Just Ask.
How can I better prepare myself to do a solo trip? I have been asking myself that question since the moment I decided to make this trip. There is definitely no right answer to this simple question. It just depends on what suits the traveler best.
If I were to polarize the question, there would be two extremes in the answer. On one side there is the solo traveler who will be greeted by her name in the youth hostel, who will know the best restaurants to go to, who will have the pre-requested vegetarian meal on the plane. On the other side, there is the solo traveler who has no idea how he got there and how he will get out. Not a single idea about what, where, with who, when, how. He just travels.
For me I guess, so far it has been a combination of both. Although I am always inclined to go for the “no-plan” game in this kind of trips, for this trip specifically I had different goals. More than mere tourism, I wanted to explore more of myself, to get to know me better, to learn about what really matters for me. Then, I decided to do more planning and bookings so I would be able to have less time worrying about that, and more time for myself. I did not order the vegetarian option on the plane though.
My plan is to travel around Nepal and Myanmar. I know little about Nepal, but about Myanmar, I know nothing. The truth is that I heard about Myanmar for the first time just three months ago. Google images convinced me to go there.
I chose these two countries because I wanted to escape the city, the concrete, the pollution. I wanted to go more into nature, into clear skies, into peaceful places. Nepal was very close to India (which proved to be very convenient for my time) and Myanmar basically complied with all my requirements (or so I thought). I decided to jump in, and plan my trip as such: from Nov. 18th to Dec. 4th in Nepal, and from Dec. 5th to the 21st in Myanmar. I bought the Lonely Planet book for both destinations and began to do research. Where to go, what to do, where to stay, how to take most advantage of my trip in this places that I barely know of????
By the time I am writing this, I have already finished a short trek in the Annapurna Region of the Himalayas. I had few days to do a trek but I wanted to do it at all costs. Everyone told me that was the best thing to do in Nepal! I decided to do it alone: with no recently known friend, or guide (which is somehow advised). Going alone was my way of enforcing my solo trip, and of course of saving some money, adding a little bit of adrenaline to the journey. By 5:00am of December 1st, I was awake in my room ready to embark on this new excursion. I asked a travel guide for the most convenient route to make considering the time I would have, so I had a sort of plan to follow.
By 9:00am, all my plans were trash. The first bus took more time than planned to depart and to arrive to the next destination where I needed to take a Jeep to take me up the mountain. Then, the Jeep wanted to charge me $20, ten times more what I was told because I was the only passenger, so I decided not to take it. Long story short, I went back to the bus to go up the mountain to another village and begin the trek from there. But ten minutes later, the road happened to be blocked by a tractor that was getting rid of the rocks that fell from the mountain. I was late and pissed because of the little time I would have hiking so I just jumped out of the bus and started walking.
If I were to polarize the question, there would be two extremes in the answer. On one side there is the solo traveler who will be greeted by her name in the youth hostel, who will know the best restaurants to go to, who will have the pre-requested vegetarian meal on the plane. On the other side, there is the solo traveler who has no idea how he got there and how he will get out. Not a single idea about what, where, with who, when, how. He just travels.
For me I guess, so far it has been a combination of both. Although I am always inclined to go for the “no-plan” game in this kind of trips, for this trip specifically I had different goals. More than mere tourism, I wanted to explore more of myself, to get to know me better, to learn about what really matters for me. Then, I decided to do more planning and bookings so I would be able to have less time worrying about that, and more time for myself. I did not order the vegetarian option on the plane though.
My plan is to travel around Nepal and Myanmar. I know little about Nepal, but about Myanmar, I know nothing. The truth is that I heard about Myanmar for the first time just three months ago. Google images convinced me to go there.
I chose these two countries because I wanted to escape the city, the concrete, the pollution. I wanted to go more into nature, into clear skies, into peaceful places. Nepal was very close to India (which proved to be very convenient for my time) and Myanmar basically complied with all my requirements (or so I thought). I decided to jump in, and plan my trip as such: from Nov. 18th to Dec. 4th in Nepal, and from Dec. 5th to the 21st in Myanmar. I bought the Lonely Planet book for both destinations and began to do research. Where to go, what to do, where to stay, how to take most advantage of my trip in this places that I barely know of????
