I’ll try my best here though.

Before I went travelling, I admit I wasn't exactly sure of the point of it - as aloof and maybe stupid as it sounds. The money (most of it) that paid for the trip was some unexpected and sudden inheritance, so I hadn’t planned this at all beyond a distant maybe one day. 

My original plan for this money was to move cities with some friends and try to get by for a bit - before I casually told my pilates teacher this (in retrospect, awful) plan. She insisted I stay after class, where she explained I was being a fucking idiot (her words), and told me to just book a flight to (specifically) Bangkok and travel before I wasted this money and opportunity. This intervention definitely changed my life - you know those moments where you can feel yourself switch timelines. Thanks Ranjit!

After six months, four countries, and more memories than I can possibly remember at any one time, the "point" of travel still doesn't have a clear answer. I can only reframe it with how travel forced me to discard this whole question - where everything needs such an obvious point beforehand. Maybe the point IS that you don’t know, and that you will therefore learn a great deal by diving into the black, trusting the advice of others. Travel was expansive to every part of myself, you never realise just how small your world is until you leave it.

There's an ego death that comes with backpacking for a long time too. Separating for so long from your old life - routines, job, possessions, friends etc. -  is a real stripping of identity. You are essentially defined by these things - so I found to be without them was very revealing of myself at a deeper level, what I really want to spend my time doing when these directive frameworks you could say are gone. 

When your whole self is reduced to a backpack, you really notice everything you do and do not miss. I never considered myself a minimalist, but when living where every possession is a literal weight to carry, you really appreciate their burden. I’m definitely a lot more bothered by clutter now. There’s definitely other philosophical outcomes to this. Far less longing for object attachments etc etc #namaste.

There was a contrary to this, however, and eventually the ghostly existence of no roots and attachments caught up. This was another form of self discovery then, in learning the things which hold you down are also what give your life meaning. The road life became a lot less liberating after living it, and understanding how empty it could feel. 

Solo travel itself was another caveat to everything I thought I knew about myself. I have always been independent, and would often rather do things by myself. It was only in this time I really realised I fall on this independence (maybe avoidance) too often. Solo travel did not intimidate me at all, in fact definitely appealed to this part of myself, which I began to appreciate may be actually a bad habit. 

I rarely heard this perspective, whereby solo travel was not a lesson in how to be independent, but in the opposite of it. Of all the most treasured memories on my trip, rarely were they ever spent alone. 

I think solo travel is so amazing and exciting and good for your character development, and if it is your only realistic way to travel then the concept of being solo should not scare you! I think everyone must do it once if they can. 

Being solo is rarely solo either - I have never experienced any world where it is easier to make new friends than the backpacker world. There were so many of us, and we're all experiencing the same feeling. I remember thinking that every busy hostel really felt a lot like the first few weeks at uni, where everyone is actually eager to mingle and go on adventures together, and almost anything goes. Any good hostel will have loads of things to join too so it’s really not hard to find company.

It's very exciting to start over and meet new faces at every new destination, though this repetition really drained my social battery eventually. It’s a weird contradiction I encountered then when you’re in these places that are the epitome of curating fun and social energy but also you feel very lonely #cryingintheclub. It was around the 2.5 month mark that I started struggling a lot with this social burn out. It was in these moments that I missed home a lot, and understood that enough freedom can come at the expense of loneliness. 

This was another point to travel then, I really missed and appreciated the point of many things I was originally eager to escape. We all need a house, a routine, and roots. I never thought I'd find myself craving a job like I did in the month before I came home. Little old pre-travel me terrified to be tied down would roll in her grave.

If travel gave me anything, it made me stop fearing my life at home like there were a million better options out there for me that I was missing. Water your own garden is what I think I’m saying, because so much of who you are is exactly where you came from. What I realised is truly that wherever you go - there you are, and there you will be getting excited whenever you meet anyone with the same accent - even if you’re from Birmingham. 

