Me: “What do you think about solo traveling?”
Friend: “I’m for it. Why do you ask?”
Me: “I’m thinking about doing it. Haven’t thought about where, though.”
Friend: “You should do it.
Do it before you have a reason not to.“
I had the above conversation with a friend back in September. Just a casual conversation in passing. And I’m going to be completely honest with you: I had very little inclination (maybe…20%) to actually take any action. That said, much like good wine, the more these words incubated, the more profound they became. “Do it before you have a reason not to.”
Hmm, okay… let’s think about this:
1. I have no partner. 2. I have no kids. 3. I am financially stable. 4. I am healthy. 5. My family’s healthy. Check, check, check, check, check.
So… why the hell not?
That should be my life motto (for my twenties, that is): Why. The. Hell. Not.
Lo and behold, a month later, I booked my flight to Cambodia for the Winter. First solo trip. First trip to a developing country. And I leave tomorrow (December 2nd). Sweet jeebus what did I get myself into???
A lot of people give me weird looks when they ask where I’m going.
“… Out of all countries in the entire freaking world, why did you choose Cambodia?”
HA!! Joke’s on you, guys, I have no idea either.
I had initially planned a trip to both Thailand and Cambodia. After all, twelve days is a bit much to spend in one country, right? Well, the more I did my research, the more I realized that all the places I’d want to visit in Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, etc.), I’d want to visit with people.
Case in point: The Chiang Mai Lantern Festival. I would absolutely want to visit Chiang Mai during the Lantern Festival at some point in my life with my sister Haidee. We are both fanatics [understatement] of the Disney movie “Tangled”. TELL ME THIS DOESN’T REMIND YOU OF THAT ROMANTIC SCENE IN THE MOVIE.
Tangled (2010):
Chiang Mai Lantern Festival IN REAL LIFE:
C’mon, does this not give you the warm fuzzies?!?! I would quite possibly die of happiness in Chiang Mai. And I certainly do not want to die alone.
So yes, that is why I chose Cambodia and Cambodia alone to solo-travel. The country consists of ancient temples/grand palaces/vast beaches – typically sites that can be somewhat introspective. Cambodia, to me, is less Disney-Movie-Tangled-Ooey-Gooey, more Action-Adventure-Tomb-Raiding-Pew-Pew (but we’ll get to that a little later 🙂 …)
Also, in the spirit of my now-ordained life motto…… “Why the hell not?”
Another FAQ I get after the “Why Cambodia?” is, quite simply… “Why are you doing this alone?”
Hollywood and Self-help articles/books often romanticize solo-traveling as a channel to “find yourself”. The clichéd “Eat, Pray, Love” experience. And yes, as cookie-cutter and conformist as this may be, perhaps this is exactly what I hope for – who knows? The last few months have actually been a bit rough on me personally; I’ve admittedly become a less vibrant version of my former self. So actually, my greatest wish is that in the process of finding myself, I can lose myself first. Shed the emotional burden of the last few months and start anew.
*Big sigh* Okay, sappiness over. Let us continue.
This trip… shall certainly be interesting. I have this paranoia that every person who asks me “why are you going this alone?” is secretly insulting me. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m so navigationally challenged that in a life-or-death situation, you might as well hand the GPS/map to a gorilla. I still can’t even drive around the city I grew up in (and have lived in for two decades) without getting lost. So needless to say, navigating three brand new foreign cities on my own will be… an experience. Good luck to me. And curse all of you who insult me.
Now to talk about how I prepared for this trip, both physically and mentally. I’m actually a bit hesitant to write this segment just because I feel like I will be exposed for the “ignorant ‘Murican” that I am. Eh, guess there’s no point in hiding who I really am.
Here are all the things I did/purchased/received in preparation for this trip:
- Tetanus, Hep A, Hep B Vaccines: CHECK!
- Flu vaccine: CHECK!
- Typhoid vaccine: Semi-check…? Oh gosh, funny story about taking this oral vaccine (that might actually turn into a huge TMI; sorry in advance). Let me give you some background: Typhoid is basically the Salmonella infection. So there were 4 doses of the active vaccine (live bacteria in a capsule), meant to be taken every other day on an empty stomach. Dose 1 I took just fine. But then it goes south. Dose 2 I blanked on taking it 2 days after the first dose, so on Day 4 when I realized I didn’t take the 2nd dose correctly I panicked and took the pill immediately. Six seconds after I swallowed the pill, something dawned on me: “Oh dear god I just ate a whole entire meal“. The vaccine instructions clearly say not to take the pill with food or else it will be broken down/digested along with the food. Let’s think… how does “digesting active bacteria” physically manifest itself in the human body? Why yesssss, let’s just say there was a lot… of gas. I was very uncomfortable for the rest of the day/night. The end. I think I failed this vaccine.