By the time I am writing this, I have already finished a short trek in the Annapurna Region of the Himalayas. I had few days to do a trek but I wanted to do it at all costs. Everyone told me that was the best thing to do in Nepal! I decided to do it alone: with no recently known friend, or guide (which is somehow advised). Going alone was my way of enforcing my solo trip, and of course of saving some money, adding a little bit of adrenaline to the journey. By 5:00am of December 1st, I was awake in my room ready to embark on this new excursion. I asked a travel guide for the most convenient route to make considering the time I would have, so I had a sort of plan to follow.
By 9:00am, all my plans were trash. The first bus took more time than planned to depart and to arrive to the next destination where I needed to take a Jeep to take me up the mountain. Then, the Jeep wanted to charge me $20, ten times more what I was told because I was the only passenger, so I decided not to take it. Long story short, I went back to the bus to go up the mountain to another village and begin the trek from there. But ten minutes later, the road happened to be blocked by a tractor that was getting rid of the rocks that fell from the mountain. I was late and pissed because of the little time I would have hiking so I just jumped out of the bus and started walking.
And the adventure began.
As much as I could have prepared myself for this trek, there was no way I could foresee any of this. I had no clear plans, no clues about where to go and how to follow the route for the next days. Yes, a guide would have helped in this situation, but there will not always be a guide. I had a picture in my phone of the map, a rented backpack and a rented sleeping bag, and much energy to climb up. And so I did.
Being clueless has about the way to do the things I want has somehow proven to very exciting for me. Somehow, the innocence of not knowing the dangers or the ways to do something, freed me from personal obstacles I would otherwise created to just prevent myself from doing what I want.
Back in 2012 I had an idea to begin a social project in Peru to help impoverished communities in the highlands to survive the deadly cold weather in winter. Together with a group of 7 friends, we pulled off this project in less than three months. None of us had previous experience in anything related to a non-profit organization, and we were not legally established as an organization. We were all 18/19 year-old kids hungry to do something.
We were all clueless. No experts in the team, no “guides” within the team. But reflecting back on that experience, the formula for what we considered to be a successful project at that time, revolved around one action: we asked questions. Instead of harming ourselves thinking that we were not suitable for such an ambitious task, we were all looking after experts in diverse areas to have a short meeting with them to receive their advice. We managed to get all the traction needed to help the entire community of 800+ people. Just in three months, without any clue of how to do stuff.
So as I jumped out of the bus and started to climb up, I used that same technique. I would ask questions to almost everyone, about what to do, where to go, how to complete the trek on time to be able to get back to catch my flight. Because I had not idea about what to do, really.
As much as I could have prepared myself for this trek, there was no way I could foresee any of this. I had no clear plans, no clues about where to go and how to follow the route for the next days. Yes, a guide would have helped in this situation, but there will not always be a guide. I had a picture in my phone of the map, a rented backpack and a rented sleeping bag, and much energy to climb up. And so I did.
Being clueless has about the way to do the things I want has somehow proven to very exciting for me. Somehow, the innocence of not knowing the dangers or the ways to do something, freed me from personal obstacles I would otherwise created to just prevent myself from doing what I want.
Back in 2012 I had an idea to begin a social project in Peru to help impoverished communities in the highlands to survive the deadly cold weather in winter. Together with a group of 7 friends, we pulled off this project in less than three months. None of us had previous experience in anything related to a non-profit organization, and we were not legally established as an organization. We were all 18/19 year-old kids hungry to do something.
We were all clueless. No experts in the team, no “guides” within the team. But reflecting back on that experience, the formula for what we considered to be a successful project at that time, revolved around one action: we asked questions. Instead of harming ourselves thinking that we were not suitable for such an ambitious task, we were all looking after experts in diverse areas to have a short meeting with them to receive their advice. We managed to get all the traction needed to help the entire community of 800+ people. Just in three months, without any clue of how to do stuff.
So as I jumped out of the bus and started to climb up, I used that same technique. I would ask questions to almost everyone, about what to do, where to go, how to complete the trek on time to be able to get back to catch my flight. Because I had not idea about what to do, really.
This were my first little guides! - With Nabin (13) and Asuma (6)
And this is what I learned:
Let’s not be afraid to ask
Everyone seemed so sure about their lives, about what they were doing, about where they were going, that I could have felt intimidated to ask. I had none of those things figure out. But I guess I was more concerned about having a place to sleep that night than about what these people would think of a lost and unprepared Peruvian in the Himalayas.