In another less wordy conclusion to this preface, the overarching point of backpacking (in my opinion) is that it's really really really fun.  

*** 

When I first started this blog, 7 weeks ago, I felt that I was in such a mental vacuum and was really struggling to adjust to normal life again. Unfortunately, just as I had started really getting over this and getting in motion again with my shop, I broke my leg (AAggghhh!!!), and became very much out of motion (again). I should write a whole other blog on this whole thing, but I’ve only just forced myself to finish this. This year has been a bit ridiculous. 

2. MY FAVOURITE PLACES

ROUTE RECAP. This started as a run through of my favourite places, but as I wrote it I realised that (almost) everywhere had gained a special place in my heart, and came with its own unique adventures. Starting with…

THAILAND

Bangkok

I came to Bangkok again and again and again throughout my time in Asia, both because it is the big hub for getting around, but also because it might be the best place in the world. I love love love this city so much, there’s nowhere else I miss so much. 

Songkran in Bangkok is so burned in my memory as one of my favourite travel days. This is the Thai new year in mid April, which is also an entire country-wide water fight. Experiencing this in the mega-city capital was so much fun!!

What I love about this city is just how colourful and animated it felt. I think you could spend a year exploring Bangkok and still find new adventures to go on. 

Phetchaburi

I came to this not commonly visited town because I had originally planned to do a sort of coastal downwards hopping trip, before giving up on the idea to do the actual tourist stuff. This was not touristy in the slightest, and when arriving after dark to a silent town, no phone service, and aggressive stray dogs blocking the route to my hostel (completely empty on arriving), I realised that going “off the beaten track” can look really stupid sometimes. 

I still enjoyed my time here, the town was really cute in the daytime, with lots of monkeys around (very exciting to me then). This was my first time visiting a beach (and getting my first grab bike there), which was so absent of white tourists that a family I walked past all asked to take pictures with me. 

My journey here from Bangkok was also exciting, which was a 4 hour train ride costing about £2, where I could put the windows all the way down! There were many moments like this going forward where I realised just how much the UK rail system sucks. 

Kanchanaburi

This place is seriously underrated with an amazing national park. I stayed at this beautiful hostel on the river, which was so serene. I also met a friend here who I reunited with on Koh Phangannnn. 

Khao Sok

(wowowowowow)

This was my first time riding a scooter! 

I met back up with a friend I had met in Bangkok, the same friend I would also go to Sri Lanka with, and we spent a few days just riding through Khao Sok together on our janky little mopeds. This was so much fun, the views were unbelievable, and it really felt like the first moment I understood why everyone loves travelling to Thailand so much. 

Krabi

Me and my friend from Khao Sok had a little pirate adventure here. Krabi was a bit of a fever dream but it was so much fun, being the first proper beach town we visited in Thailand. This was also where we booked our flights to Sri Lanka after watching the Anthony Bourdain episode and becoming very inspired by crab curry.

We parted ways after Krabi, as he was going north, and I had to make my way to Koh Phangan for my first real pre-planned adventure!

Koh Phangan

I came to Koh Phangan for the purpose of attending a 2 week Muay Thai training camp. Woooo!! This was honestly probably my favourite part of my whole trip - I still dream of how athletic I was (and looked) at the end of this. 

KP is also famous for its partying, most notoriously the full moooon party (though this wasn’t my personal favourite of them all). Training and partying and adventuring for 2+ weeks on a tropical island was one of those experiences where in the moment you really appreciate how lucky you are. It was so so so much fun. 

This island had some of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen + staying there to train Muay Thai was such a fun way to experience it. Koh Phangan was a bit gentrified and overrun with (rude) tourists in ways, so experiencing it via training the national sport of Thailand felt like a much more exciting and respectfully authentic way to engage with the place.

I also really appreciated all the people I met here, everyone was so sound and much more diverse in terms of age and where they came from - it was a nice change to the more predictable backpacker tourist crowd. I really miss the little family I made at this gym!

