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It was 2010 and I was just 23 years young. I had been working as a Paramedic for around 6 months, was single and finally earning a decent enough income to pay my mortgage and actually have some savings. I had wanted to travel for years and it was at this point that I knew I had to venture out and explore the world.
Have you ever been somewhere that has made you completely rethink your life? The time I spent alone in Thailand did this for me.
I had applied for my passport and had spoken with a friend about joining in on a group trip to Mexico in a few months time. We were eagerly planning our venture to small and remote surfing towns around the coast as well as a trip over to Peru to experience the amazing Machu Pichu. The day my passport arrived I had a message from my friend. Half of the group going had dropped out; they were planning on a trip to Bali instead, which left just my friend, her boyfriend and I going. I certainly did not want to be the third wheel and much to my disappointment I told her I would give this trip a miss too.
I was upset for the next few weeks – I had time off scheduled from work, had just paid for my passport and had the money saved ready to go. Then the light bulb switched on. I’d go on a holiday on my own. I had previously dated a guy who managed a large holiday consulting business and we were still friends so I contacted him straight away. His first question was the most obvious one ‘Where do you want to go? What an amazing feeling – I could go anywhere I wanted in the world. I had two weeks off work to be away, I had enough money to have a relatively decent holiday and I would be travelling alone. I had always wanted to go to Thailand – the country fascinated me. The culture, the landscapes, the beaches, the history. I was sold.
My holiday was booked a week before I was due to leave the country. I was going to stay in Phuket for 2 weeks. Admittedly I was quite conservative about where I went, going on my own meant I was extra cautious. I had never been out of the country before so the whole experience was going to be new. Words could not express my excitement.
My mum was terrified because I was travelling alone. To be honest I was too… but the fear was exhilarating. I read up on all the travel tips I could, registered with the government details of where and when I was going to be and eagerly started packing.
The day of my flight out of the country came and the butterflies in my stomach were running rampant. Don’t think about it. Just do it. My younger brother dropped me off to the airport and all of a sudden that was it – I was alone. I’m the kind of person that has always liked having people around. I am just as comfortable around 50 people as I am 5. At the age of 23 I never really liked being alone. But I was loving this.
I went through all the usual motions of checking in and clearing customs and border protection. I went looking around at the Duty Free shopping (note – duty free shopping in Australia is still expensive) and found a decent café to sit back at and attempt to relax before my flight. The excitement levels stayed high and 10 hours later I had landed in Phuket.
My research had told me that leaving the airport and bartering with a taxi were events almost worthy of ‘professional’ classification. I was told to always agree on a price before getting into a taxi and to never accept the first offer, always offer one third of their stated price. So that’s exactly what I did. We finally agreed on a price half of what the taxi driver’s original offer was. I was so chuffed with my bartering skills I ended up tipping him extra anyway.
I’m lucky the taxi driver didThailand is full of colour - these are Tuk Tuk's, Thailand's version of a taxi. At night they have loud music pumping and all kinds of lights flashing. They are an experience all on their own. n’t speak much English and didn’t attempt any conversation because the drive from the airport to the hotel had me lost for words. Thailand is a third world country that thrives on tourism. It is energetic, eccentric and the most amazing place I had ever seen. The traffic was, at best, chaotic with mopeds and taxis tooting their horns at each other, weaving in and out of ‘gaps’ and pushing their way through the masses of motor vehicles that are on their roads. Driving along I would see a gorgeous internationally classed five star hotel followed by a beaten down shack with feral dogs roaming around. Then, every so often, over a hill or around a bend, I would catch a glimpse of the most stunningly blue ocean I had ever seen. I was in absolute awe.
Within a few days of arriving in Phuket I had found my bearings, become more confident in venturing out and the staff at the hotel had realised I was staying on my own and were incredibly attentive. They would offer a staff member to walk me back to my room at night and insisted on hailing the cab from the street for me to pick me up at the front reception of the hotel so I didn’t have to walk out to the street alone in the dark.
Thailand was a stark contrast to Australia, the Thai people were always smiling, always pleasant and always respectful. The service was amazing, everywhere you went and during my entire stay there I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe. The people here stopped what they were doing to talk to you, they were genuinely interested in who you are and what you were doing, they smiled a lot and were incredibly generous.
While I wanted to spend a lot of time relaxing I also wanted to see as much as I could. So in normal tourist style, I signed up for a few tours. I liked to know where I was going and when so I had everything mapped out. Each of the tours I went on was amazing, and with each of them I became more and more open to new adventures and to meeting new people. I fed elephants, rode on the back of a water buffalo, took cooking classes, snorkelled the amazing waters around Phi Phi Island and that’s just the beginning.
Travelling alone meant I was more open to meeting new people, and during my tours I met the most amazing people, most of whom I still keep in contact with today. I was free to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to see the places I wanted to see and if I wanted to spend a whole day shopping then relax by the beach then that is exactly what I did. I had never been so focused on myself in my entire life, and it felt good.
Prior to my holiday I waThe gorgeous green waters surrounding Phi Phi Island were amazing to see - a place so magical makes you appreciate the beauty in the world. s always doing things for other people, either because they needed help or because it was what I thought they wanted me to do. I was so determined to make everyone else happy that I had left my own happiness by the wayside. I had needed things to be organised and scheduled, but Thailand was not an organised and scheduled place – things were laid back and everyone was happy! The world wasn’t falling apart if there were no timelines in place or ‘to do’ lists to be done (okay I’m still hooked on the ‘to do’ lists).
Towards the end of my second week I sat down by the gorgeous pool at my hotel to write in my travel journal (remember writing… with pen and paper). While I was writing I noticed that the way I was writing had changed. At the start of my holiday I was very succinct, I would write what I did that day and not write about my take on things. Reading back it felt unemotional and cold. My writing had started to show more of myself in it, I was allowing myself to write about me, about how my experiences impacted on me and how I felt on my holiday. I had shifted my focus from my outside world to myself and I started to feel proud of myself and what I had achieved. I no longer felt like I had to do more or be more, I was starting to feel like I was enough.
After I arrived home from Thailand I kept this momentum going. I now valued my own self worth, I started spending more time on me and spending more time alone and I loved it. I still helped out others a lot, I liked that part of myself, however I now balanced it with spending time on myself. I joined a gym and started eating healthier – I wanted to be the best version of me I could be. I was incredibly happy to be on my own, my own company was enough and I didn’t feel as though I needed a relationship to be of worth. I was far more open to new experiences and wasn’t as terrified to be out of my comfort zone.
Thailand made me realise that I was important too. Being in a country where you don’t know anyone, where you can’t just call someone or go and see someone, and where when you speak to people they ask you about yourself forced me to actually think about who I was and what I was doing. It was the absolute best thing that could have ever happened to me and was a massive turning point in my life. Thailand still does and always will hold a special place in my heart. I have been back since and spent another month there, exploring different places. I plan to go back again in the not too distant future and will continue to visit the place that made me realise who I am and who I wanted to be in this life.
Have you ever had a major turning point in your life that sent you on a new positive direction? Tell me all about it in the comments, I would love to hear your story.