This year has been, and is set to be, probably one of the greatest years of my life. After enduring the crazy whirlwind that is living and teaching in Shenzhen, China, I decided to embark on another crazy adventure, solo travelling East Asia, and, more importantly, crossing a shit-tonne off of my bucket list.
The idea of travelling solo, was initially never on my radar. Honestly, the thought scared the hell out of me. Prior to moving to China, I had never travelled alone, and for good reason- for as long as I can remember I have suffered anxiety and depression, which can, in particular, often be crippling in the face of the unknown. Walking into a room of strangers and making friends? Nope. A cancelled bus or train? Mental breakdown. New and unusual place? Tears. And yet, I somehow decided to throw myself into this deep pool of uncertainty and unfamiliarity for the sake of not letting this bullshit thing that fucks up my emotions stop me from living my life.
I originally planned on travelling with a friend, but when her life went in a different direction, the wanderlust thirst was still strong inside of me. Life ends at the start of your comfort zone right? It was time for me to pull myself out of my internal hole of fear and start living and be free. I had to teach myself that I could be everything that I wanted to be. Yes, I am aware this post is full of deep, soppy cliches, but hey, cliches exist for a reason right?
So I decided, fuck it, I’m going to do this alone. I had four months to kill between my old job in Shenzhen and new job in Japan, and they were going to be the best four months ever.
So many people told me to not plan too much, to just go with the flow, moving from one place to the next as I get bored. Now, lets bare in mind that the pure thought of this trip made my heart beat faster than the fast lane on the M25, and gave me fear sweats that could probably fill up the entirity of Lake Como. Any uncertainty=breakdown. The travelling free plan wasn’t going to cut it for a hyper anxious me. Besides, I like to plan travel. Rocking up to a new place and not having a clue stresses me out, not to mention the fact that, generally, I like to know what I’m going to do so that I can emotionally prepare. I’m a bit of a mess, I know.
So I basically planned four months of travel before I even left, and now that I’ve been on the road for quite some time, I’m pretty grateful for it. Granted, there are definitely places that I’d have stayed in longer, and some shit holes that I would’ve left ASAP, but I feel like if I was totally plan-less I’d still be at my second stop, Yangshuo, living up a karst mountain somewhere. So, I am grateful for my crazy, hyper-anxious planning, and want to help others too.
To get to the point, I’m going to share this what I’ve done/am doing on this crazy trip, including my hella extra itinerary. I hope to blog about each place- my experiences, dos and don’t, vegan eating, the progression of my mental-heath and all that other shit that gets me going when I travel. Maybe I can help other travellers and mental-health sufferers dreaming of taking the leap themselves. Maybe I won’t, but I’m going to document it anyway. So, without further ado, here are all the cool places I’m lucky enough to travel to on this trip:
Phnom Penh- 5 days
Otres Beach- 1 week
Malaysia- 4 days
Kuala Lumpur- 4 days
Taiwan- 1 week
Taipei- 3 days
Taichung- 2 days
Jiufen- 2 days
South Korea- 1 month
Seoul- 1 week
Gyeongju- 1 week
Busan- 1 week
Jeju- 1 week
Japan- 3 weeks
Tokyo- 1 week
Kyoto- 4 days
Nara- 2 days
Hiroshima- 4 days
Osaka- 4 days
I decided on each location by considering what I want to see, what I enjoy, and of course, my budget. Also, in China, I was particularly restricted by visas, hence the craziness of that month! I’ll be covering each place as I go along, so more posts coming soon!
I will do a much more extensive post on this in the near future, but I quickly wanted to say that after experiencing three months of travel, not only does my mental health feel a billion times better, but the whole idea of laid-back travel doesn’t freak me out anymore. Although I will forever be a crazy anal planner, I for sure could take a trip without these levels in the future. But, for those who fear uncertainty and like structure like me, this is for you.
Enjoy!
I love your itinerary! What an adventure! Hope you will enjoy it to its fullest 🙂