Koh Tao 

(I nearly died a million times here - rabies / mango bay treachery / rolling waves treachery / coral and rocks treachery plus elvanse withdrawals)

Koh Tao is the iconic scuba island where I did not scuba dive. I wish I had just gone scuba diving. I was being stubborn and to be honest just stupid because my brain wasn’t working due my ADHD meds withdrawals (I only brought a month’s supply with me), so I was convinced I could snorkel around the Island and see enough fish myself. 

The treachery of riding around these crazy steep island roads on a janky little moped, climbing over sharp rocks, and hiking through jungle paths in order to get to these coves was such an unnecessary expense of effort. I did see some very cool fish though (pufferfish, octopus, rainbow fish), and I also got to see a lot of cool things on my DIY snorkel adventures, but please just take my advice and pay for a tour!!

I hung out and partied with some friends here from KP, and also came close to death a bunch of times, which I am also putting down to my medication withdrawals (clumsiness and bad decision making). Rabies shots (cat bite), dodging snakes on impromptu jungle hikes, getting crushed between rolling waves and underwater rocks, rolling into sharp coral and cutting my skin everywhere, falling over constantly, ETCETERA.

To be honest I was happy when I arrived back on the mainland. It felt like Koh Tao was trying to kill me.

Chiang Mai (I came here after Sri Lanka)

Chiang Mai is a historical city with a beautiful old town, nearby mountains, super peaceful yet still big party vibe, and so many temples to see. I found it, like Bangkok, was one of those places where it's pretty hard to not make friends. It was also probably my favourite place to just wander around aimlessly with other backpackers. 

Chiang Mai was one of those places where you were only a stone's throw from something interesting. I constantly found myself stumbling onto new side quests, especially within the winding, criss-crossing streets of old town. Whether it’s food (Khao Soi I love you so much), shopping, temples, museums, bars (honorary mention to the iconic jazz bar that was always too full), plus so many excursions outside of town.

I’d love to revisit Chiang Mai when not solo travelling. It has such an adventurous and twee-ish happy character that I think is best to be experienced with friends.

Mae Hong Son Loop

Another highlight of Thailand was on an impromptu road trip adventure, the Mae Hong Son Loop, a 600km motorbike loop starting / ending in Chiang Mai which rides through Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai → Pai → Mae Hong Son → Mae Sariang → Doi Inthanon National Park → Chiang Mai). 

I started the first leg by myself, and then continued from Pai with 4 other people I had met who were also embarking on it. I spent a week riding through the mountains on a 125cc Honda Click with a tiny bag in the seat, staying in homestays in rural villages along the way, having the best time ever with my new biker gang pals. 

Pai

I went back to Pai after completing the loop in the hopes I could worm my way into some kind of yoga or Muay Thai retreat, as I had more time than I anticipated before flying to Vietnam, and thought I’d give the “Pai Hole” a try.

Unfortunately I didn’t love Pai - and every other yoga class I tried to attend was cancelled!! I gave it a week, making sure to tick off Tipsy Tubing (going down a river in a rubber ring with 100+ others plus drinks plus the most random stops to get more drinks and dance) whilst I was there (this was so much fun), but ultimately the Pai Hole didn’t stick (city girl at the end of the day). I made a merry detour then back to Chiang Rai for a last minute meditation retreat and a volunteer placement, and also to get my bf a super specific birthday present from the White Temple gift shop (I had seen it when visiting before).

The day I arrived in Chiang Rai, however, I soon was notified the retreat was CANCELLED, and after this, I couldn’t even volunteer in the end due to a nasty case of food poisoning - leaving me stuck with too much time to kill, feeling pretty miserable to be honest. I can’t report anything too interesting from this caveat, I really just pottered around aimlessly with a sore gut questioning my life choices. 