- TRAVELLER’S DIARRHEA PILLS: Here’s to hoping it does not come to this.
- Malaria pills: To be taken a day before I enter the “Malaria Red Zone” (for me, this will be before I go to Sihanoukville, a beach town, since Siem Reap and Phnom Penh aren’t in the Red.) I’ve heard dark, dark things about Malaria pills – that they induce nausea and make you feel like poopoo. Splendid!
- Rape Whistle: Can never be too careful, am I right? My coworker Dan let me borrow one (he works for Search-and-Rescue). Thanks, Dan, I’ll make sure to put it to good use.
- Deet Lotion/Wipes & Permethrin Clothing protectant: Stay away, bugs.
- Emergen-C: What I’ve learned from traveling is that my immune system really likes to fail at the worst times. Consider this insurance (I’m taking one packet every single day).
Okay, now onto mental preparation. Earlier I mentioned that I thought Cambodia would be that immersive “Tomb Raider” experience…
So as I conducted extensive research while planning this trip, imagine my dismay as I find out I CANNOT dress up as Lara Croft (black tank, booty shorts, french braid – see below) while visiting the Angkor Wat temples (where they filmed the Tomb Raider movie). Apparently, since they are sacred temples and we need to exercise respect (ugh, respect) we need to wear clothing that covers our shoulders and knees. NOOOOO, dream killers! Just kidding, I’m a total proponent of preserving the sanctity of cultural sites/traditions.
But that got me thinking: if I thought visiting Angkor Wat meant me partaking in epic-Lara-Croft-tomb-raiding-sacred-orb-finding-adventures (thanks, Hollywood), there have gotta be a whole list of major disparities between “my expectations” and “the reality”. Ergo, I’ve enacted an experiment. Below, I’m going to write down “my expectations” going into this trip, and then will fill in “the reality” blanks as I go about experiencing them in Cambodia. Here goes:
- Expectation: That my Singapore Airlines flight will be THE BEST, EVER. I’ve heard amazing things about them, and especially after my last blog post raving about JAL…. Singapore Airlines, YOU HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED.
- Expectation: To sweat bullets on this trip. I checked weather.com and BOY OH BOY it’s a sweltering steam cooker in Southeast Asia.
- Expectation: To be pummeled by mosquitoes and to swell up like a balloon. I have severe allergies to mosquito bites and I’m pretty sure all the Deet in the world could not keep them away. Curse my sweet, sweet flesh/blood. (Is this even considered bragging…?)
- Expectation: That I will quite literally gasp in awe upon seeing the Angkor Wat temples (I sincerely hope I haven’t hyped it up too much in my head)
- Expectation: That the first time I scuba dive (in Sihanoukville), I will be absolutely terrified of deep water. I cannot stare into any sort of endless abyss. Imagine a shark swimming up toward you. Yeah……
- Expectation: That I will love the food in Cambodia. I’ve never had Cambodian food before, per se, but I adore other Southeast Asian cuisines.
- Expectation: That I will use bottled water for everything (including brushing my teeth). And this is especially since I screwed up that Typhoid/Salmonella vaccine :(. But we shall see how feasible this turns out to be.
- Expectation: Extensive use of my GoPro selfie stick. (HA, let’s be real here, this Reality will definitely meet the Expectation).
While there certainly are more, these are the only ones I can cook up off the top of my head right now. Perhaps later on, I will add onto this list. So yes, stay tuned.
Here’s to also hoping I don’t develop a habit of talking to myself on this trip. But hey, 12 days alone… I’m not ruling this one out.
I will do my best to update the blog daily while on this trip. Of course, no guarantees of quality. I might stumble into my hotel one night absolutely exhausted. And post a single photo. Sans caption. Hey, at least you’ll know I’m alive, right?
The last thing people usually ask me is: “Are you afraid?” Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure the prospect of “solo traveling” has actually hit me just yet. Ask me tomorrow. For now, though, I’m sticking to a quote I recently stumbled upon that really struck a chord:
“A head full of fears leaves no space for dreams.”
… And dream, I will. Tomorrow…. WE TRAVEL!
With love,
Mendi
the wanderlust is real. 