Best thing about solo travel... not having to stick to your original plans

I love Thailand so much for the simple fact that it's cheap. I have managed to keep myself on budget at around $25-$30 per day. It's funny how your perspective of everything changes once your on the road and dealing with different currencies. A friend and I made our way from Bangkok to Ayutthaya for 60 baht a person, which translates to a little over $1.50... yes, you read that correctly. We got a minibus from a city an hour or so away for less than $2! Upon arriving, the tuk tuk driver wanted to charge us 150 baht to drive 15 minutes. It was hard justifying taking that short trip for that much, but when I started thinking about it, it really isn't that much. That trip was all of $5 for the two of us.

Food is also extremely cheap here. Before I left Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai, we stumbled upon this little cafe. For 50 ($1.50 ish) baht, we each had a decent meal and a drink. The food stall across from my current hostel charges 15 baht ($.50) for a full plate of scrambled eggs and steamed rice with some mystery drink out of a container. And the food is good! It has flavor, is hot and fresh (most of the time) and it's not totally unhealthy for you either. Their sanitary standards are no where near ours back home, but that's ok. I'm still alive, I haven't gotten food poisoning.

So anyways, done with the rambling. I had this whole plan of hopping my way from one city to the next after leaving Bangkok until I made my way to Chiang Mai. The more I thought about it, the less enticing that sounded. I have never enjoyed fast travel on my own. It's draining, stressful and usually uncomfortable and expensive. I had enjoyed some small talk with one of the guys staying in my room. He happened to be from the U.S on a travel hiatus and we had swapped some stories. We got on the subject of how I was going to Ayutthaya and he'd heard good things. Previously finding out he had no plans the next few days, I invited him to come along with me. Surprisingly, he said yes and the next day we found ourselves overwhelmed by the awesomeness that was Ayutthaya. We ended missing a huge portion of the city we went by because we were so in awe over everything that was right in front of our eyes.

Ayutthaya was founded in around 1350 and became the second capital of Siam. Over the centuries, the city grew and became one of the largest cities in the world around 1700. Ayutthaya was explained as one of the finest cities of it's time but unfortunately, it all came to an end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya and burnt everything to the ground around the late 1760's. The only buildings to survive had been the temples and some palaces because they were built using stone.

Matt and I wandered around for hours, from temple to temple, wondering about the histories of such places and the extravagances that once were. There weren't many historical plaques explaining about the temples. Most of what I've discovered are from pamphlets and google. At the end of the day, we were both exhausted and all I could think about was how much I really wasn't ready to leave the city. I had already taken out Lopburi from my plans, which means I missed some ancient ruins over run by the infamous thief monkeys. Did I really want to miss out on another ancient city, Sukhothai? So I procrastinated throughout the morning deciding on what I wanted to do. As I was gathering my things to leave, Matt woke up and we decided to go for breakfast.

It's funny how one event can change the course of your trip. I found a pamphlet down in the lobby of the hostel and began thumbing through it. I couldn't believe how much we had missed the day prior! Matt was astounded as well and just told me I should stay. So I did. And I didn't regret my decision. We ended up spending a few hours looking for a new place to stay since our other place was sold out but once settled in to our new hostel, we hit the road once again. We had a plan and a layout of exactly what we wanted to do. Except it didn't go quite as planned. Ayutthaya is like a maze of wonder. You are lead to one impressive ruin and as you're leaving, you see another across the street and then you run into a street market with things you've never seen or tasted before. Then several hours have passed and you wonder how you got where you ended up.

We did end our day getting to see everything we had planned on seeing plus more. Ayutthaya was full of known and unknown gems and I am so happy to have been able to take the time to enjoy the ruins and making a new friend. Travel is all about the experiences you have and the people you meet. Going to Lopburi and Sukhothai would have probably been fun, but I would have been stressed the whole time about getting from point A to point B the most efficiently so I could utilize my time wisely. But instead, I took advantage of the city I was in.

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Hotlanta Fun

Jeff LOVES cities, so when choosing a city to leave from this time, Atlanta came to mind. Last time we explored New York City but I wanted something new and different for us to explore together. It was a great choice and we had a blast!

Atlanta was anything but HOT when we went and stupid me, I forgot to bring jackets. I mean, who remembers jackets when it’s been 80 degrees through Christmas and New Year’s? Our first stop on the freeze train was the famous World of Coca Cola. I can’t remember being so cold since the beginning of last year when the weather plunged down to 19 degrees outside! I am probably exaggerating but we were pretty cold. Once we got our tickets and thawed out a bit, we started enjoying our experience. The best part about when Jeff and I travel, is that we end up having the same end game and this time, all we wanted was to get to the end to taste test all the different sodas and I wanted a picture with the polar bear. It surprised me how nasty some of the sodas were. I had one that tasted exactly like mouth wash and another one that tasted like cherry cold medicine that my parents would force down my throat when I was a child. Our favorite flavors were the Bibo mango for me and the Bibo kiwi for Jeff from Africa.