In retrospect, I wish I had flown somewhere else, like Cambodia, in this time, but that’s just on my own poor planning and ultimately bad luck.

Chiang Rai (I came here twice - first time OTW to Laos)

I spent a lot of time in Chiang Rai, despite it being off the radar for many except for those travelling through to Laos, which was my route the first time around when I caught the slow boat. 

The scenery around is beautiful, there's some really cool temples, the Night Market was really good, and it's enough of a city that there are plenty of cool bars and other travelers to meet. 

I did get bedbugs the first time I came (HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE), and bad food poisoning the second, but I don’t think that should put you off. 

LAOS

Luang Prabang

A really cool city!! Lots of history and it's very pretty. The go-to going out spot for tourists is also a bowling alley because it's the only thing open after midnight, which is hilarious.

I also saw an intimate 2-person theatre show in Luang Prabang, which was advertised by a tiny leaflet I picked up at the top of the mountain (hill) in the city center. 

My experience here was full of odd side-quests, which after arriving from a 2 day river boat ride (nothing luxurious about it) just gave it a special albeit fever dreamish place in my memory. I loved it a lot! I also definitely recommend the slow boat there - it’s super scenic and surreal, but also has a bar, with £1 beers, so take that as you will...

Nong Khiaw

I made the mistake of visiting Laos in the peak of the burning season (agricultural fires), which was a bit of a roadblock when a lot of the tourist experience revolves around hiking (I couldn’t see the views) (asthma attacks). In my defense, I avoided North Thailand at the time and came to Laos instead as I was warned about the smoke there - not realising a lot of the smoke blows over FROM Laos. So yes that was quite stupid of me - I still had a great time though.

My favourite thing about Nong Khiaw, other than its beautiful mountains, river, and big catalogue of excursions, was the longboat race festival going on at the time. I unfortunately missed the actual event, but the local atmosphere was so exciting leading up to it, and the young guys walking around town with their customized oars every day just looked so cool!

I think 20 villages along the river compete, Nong Khiaw being one of them. It was such a niche and fun local culture to stumble upon (it felt like an Avatar the Last Airbender Earth Kingdom filler episode), which is my favourite memory of the place.

Vang Vieng

This is really the spot in Laos for backpackers to come and experience adventure things for stupid cheap - well it was before I came. Hot air balloons and paramotoring are kind of the stand outs, which had almost tripled in price at the point that I arrived (apparently a tourist died so the govt. got involved). I didn’t go paramotoring in the end, which I do regret a little. Truthfully I was being a wuss and used the price increase as a get out of jail free card.

I was in a terrible mood for most of the time I was in Vang Vieng. I really don’t know if it was burn out, smoke inhalation (does it even work like that?), or just one of those things. I booked a party hostel here because I was feeling socially deprived after my last two quieter than expected places, which didn’t do much to improve my mood, and kind of drove me into a crisis about being too old because everyone was fresh out of sixth form. Luckily after a few days and stumbling into better company, I stopped being such a downer and got my ass up and partied.

This town was also semi notorious for… Methanol poisoning. I was aware of this prior to coming, so I made the executive decision to drink only BeerLao (the best beer in Asia) and be on my best merry behaviour. Unfortunately, after so many BeerLaos, the free shots I banned myself from were suddenly not such a big deallll...

The hangxiety after this night might’ve been the worst of my life, and when also sat on a bus for 10 hours to go back to Bangkok (for Songkran of course, pre Sri Lanka flight), all that kept me going was knowing I was getting closer to better hospitals in the chance I had actually consumed lethal doses of methanol. Luckily I did not, which you can assume by me being alive right now.

Sri Lankaaaa

Colombo

Colombo is the only airport town in Sri Lanka and so this city is everyone's point of arrival and departure. I didn't spend much time in the central area, as our first hostel was a few miles down the coast. We mostly chilled out here for the first couple of days, catching up on our adventures. 

