However, I was inspired by people like blogger QuaChee and also some of my own friends who like traveling alone. Besides, I wanted to experience a solo backpacker way of traveling.
My mom have always insisted that I do not travel alone. She said, where's the fun in traveling alone? And you look like a fool all by yourself! Well, am I glad I didn't listen to her advice! Sorry, mom! : )
By now, you would have probably known that I went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah or more famously known as KK for my holidays. This was absolutely my first time there and I was thrilled!
My original plan was to go with my friend to climb Mount Kinabalu. We had planned for this since last year. I still remember it was sometime in November last year. I was about to book the lodgings at Mount Kinabalu when my friend called to say he had to cancel the plan due to a personal reason which I won't disclose here. That was such a disappointment!
But I have already bought the AirAsia tickets for us both! What to do? It was then that I thought, why not just go by myself? And experience solo travel for the first time. Since it was my first time to KK, I decided to see more of KK instead of climbing the mountain.
Backpacker image courtesy of clker.com
Now that I'm back, I have to say that I did not regret traveling alone at all! Although sometimes, it would be good to have a travel partner whom I could talk to or discussed with, I think making those decisions and choices during the trip all by myself have given me a new sense of freedom. I also don't have to put up with my partner's likes and dislikes. I enjoyed the freedom to do whatever I wanted without having to discuss with my travel partner first.
As for looking like a fool backpacking alone, I sure don't feel it that way. I have bumped into many solo backpackers in KK and made friends with them. Making new friends during a trip is sure a nice change when previously, I used to keep to only my travel partners or family members. Having said that, I don't make friends with every backpacker I met cos some of them were sort of weird. So it's better to stay away from such travelers.
Traveling alone this time gave me an entirely new experience which I don't think I will get to experience if I were to travel with others. I was more observant with what's happening around me.
Take for instance my flight with AirAsia. Every time before take off, AirAsia will always announce some of the do's and don'ts. I normally ignore such announcements as I would be too busy chatting with my travel partner or family members. However, this time, since I had no one to chat with, I was all ears.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
When I heard that you should keep your seat upright during take off and landing, I was wondering why.
And when they announced that the window shades must be kept up and open during take off and landing, I also wondered why. It's incredible I just took these things for granted previously!
And then they also dimmed the lights during the landing at night. Why do they need to dim the lights? And allow people who wish to read to switch on the reading lights? And what's with these avid readers who could not sacrifice a few minutes of their reading time during landing? Come on!
OK, I have to admit that I am a pretty ignorant bastard when it comes to air travel, but well, at least I dare to admit it! Haha! I sort of went through these questions in my mind while in the plane and I think I have some logical answers to them. But first, let me hear from you all. Do you know the answers to these questions?
I have to say that despite watching the flight stewardess demonstrating how to put on the life jacket numerous times in the past, I have never ever mastered it! Even this trip I did not succeed in learning it. Guess I'm a slow learner. Haha! In any case, if there's a real need for the life jacket in an emergency, I think I would be too panicked to remember the steps!
I also noticed that they kept reminding us not to use the handphone for the duration of the flight. But we were allowed to switch on our laptops, iPods and CD players during the flight, although not during take off and landing. I wonder how important these rules are, and if the use of handphones have ever caused a plane to crash before.
Sitting in the plane for 2 and a half hours with nothing to do, I decided to browse through the in-flight AirAsia magazine called Travel 3Sixty that was provided at every seat. Was I glad I found a good website that could answer most of my questions. If you are interested, check out this 'Just About Flying' site!
You can also submit any questions you have regarding flying and air travel on this site. Now if you are thinking of searching for the answers to my questions above, do think them over first and see if you can come up with the answers yourself.
Coming up in my next post - My First Day In KK
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