I was lucky to have met an incredibly friendly group of Australians. After asking all my questions (and I mean literally all my questions) to them and their guide, they invited me for lunch. And from then on, I was part of the Australian gang. I spent the next day or so with them, sharing one of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. And it all started with a simple sentence: “My friend, can I ask you a question?”
An advice is not a command, you take it or leave it
I received many advises for how to better prepare myself for this trek: from mom and dad, to tour guides in Pokhara, to random friends I met in restaurants. But I guess the funniest sort of advice came from the locals during the trek. The scale in the map I got sucked, so I needed to rely on people to calculate distances. Distances in a trek are a mind-game. But the interesting thing about asking locals is that they ALWAYS would say “30 minutes”. Even after walking straight for 20 minutes, the next person would tell me “30 more minutes” almost until I would arrive. Nepalese people are truly kind, hospitable, and whole hearted. But they are terrible at giving the time it takes to get from a place to another.
I sometimes even tried to negotiate with them the time: they would say 30 and I would try to bargain to 15, as if that would be of help. But the truth is that they were giving me an advice, a suggestion, an opinion. I could take it, or just leave it. I could walk pissed that they are all wrongfully directing me, or I could thank them for making a 3 hour trek seem like an eternal 30-minute one.
It is ok to not know everything
Thanks to the fact that I went so unprepared, and without a guide, is that I was able to have one of the most amazing experiences in Nepal. Not-knowing allowed me to open myself and ask people for answers. Not-knowing forced me to listen carefully and be more aware of my surroundings. Not-knowing drove me to try to know more.
By being aware of my ignorance, I went out to meet the people who would have the answers I was looking for. Of course I found surprises, wrong answers, and confusions. I asked sometimes the wrong questions, to the wrong people. But that is what made my trip so unforgettable. There is no way I can be an expert in everything I want to do, but there are experts out there, it’s just a matter of being able to authentically connect with them.
Quote winnie pooh: “It’s more fun to talk to someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘what about lunch?’” – Winnie the Pooh
Let’s not be afraid to ask
Everyone seemed so sure about their lives, about what they were doing, about where they were going, that I could have felt intimidated to ask. I had none of those things figure out. But I guess I was more concerned about having a place to sleep that night than about what these people would think of a lost and unprepared Peruvian in the Himalayas.
I was lucky to have met an incredibly friendly group of Australians. After asking all my questions (and I mean literally all my questions) to them and their guide, they invited me for lunch. And from then on, I was part of the Australian gang. I spent the next day or so with them, sharing one of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. And it all started with a simple sentence: “My friend, can I ask you a question?”
An advice is not a command, you take it or leave it
I received many advises for how to better prepare myself for this trek: from mom and dad, to tour guides in Pokhara, to random friends I met in restaurants. But I guess the funniest sort of advice came from the locals during the trek. The scale in the map I got sucked, so I needed to rely on people to calculate distances. Distances in a trek are a mind-game. But the interesting thing about asking locals is that they ALWAYS would say “30 minutes”. Even after walking straight for 20 minutes, the next person would tell me “30 more minutes” almost until I would arrive. Nepalese people are truly kind, hospitable, and whole hearted. But they are terrible at giving the time it takes to get from a place to another.
I sometimes even tried to negotiate with them the time: they would say 30 and I would try to bargain to 15, as if that would be of help. But the truth is that they were giving me an advice, a suggestion, an opinion. I could take it, or just leave it. I could walk pissed that they are all wrongfully directing me, or I could thank them for making a 3 hour trek seem like an eternal 30-minute one.
It is ok to not know everything
Thanks to the fact that I went so unprepared, and without a guide, is that I was able to have one of the most amazing experiences in Nepal. Not-knowing allowed me to open myself and ask people for answers. Not-knowing forced me to listen carefully and be more aware of my surroundings. Not-knowing drove me to try to know more.
By being aware of my ignorance, I went out to meet the people who would have the answers I was looking for. Of course I found surprises, wrong answers, and confusions. I asked sometimes the wrong questions, to the wrong people. But that is what made my trip so unforgettable. There is no way I can be an expert in everything I want to do, but there are experts out there, it’s just a matter of being able to authentically connect with them.
Quote winnie pooh: “It’s more fun to talk to someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘what about lunch?’” – Winnie the Pooh