I did end up on one crazy side quest though. Before my friend arrived from Bangkok (I flew in the day before), I wandered onto the beach and was greeted with a liveliness  - a film shoot, fishers, lots of restaurants and a place overall very populated at sunset. A local guy came up and started chatting to me about the film, before asking me if I was interested in seeing some baby turtles. I agreed and followed this guy, David - I was a bit hesitant because, ya know, stranger danger, but David insisted again and again that these turtles were real, he's a good Christian man, and that I can send a picture of him to everyone in my contacts to be safe. I thought okay whatever this guy is short anyway and I know Muay Thai now (ish). 

Fast forward he did take me to see baby turtles!! Of course I had to pay with David's friendly Christian gun to my head to visit his pal's hatchery, but it was still cheap anyway so I didn't mind getting a bit scammed (should've seen it coming). Afterwards he invited me for tea at his mum's house on the beach, which was a lovely spot to have an awkward conversation in broken English and watch the sunset. He then gave me some recommendations (with more tips or scams however you think of it), and sent me on my merry way.

Merissa

Such a beautiful beach town with the bestest mostest fresh fish I've ever eaten. 

One of my most random memories in Merissa was getting an impromptu karate lesson at 4AM from the hostel owner, after crawling outside because I couldn't sleep. I was desperately dehydrated and seriously miserable about it, when in my luck the guy suddenly appeared on his bike out of nowhere. After getting me some water our conversation had somehow evolved into coaching and me then practicing my roundhouse kicks for half an hour. I really wanted to go to bed but he was insistent on holding me hostage to teach me everything he knew. I dunno what this guy was on, maybe the same thing keeping him up at 4am (fully charged Qi)

It was in Merissa that I first got a glimpse at the wildlife in Sri Lanka and its amazing abundance. This was one of my favourite things about this country!!

Yala

Have you ever woken up at 4am to do a Safari tour??? 

This was so exciting and one of the classic things to do as a tourist in Sri Lanka. We prayed and manifested and dreamed with all our hearts to see leopards, but unfortunately didn't. I guess they can't be forced by spiritual will. We saw everything else though - crocodiles, elephants, water buffalo, monkeys, deer, crazy birds - it was so fun.

Ella

The prettiest little mountain town!! Very touristy but it's also very beautiful - so to be expected. A summary I could give of Ella was some hiking, but mostly playing a lot of chess and drinking a lot of beer. It was also in Ella that I fell in love with Masala Dosa, which I ended up eating almost every day I was there.

Upon leaving, we also took the "most scenic train journey in the world" from Ella to Kandy - which was definitely the most scenic train journey I've ever been on.

Kandy

Kandy is a strange city. It's got the remnants of colonial architecture mixed in with what seemed like every and any aesthetic of architecture as well, all in a smallish city, where the city centre is just a big lake. It's very pretty though, especially when taking a TukTuk up out of the valley the town sits in. My friend and I crashed a little here, spending a couple days doing a whole lot of nothing, until we had an accidental day full of holy inspiration by wandering into various temples, getting involved in a few ceremonies. One temple - half Hindu half Buddhist - invited us in for a spontaneous tour, where we left having performed and received blessings from both religions. It felt like a pretty good deal! 

Sigiriya

This northern region, famous for its ancient sites such as Lion's Rock (a mountain fortress), was unexpectedly one of my favourite places we visited. This became an accidental hole as we kept extending our stay in the very quaint jungle hostel here (maybe the best hostel in my whole travels), definitely procrastinating embarking on the very long and crowded journey back to Colombo city, spending too much time again playing chess and drinking beer.

The public transport, and general tourist infrastructure in Sri Lanka was a bit tricky - there were no overnight buses like in East Asia. So if you wanted to get around without taxis or train connections, you had to spend a full day bussing it from town to town. The buses were sick though, they had the craziest artwork inside, and all played local radio stations, which was a fun way to discover new music if you had enough signal for Shazam. 

