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Mar. 3rd, 2011 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabrinamariI've learned a lot by traveling alone.
* The highs are very high; the lows are awful.
* It's best when I'm experiencing a new place, person or thing. It's worst when I'm in transit, on a plane or trying to get to a room for the night.
* This was a much more daring plan than I realized. The combination of solo traveling, hosteling and making spontaneous decisons make it very hard to feel safe and tricky to make sure I get a good place to sleep every night. Last night was especially challenging: I missed the bus to the airport at Uluru but was graced by a lovely boy who drove me there in time for my flight. His kindness was good!
I made it to Melbourne central by myself and was able to read the book/talk to enough people to find out what I needed to know: where are the tram ticket vending machines? Which trams do I want? What stop do I need to get to my hostel? How do I validate a tram ticket when I get on board? What do validation machines look like, anyway?
Even simple things can be challenging when it's dark, late and you're in a new city on the other side of the world. Thank the gods we share the same language (sort of).
I was so pleased and proud that I made it to my hostel, and so happy that so many kind people pointed out steps along the way. Then I checked in and realized that I couldn't book the next few nights because the hostel was full. Uh oh...real panic started when I realized that I was coming up on a weekend in a major city and booking a room, any room, might be really hard.
When I got to my room, two of the four beds were filled with sleeping people and I couldn't turn on the light and see my way around. The wifi was really slow, and the news it gave me was not good.
Where was I going to sleep the next night?
This was the moment when I really, really wanted to go home. Seriously. After days of no petting, (almost) no friends, no beautiful man and no loving I was just done.
But there was nothing to do but take a deep breath and get myself out of this mess.
Just then a young Irish woman stopped and asked me if I was OK. I tried to explain what I was feeling, and she nodded in sympathy. "I know just what you're feeling," she said. "At first, it was so hard. I thought I couldn't do this."
She pulled out her phone, told me about a pub down the street where I could book a place and helped me do it. Then she explained that she had been here for a year, mostly with her brothers, working and waiting for her application for citizenship to go through.
I realized that she really had no choice---she HAD to figure this out and learn to use the hostels.
To make a long story short, she helped me not sleep on the streets and I figured out that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. At least I can always choose to flag down a cab, head to the center of town and get a really expensive room if I want to. And that is luxury.
We made arrangements to meet tonight in the pub downstairs, but she sent me an email letting me know she was working late and couldn't be there. I'm sorry about that---I would have liked to listen to her story.
Having learned my lesson, I now have my two last nights booked, and I know where I'm sleeping.
Tonight I have the most incredible luxury---a room to myself. All night, I get to sleep alone. And it is sweet! I've learned that I really don't like sleeping in the same room with strangers.
* Even though I've slept at Ramblewood in a whole room full of strangers, it's different in a hostel. It is not fun to share sleeping quarters with strangers. This has been a great learning experience, but I won't actively seek it out again. I want to choose where I sleep and with whom. :)
* Next time, I vacation with someone I love. Period.
* The highs are very high; the lows are awful.
* It's best when I'm experiencing a new place, person or thing. It's worst when I'm in transit, on a plane or trying to get to a room for the night.
* This was a much more daring plan than I realized. The combination of solo traveling, hosteling and making spontaneous decisons make it very hard to feel safe and tricky to make sure I get a good place to sleep every night. Last night was especially challenging: I missed the bus to the airport at Uluru but was graced by a lovely boy who drove me there in time for my flight. His kindness was good!
I made it to Melbourne central by myself and was able to read the book/talk to enough people to find out what I needed to know: where are the tram ticket vending machines? Which trams do I want? What stop do I need to get to my hostel? How do I validate a tram ticket when I get on board? What do validation machines look like, anyway?
Even simple things can be challenging when it's dark, late and you're in a new city on the other side of the world. Thank the gods we share the same language (sort of).
I was so pleased and proud that I made it to my hostel, and so happy that so many kind people pointed out steps along the way. Then I checked in and realized that I couldn't book the next few nights because the hostel was full. Uh oh...real panic started when I realized that I was coming up on a weekend in a major city and booking a room, any room, might be really hard.
When I got to my room, two of the four beds were filled with sleeping people and I couldn't turn on the light and see my way around. The wifi was really slow, and the news it gave me was not good.
Where was I going to sleep the next night?
This was the moment when I really, really wanted to go home. Seriously. After days of no petting, (almost) no friends, no beautiful man and no loving I was just done.
But there was nothing to do but take a deep breath and get myself out of this mess.
Just then a young Irish woman stopped and asked me if I was OK. I tried to explain what I was feeling, and she nodded in sympathy. "I know just what you're feeling," she said. "At first, it was so hard. I thought I couldn't do this."
She pulled out her phone, told me about a pub down the street where I could book a place and helped me do it. Then she explained that she had been here for a year, mostly with her brothers, working and waiting for her application for citizenship to go through.
I realized that she really had no choice---she HAD to figure this out and learn to use the hostels.
To make a long story short, she helped me not sleep on the streets and I figured out that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. At least I can always choose to flag down a cab, head to the center of town and get a really expensive room if I want to. And that is luxury.
We made arrangements to meet tonight in the pub downstairs, but she sent me an email letting me know she was working late and couldn't be there. I'm sorry about that---I would have liked to listen to her story.
Having learned my lesson, I now have my two last nights booked, and I know where I'm sleeping.
Tonight I have the most incredible luxury---a room to myself. All night, I get to sleep alone. And it is sweet! I've learned that I really don't like sleeping in the same room with strangers.
* Even though I've slept at Ramblewood in a whole room full of strangers, it's different in a hostel. It is not fun to share sleeping quarters with strangers. This has been a great learning experience, but I won't actively seek it out again. I want to choose where I sleep and with whom. :)
* Next time, I vacation with someone I love. Period.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 05:03 pm (UTC)i've fantasized about a similar solo trip (probably through Europe or Japan, which adds the complication of a language barrier) for a while now, but always wrote it off as too dangerous, too scary, or just plain insurmountable.
but you're rockin' out have a good time and challenging yourself, literally half a world away from home.
seriously. my hero.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 06:09 pm (UTC)love you. sending you love and support!
no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 10:04 pm (UTC)What you said mirrors a lot of my past experiences, which is why I didn't say a lot when you were considering going. I didn't want to bias you against going -- not in the least, because I think this is an incredible experience -- but travelling alone has been challenging for me.
I did a lot of travelling by myself while applying for judicial clerkships while in law school, and then toured England, Wales and Cornwall on my own after I graduated. While doing the former, I learned what has become my key rule for travelling alone: if I can't afford to stay someplace that I know will be nice, I don't do it, period. A miserable place to stay is 100 times more miserable when I'm travelling alone -- mostly because there's no one to joke about it with.
I felt comfortable trusting that the B&Bs I'd be staying at in the UK on the latter trip because they were part of American Express's travel package; if they were seedy, I had no doubt that AmEx would have dropped them. I had one occasion when I didn't end up where I wanted (I unexpectedly encountered August Bank Holiday), but I still felt safe and relatively comfortable.
I did things on both trips that I likely (in some cases undoubtedly) wouldn't have done if I had been travelling with someone, so I am profoundly grateful that I was alone. Today, though ... I think I'd rather experience a bit less, as long as that means I'd be sharing the experience with Teem or a good friend. There might be some exceptions (your Aussie trip might very well be one, if I were in your situation), but overall ... trips are for sharing.
Hey! I like to travel!
Date: 2011-03-03 11:25 pm (UTC)