Travelling overseas alone

[By-Tor]

damn...i pass out for a few hours and the whole damn forum changes [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

anyway, here is my HOT TRAVEL ADVISORY!...


When you get to the Immigration counter and see it occupied by two people instead of one like all the others, DO NOT say "Awwww F%$#, a trainie!" and then continue to get pissed when they say "what's your problem?"...

Only bad things can (and will) happen.

Talked my way out of the baggage search, but it wasn't pretty.



(just got back from Shanghai this morning. dear united airlines... [censored] YOU!)

[man]

when I was in Japan I enjoyed the time I was on my own the most. sometimes it's a lot tougher, because at certain places you feel like you'd get more out of the experience if there was someone else to share it with.

I'm going to Europe next wednesday for a four-week trip on my own. I'll be staying with friends/relatives roughly half the time. I'm looking forward more to being on my own, because I won't have to worry about being held up by anyone else's slow ass.

[solids]

guids-

Like many other in this thread have said, it's probably better to travel by yourself unless you are travelling with a very outgoing, flexible, spontanious friend with an awesome attitude.

I've travelled with both ends of the spectrum. Unless you have an awesome friend in mind, I'd suggest travelling alone. The freedom of going wherever you want at any time is unbeatable. More importantly, you will likely be more inclined to make friends and meet the locals along the way. Make sure you hit up some hostels, though. Most aren't that bad.

[guids]

PS- How many Italians speak English? Will I be able to chat up most people?

[daryn]

most of the younger ones will speak englsh, you'll be fine. but come on you must know some italian

[guids]

[ QUOTE ]
most of the younger ones will speak englsh, you'll be fine. but come on you must know some italian

[/ QUOTE ]

I can semi-understand if spoken to me, but I cant speak it well, except for the cuss words my grandma always yells at me.

PS- cbloom, I thank you for the TR on the chicks, but more info would be nice from anyone. My plan is to get laid a bunch, or else it will be a disappointing trip.

[fluffpop62]

Has no one done a study abroad program without anyone they know? I understand obviously you'll be meeting people within the program, then, but I feel like it's the same kind of thing because you won't know a soul.

quids,
how old are you?

[octopi]

[ QUOTE ]
lol, out of curiousity, why'd you stay at that place? I checked out that exact one, it looked ok, but some beaches were like 20 mins away

and btw to everyone: Phuket sucks don't go there. Unless you dig hookers. Totally amazing how many hookers thre are in one strip of bars

[/ QUOTE ]

I was actually waiting for a relative to come into the city and wasn't too interested in paying sky high rates for a crappy apartment in Patong a few blocks away from the ocean or staying in a high end resort. So I hung out there until I could split a relatively expensive bunglaow with her ($18 a night seems like a fortune sometimes when paying yourself; yet another thing to remember when travelling alone)

Phuket does seem like a shithole when you've been staying in idyllic $5 huts with your own hammock the entire time, but that's unfortunate because that's the taste of Thailand that gets many people hooked. I wanted to check out the architecture downtown a bit and be close to night markets. Three nights in, I was glad to get the [censored] out of there, though. And I used to live an even smaller, crappier Thai town.

That being said, I found some great noodle shops, had my mango and sticky rice lady bagging my nightly snack from 20 feet away and was downtown for Songkran. But, that's enough about Thailand.

[HP]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One night I was staying in the shittiest god forsaken guesthouse in downtown Phuket, Thailand (actually the one used in that terrible DiCaprio movie, The Beach)


[/ QUOTE ]

lol, out of curiousity, why'd you stay at that place? I checked out that exact one, it looked ok, but some beaches were like 20 mins away

and btw to everyone: Phuket sucks don't go there. Unless you dig hookers. Totally amazing how many hookers thre are in one strip of bars

[/ QUOTE ]

I would not generalize on the whole island like that. I stayed at Nai Thon resort which was beautiful and had the best waves I saw in 1.5 years in the Kingdom. It was deadsville in terms of nightlife but that also = no hookers. Some of the other beaches in the North-West part of the island are also very cool and ho free.

Too many people go to Thailand, stay in the most heavily travelled and touristy places (Patong != Phuket) , which of course attracts all kinds of hustlers and working girls and then say "this place sucks and is full of hoes." Get off the beaten track a bit. Find where regular non-ho chasing people go. Most Thais do not go to girly bars.

KJS

[/ QUOTE ]

srry I should have said Phuket City. And yes I didn't only go to Phuket City

[HP]

[ QUOTE ]
Phuket does seem like a shithole when you've been staying in idyllic $5 huts

[/ QUOTE ]

fro hagen. and yeah it is kind of funny how radically the value of money seems to change when backpacking