Everything I Miss About Solo Traveling!

Holla to you my readers! Feeling restless? Need a vacation? Longing for your next trip? But you’re stuck at home due to Covid19 pandemic? Travel is the most important part of my life and my biggest passion. I took my last trip to London almost a year ago.

Since I started solo traveling about 6 years ago, this is the longest I’ve gone in my adult life without traveling anywhere. Anyone who knows me well and how much I love traveling will understand the struggle and depression I am currently going through of being unable to travel. I’ve been thinking about travel a lot recently. Here is everything I miss about traveling.

1. Planning Your Trip – “Happiness is Planning a Trip to Somewhere New”

I miss the anticipation and anxious of planning a trip. I always spend my free time flicking through blogs, read about places in the world and plan my future trips. Basically I know by heart the specialities of each countries in the world by now. Nothing thrills me more than choosing a place to go, preparing itinerary, researching about next destination and actually booking a trip.

2. The Smell of The Airport – “I Followed My Heart and It Led Me To The Airport”

The airport is always an exciting place for me. I miss the feeling of the start of a vacation. Shopping for extra clothes, packing up the suitcases, driving to the airport, getting through security and then drinking an overpriced beer at the airport before take-off.

The feeling of walking down the aisle in the flight is the best feeling ever! Pic : Flying solo to Shanghai China - 2016

3. Landing Somewhere Brand New – “Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing at all” ~ Helen Keller

The thing that makes me secretly smile to myself more than anything else while thanking God in my heart is the thud of the plane landing safely somewhere brand new – new place, new people, new weather. Can you hear the music playing on my head right now? Pic : At the airport - Kashmir -2019

4. Adventure to New Places – “Escape and Breath The Air of New Place”

I miss the thrill of exploring. The first day is always exciting. It is a feeling of total accomplishment and out of shell exploring an unknown country for the first time.

I love being able to see a new place for the first time, exploring and getting lost in a country where nobody even knows your name, with different culture, lifestyle and on top of that battling language barrier. Pic : Roaming around Paris - 2018

5. Language Barrier – “With Language, You’re at Home Anywhere” ~ Edward De Waal.

Learning or trying to speak new language is fun! I’ve tried imitating different English accent at different countries especially when I was in Australia, UK, France, Netherlands and Italy. I've tried to speak in Chinese while in China and in Vietnamese while in Vietnam.

Sometimes I look like a fool, well that’s okay, I still learn something new and to me it’s FUN! If you’re afraid of language barrier, please do get language app or language dictionary and learn some basic words. Pic : Boating at Halong Bay Vietnam - 2018

6. Food – “To Travel is To Eat” ~ Michelle Shappirio

I’m obviously skinny and petite but I’m also a huge foodie and I absolutely adore trying new foods especially when I’m in a new country.

Sometimes I travel to eat! What is more satisfying than walking along the street and trying new food every day? How I miss ‘Pani Puree’ in India, ‘Pad Thai’ in Thailand, Hanoi ‘Spring Rolls’ in Vietnam, Mothers of all ‘Pasta & Pizza” in Italy, ‘Wonton Soup’ in Hong Kong, ‘Kimchi’ in Korea, ‘Croissant’ in Paris and etcetera. Pic : Enjoying Italian Pasta - Milan, Italy - 2019

7. Fellow Travelers – “I Want to Travel and Meet Beautiful Souls. I Want Friends in Every City”

Pic : Beautiful souls I met while traveling

I love everything about traveling the world alone especially meeting new people from different parts of the globe with different incredible stories to share. People (haters) used to ask me ‘who took your pictures when you travel alone?”. What people do not know is that when you’re a frequent traveler and a backpacker who is confident enough in how you carry yourself, you wouldn’t feel shy to talk to ‘strangers’ or fellow travelers.

I usually stay at a backpacker’s hostel, I’m a couch surfer and I love to join ‘free-walking-tour’ wherever I go so that I could meet fellow travelers from all over the world. I was fortunate enough to meet some incredible and inspiring people on my travels, each of whom I will never forget. Trust me when I say, those are some of the most genuine, interesting, humble, warm-hearted, pleasant and loveable people I’ve ever met in my life and we’re still keeping in touch with each other until today.

8. Photos For The Gram – “We Take Photos As a Return Ticket to a Moment Otherwise Gone” ~ Katie Thurmes

Pic : Collections of my most famous pictures for the GRAM!

I’m a person who loves taking pictures of my travels because it is something that I can take with me wherever I go! As an obsessive traveler and an influencer myself, I’m more than happy to satisfy my Instagram followers by documenting every trip I take and capture my memories when I’m traveling. People say ‘if you take pictures, you’re not living in the moment. I disagree! The memories that live in our minds and hearts are powerful but they tend to fade with time. Pictures preserve your memories.