That night, we ended up going to a hookah bar we passed on our way back into the city called Sivas. (Luckily we ate near a mall and got Jeff a new jacket). I’d never been to a hookah bar before, so why not? It was very interesting. We decided to put a vodka shot in the water bowl place for a different effect. The feeling was similar to being extremely tipsy but only for 10 minutes or so, which was perfect for me because I start hating the feeling of being tipsy/drunk after about 30 minutes anyways. Since it was our first time ever doing this kind of thing, our server kindly switched out our breathing tube (?) for an ice one. Now that, was a pretty awesome feeling. It’s like feeling up your lungs with a toned down icy feeling and enhanced the flavor of the tobacco. I know I sound ignorant on this subject and I am, but we had fun doing it!

The next morning, Jeff and I tried out the CNN tour and got to be news anchors for all of 4 seconds! I’m a nerd for having the news channel on and watching the weather channel, so it was cool to see the inner workings of this particular channel. I can’t help but wonder how awesome it must be to work for a company like that?

Stone mountain was up next on our list and all we had to decide is if we wanted to take the freezing and windy one-mile hike up or the nice enclosed skytram for $10 per person. After feeling how cold it was on our way to the CNN tour, we went with the skytram. As nice as the hike would have been, the tram was the way to go. As soon as we stepped out in the open area of the rock, the wind smacked us in the face. Tears started burning their way down my face involuntarily from how bad it was blowing. We snapped several pictures really quick and ran back inside. Once we were a bit warmed up, we ran back outside for a few more brief minutes to snap a couple more pictures. No longer able to handle the cold, we headed back inside and waited for the tram to take us back down the mountain.

 

Jeff and I both enjoyed Atlanta and the time we had together. 

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Top 5 Reactions for "I'm traveling alone"

It is widely unheard of for a female to travel solo, especially a younger female. I have dealt with a wide range of emotions from people from shock and disbelief to support and and encouragement. I wanted to list the top 5 reactions I have heard from people when they find out I'm traveling all alone.

1. "OMG! Are you an orphan? What parent in their right mind would let their daughter travel alone?" This reaction probably pissed me off the most and caught me way off guard. My parents are amazing and while they aren't always excited about my escapades, they support me for it because they know it's what I really want and what will make me happy. And besides, I'm more than enough adult now to make my own choices.

2. "Aren't you worried about getting kidnapped or killed?" Of course I am. However, I was more frightened of walking into and out of work most days than I ever have been while traveling. As much as anyone may assume, I'm not stupid. I use a very complicated and intuitive amount of skills called common sense when it comes to my safety. I don't travel alone at night, I research the locations I'm staying and I get advice from people I know have gone to a place prior to me. I do not have a death wish and protect myself with everything that I have. 

3. What about your boyfriend/husband/fiance? Is he going with you? What does he think about this? Won't you miss him? Some people in relationships find it absolutely impossible to be separate from one another, which has always baffled me. I don't need Jeff, I want him. I am perfectly fine and functional without him but I choose to be with him because I love and adore him. Jeff and I are still at a pivotal point in our lives where we are still growing and we have grown together for the past 2 years, even when I went away on my last trip for 4 months. I am lucky enough to have a fiance that understands there are some things I need to do on my own. We each have our passions and he supports me fully in following mine, with or without him and I with him. Of course I will miss him, but if I never allowed myself to fulfill my dreams, I would end up being very unhappy and resentful. In a little over a year, I'll be walking down the isle to marry the greatest guy I've ever had the pleasure of loving and there's nothing that will hold me back from us being happy together. 

4. Wow! I'd love to do that but I couldn't ever do what you're doing. Yes you can! It isn't hard. Well maybe a little, but when someone says this to me, I do not quite understand it. I've always been told to follow my dreams and I have. Even when my parents weren't completely thrilled about me traveling alone, they never told me I couldn't do it or wouldn't make it. It doesn't make sense to me why people are so afraid of leaving their comfort zone and trying something new? If it's something you really want, why not fight hard for it? I know when most people say that, they don't exactly have the same exact dream I do but if you can say that to me, I will tell you that you can definitely do it and whatever excuse you give me, I'll tell you a way around it. It's not that you can't do it, it's just not enough of a priority for you.

5. Must be nice to have a trust fund. This is the second most infuriating phrase I hear. I don't have a trust fund or $30,000 just randomly sitting in my bank account. My parents don't give me money, although if there's something I needed for my trip, like shoes or a new camera bag, they'd get me what I'd need as a birthday or Christmas present. I have always worked hard for what I wanted most, and since graduating high school, that has been to travel as much as I can before I decide to settle down. Then, I'll work as hard as I can to support a family and home I wish to build. People think because they could never afford to travel like I do, that I shouldn't be able to afford it either, especially since I'm a young female right out of college. I enjoy proving people wrong ;). 

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