The Traveling Twenty-Something Blog
A female blog centered around all things travel–ranging from tips on packing efficiently to methods of combatting travelers’ anxiety–shared through advice, personal stories, and travel diaries from places all over the world.
“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”
- Oprah Winfrey
If you’ve never stayed at a hostel before, you probably have a lot of questions. And I’m guessing that the question you most want answered is how the room situation works. At least, that’s what I was the most hung up on before I became a seasoned hostel-goer, because let’s be honest here: the thought of sharing a bedroom with strangers is daunting.
In a shocking twist of fate, here I am, feeling anxious yet again before yet another solo trip. I don’t need to look down at my Apple watch to see the stats pertaining to my racing heart; I can feel it thumping uncomfortably against my ribs. My hands are shaking, my mouth is dry, and my eyes are… not dry.
Now you’re on hold with the help and customer support line. Since this airline is always at the top of their game, connecting the call with an actual person takes mere minutes, not hours (I beg you to hear my sarcasm), and once on this phone call, you learn that your reservation does not exist because you have been scammed by the unreliable third party app through which you booked your flight to save a whopping… ten bucks!
I could probably write a novel (or at least a little novella) on all of the things I do that make it painfully obvious how white I am, and this one is up there. It didn’t even cross my mind that skydiving might also fall into that category until my friend Alaina said, “that is some white people shit,” at which point my eyes really opened to the sheer stupidity of the thing.
Even amongst my immediate family, I sometimes wonder if I was dropped off at the front door in a basket and taken in out of the kindness of my parent’s hearts.
It wasn’t the day we had planned, not even close, but that’s sort of the beauty of travel. Things rarely go to plan, and you have to learn to adapt to the changes life throws at you. And if you are visiting Asia for the first time, your stomach will probably have to learn to adapt to some changes, too.
I may as well race through the list of everything we saw, because it perfectly parallels the way our guide rushed us through each place. If it sounds like I’m overreacting, he literally went “I’m sorry, can we walk fast please” and then we power-walked through the grounds of Humayun’s Tomb.
Not to mention, if we liked something, Sonali would say “fire again?” It was like bottomless chaat in this bitch.
So that was our first day… or half-day, or two days. A travel day through and through, one that packed a real punch at the end.