I always look back at the images I captured and have been mentally taken back to moments that I hadn't remembered. In addition, pictures you share on Instagram indirectly help to promote the places you’ve been. Besides that, your pictures might be a tool for other travelers who might be interested in the destination itself and add it into their ‘bucket list’.

P/S : I ain't gonna sit on the beach and sip cocktails without letting the haters know.

9. Meet The Locals – “One of The Great Things About Travel is That You Find Out How Many Good, Kind People There Are” ~ Edith Wharton

I miss when local people take me to truly untouristy discovery – the kind of place where you can eat real local dines, drink local beers. I remember meeting an amazing elderly man at a train station in Seoul, Korea in 2016 who brought me to Gugok Waterfall for ice climbing.

He is a truly genuine, humble and kind soul I’ve met in my life and I call him Grandpa. He sends me email every two days once and we are still keeping in touch until today. God Bless him! Pic : With Grandpa in Seoul, Korea - 2016

10. Exploring Culture & Tradition – “The Beauty of The World Lies in The Diversity of Its People”.

I miss learning some historical titbit, going to a museum, churches, temples, and castles and experiencing everything it has to offer including learning the history of the place I visit, learning about their people and their languages. I also love the uniqueness of different cultures and traditions around the world. Pic : Batu Caves, Malaysia - 2020

11. Taking Spontaneous Road Trip – “It’s Better to Travel Well Than to Arrive” ~ Buddha

I miss road trips – renting a car, figuring out the control and sound system on a new rental car and focusing the traffic rules at a new country so that I don’t accidentally break the rules, scrutinizing maps the night before a long journey to make sure I’ve chosen the best scenic route.

I love the road trip I took at Sunshine Coast with one of the most scenic route I’ve taken before. The funniest part is that I was using Google maps and I got lost a few times because Australian accent is quite difficult to handle. Perhaps I’m more to British accent. Pic : Road Trip from Brisbane to Sunshine Coast, Australia - 2019

12. Expect the Unexpected – “You Need Some Bitter to Taste The Sweet”

Life is splendid because it is uncertain and unpredictable. Well, many things can happen when you travel solo. Some are amazing, some are crazy, some are challenging and some maybe dreadful.

I ended up in numerous crazy, totally unexpected situations I had to deal with during my solo travels like – being able to cope with myself when I was right in the middle of Kashmir during the Kashmir Attack in 2019, went hiking completely barefooted because my shoes were torn at Sunshine Coast, Australia in 2019, getting lost in the beautiful City of Love, Paris in 2018 because I lost my phone. Dropped and broke my phone while skiing in Seoul, Korea in 2016 and lost contact with the world for 5 days, experienced frost bite while in Sweden and Denmark alone during winter in 2017, and etc. I’m proud of the woman I am today for being able to stand strong in all situations, facing them all alone by myself and being able to make my own decisions and overcome the hardest situation I might have faced in my life. Pic : At Tivoli Garden, Copenhagen Denmark - 2017

13. Being Alone But Never Lonely – “Don’t Be Scared to Walk Alone. Don’t Be Scared to Like It” ~ John Mayer.

Many times people ask me if I get bored traveling solo. The answer is always NO! The truth is I always love my alone time, I enjoy my own company.

Solo travel made me stronger and more independent. I’ve learned to only rely on myself, on my decisions, good and bad. Solo travel helped me to learn about myself better than ever, my ability of finding solutions and facing adventures and challenges all by myself in a country where no one knows my name. Solo travel is an ongoing conversation with yourself. Pic : Sitting alone by the canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands - 2018

14. Coming Back Home! Sense of Accomplishment – “Coming Home is The Most Beautiful Things” ~ Andre Rieu

Lastly, I love the feeling of returning home to my loved ones with lots of inspiring stories in my mind and heart to share with my families and friends. I miss the feeling of the plane touching down at my beautiful homeland, Malaysia and when the Pilot announces “Dear Malaysian, Welcome Home!”.

Now that I can’t travel, I miss the feeling of accomplishment I get from arriving somewhere new and the anticipation and research prior to my trip! Pic : My Furbaby. The one I miss the most when I travel.

I decided to write this blog because it had been a hard struggle for all of us but I could see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, news about vaccines and borders opening soon, so let’s be positive! I know you’re reading this because like me, you miss adventures. I feel your pain.

Feel free to leave me comments or shoot me an email and we can daydream together about future travel. I can’t wait until I can adventure to a new corner of the world. Iceland is on my list!