One highlight of Sigiriya was seeing my first ever firefly - then immediately seeing about 50! The dorms in this hostel were actually treehouses, with open walls instead of windows and mosquito nets for shelter (so coooool!!!). On my first night, I rushed up to my dorm after it started thunder storming pretty heavily. When I eventually turned the lights off to sleep, I was greeted by about 50 fireflies who were also sheltering in the treehouse. Watching them fly around the room from under my net was so magical, especially with the storm outside.

Weligama

A popular surf town and the place I tried surfing for the first time. We ended our trip here to chill out in a fancier hostel because we were both pretty exhausted. A double bunk bed was the height of luxury. This town is more popular with tourists in the surf scene, so the atmosphere here was a lot of fun - lots of parties and people to meet with a pretty interconnected surf hostel network.

Vietnam

Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh was where my solo travel adventures came to an end, and I met up with my boyfriend!! We’d been so excited to explore Vietnam, calling almost every day throughout my trip so far (awww). I was personally thrilled to no longer have to travel alone, largely because I was so tired of planning everything by myself, and I was soon to be joined by an eager newbie who would happily take over this role <3.

We had a lot of smitten fun here, tried all the tourist musts for Vietnam (egg coffee!!), and did way too much shopping. I really wasn’t prepared for how good the shopping was going to be.

Dalat

Happy Birthday to me!!

We came to Dalat as a birthday not-so surprise (I secretly guessed) to celebrate my 24th playing irl Mario Kart and exploring this cute mountain town.

Honorary highlights were the Maze bar, the Crazy House, and our bnb owner who got me the weirdest cake ever (a vanilla cake with cheddar cheese and pork floss on the top??). I was super ill the whole of this week though - maybe you can see the pain in my eyes. 

Nha Trang

What a bizarre place. Ex soviet military stronghold turned soviet vacation town, complete with the most ominous and whimsical Vinpearl Island on the horizon, owned by the notorious Vingroup, which seemed to be the Branson-esque corporate overlord of Vietnam.

Nha Trang was the place we really got into the Viet coffee and Bahn Mi lifestyle. I’d like to make a special shoutout to Trung Nguyen's “energy coffee that changes life”. This did really change life - I never knew coffee alone could make my eyeballs vibrate . We also tried chicken feet… which was okay.

Hoi An 

l

Hoi Annnnnn. The town of tailoring and pretty lanterns and pretty tourist traps that are still all worth paying for. We spent a lot of time here as we both wanted some tailored garms, such as my incredible three piece suit as you can see above.

Other highlights include floating karaoke, the beach, this awesome Muay Thai gym on the river, and just exploring the lovely yet very busy old town at night.      

Phong Nha

Caves caves caves. And ducks. Phong Nha flaunts three of the top five biggest caves in the world, so most of the tourist experience of this little mountain town is all about it. As you can see if you can spot me in the picture, I was absolutely shitting myself. I personally have other ideas of fun… like the water canyon park afterwards :)!

Caves and ducks, oh - and riding bikes over planks of wood in exchange for free beer. 

Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh was another lovely place with landscapes similar to Khao Sok. The hostels here were such bang for buck we also stayed far longer than expected, partied a lot more than expected, and somehow crammed all the go-to scenic activities into our final hungover day. I wish I had more pictures but my storage gave up atp. 

Ninh Binh also featured lots of goats, which was a fun quirk.

Hanoi

Hanoi is such a cool city, and was very accurately hyped in the eventual lead up to us going. It’s scenic and energetic and has the best food ever. Like any good city, it came alive at night in such an endearing way that topped anywhere else I had been. The shopping and strip (beer street) was also even better than Ho Chi Minh (in my opinion), which was again really bad news for our wallets. 

