Sunday, March 27, 2016

ONE YEAR LATER


One year later from when i last posted my free spirit post, i came back to this blog to jot down my thoughts of finally embarking on my solo trip to Korea. 

Let me just say that solo travel was everything i thought it would be and actually so much more. There is a kind of liberation that comes along with the trip. I finally felt like i'm really all grown up and independent by taking on this trip. I love the schedule-free itinerary that i set myself up for. It's that kind of reckless spontaneity that i can choose anything i want to do, whenever i want and that to me was oddly satisfying. I know people who find satisfaction in having a plan, having a schedule and would completely abhor my kind of travel but i'm the exact opposite of that. I find the thrill in having no concrete plans, leaving my day to be exactly as aimless as it is and then going to all these little random places and seeing them for the beauty that it is. 

Growing up, you always need to have some sort of plan. Be it your school plan, your career plan or your family plan. Everyone just sorts of expects you to have a plan in your life, get married at 28, start a family at 30 etc. So while in my daily life, i'm conforming to society needing me to have a plan at all steps of my life, i immediately head the opposite direction in not having a plan when i travelled. It was a less stressful, more freeing kind of environment for me and i took immense pleasure in my spontaneity and the little moments that came about.

If i wanted to, i stayed at a beachside cafe for hours talking to random strangers and watching the view. Other places, i stayed for 10 minutes, trying to avoid the busload of tourists. Sometimes, i didn't feel like taking pictures of the place but chose to capture the picture in my mind. Like a secret place that nobody could see except me. I liked the localised places, places where the foreigners aren't many and all the tourist traps of being a tourist attractions are few. I liked hearing them talk in their language and take their selfies among instagram-worthy backdrops. The Koreans i encountered on this trip were all polite and helpful to me, to a point where i felt overly welcomed and inclined to stay in their country.

Korea was a great first experience for me, being on my own. In future when i do come back to this blog, i certainly hope that my life would be exactly as i wanted it to be.

Till then,
Melissa