Ha Giang and the Ha Giang Loop

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwww. This was so epic. Probably the most accurately hyped thing ever and still then it outlived all expectations. Looking at pictures of the views in Ha Giang was the most frustrating part of the experience, because nothing ever captured it. The sheer scale of the landscapes was unbelievable, it really felt like something out of Avatar (blue people avatar but also ALTA I suppose) - I’ve never said wow so many times in my life. 

Going south to north across Vietnam was definitely the superior choice, and this being the final big adventure of my whole trip was such a bang!!! We also went through Sapa and Hanoi finally in our last week here, but truthfully we were on such a comedown from Ha Giang that I can’t name anything too memorable from Sapa, except for the alpine coaster, lots of rain, and a Hello Kitty themed sleeper bus.

3. ADVICE AND WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY

My plan for my trip was more or less to wing it. It suited my longing for freedom that accompanied me flying alone to another continent on a semi last minute basis with not much plan in mind other than to see what happens. Initially this was a lot of fun, the novelty of doing essentially whatever I wanted every new day was exciting. 

Whilst this way of travelling meant making lots of cool and spontaneous memories, it also caused a lot of problems.

One big lesson from my trip, as I kind of made reference to in the preface, is how “freedom” via having nothing to tie you down is really not that liberating at all. There is a paralysis in having too many options and not enough of a plan, especially not a concrete plan forced through flights and other bookings. 

A lot of my regrets from travelling revolve around feeling like I wasted time by procrastinating and feeling lost within this paralysis, not doing enough work in advance to force me to keep moving, and missing out on opportunities by poor time management and not actually booking things in advance. My Muay Thai camp was a great example of something I had booked in advance which acted as a guiding beacon within my route, and gave me some structure to both work around and get excited for. The same applied to various flights I had booked - I really wish I had booked more (especially when I had plenty of money at the start smfh)

There is a lot of freedom in restriction. What first feels free and limitless might actually cause you to end up feeling purposeless and depressed. In the times I was really and truly “floating” around without a plan, I often remember it being easy to feel unhappy. 

To sum this up my overarching biggest lesson and therefore advice I would give to anyone else interested in backpacking (especially for solo travel), is to be very wary of this!! 

For the more type A readers here, this might seem stupidly obvious, but I WILL say to you to be wary of too much structure also!

Striking the balance between pre booking activities, excursions, transportation etc. to guide the route, whilst also leaving enough breathing room for spontaneity is very important. I was far too type B in my approach, but I also met plenty of people who felt burned out from overplanning and trying to unrealistically keep up. 

Basically, don’t be too rigid or loose with it. Plan enough so that you have adventures and an idea of a route constantly lined up, but don’t plan too much that it becomes exhausting to keep up with (travel is exhausting). 

And also - it’s okay if you feel exhausted or even depressed, it’s a lot more common than you think (especially solo). Sometimes you have to just book a private room for a few days to binge watch trash tv until you feel ready to face the world again. I’m saying this because if I had known it sooner I think it would have saved a lot of time.

Also again - don’t get a huge 70L+ backpack, especially if you’re travelling somewhere hot. My 42L was probably a bittttt too small but I was always grateful to not have a humongous bag to carry. Around 50L is probably ideal I’d say. 

Those bag organiser cubes / pouches are a lifesaver, honestly this was my best work in my pre planning. Do NOT skip them!!! Oh - and I suggest you get a mesh waterproof bag with some kind of hook on for the shower. I used a hello kitty pencil case from 7/11 after my original shower pack kept getting soaked. Trust me you don’t want to have wet stuff. 

The quality of your gear and wardrobe will very much determine your quality of experience (this is your home at the end of the day, your little snail shell), so the more pre-planning you can do in this regard, the better. If I would ever go travelling again, I’d take this wayyyyy more seriously. 

*** 

I hope if you made it this far that you have enjoyed it. 

I apologise if this was clunky in places, but it was all typed with my own hands and from my own heart. 

Thank you so much for reading!! Muah!!

Emily

Queen of the Night Creatures