“I’ve never felt lonely,” this is what I told people whenever they asked me about my solo trips. However, for this trip, I did feel lonely on several occasions.

There were many instances when I was truly alone and feeling lonely. I was one of perhaps five guests in the whole resort in Koh Lanta for three days. The nearest shop/restaurant was a good 15-minute walk in the dark and the area was almost a ghost town due to it being the low travel season. I had time, lots of time, and I had to figure out how to kill boredom (other than plotting against the two roaches in my room). I’ve always had no issue spending time by myself, but the lack of human interaction was strangely uncomfortable this time round.

28 days, 12 flights, 4 countries, countless bus and boat rides later, I am now at the airport waiting for my final flight home. This journey has been eye-opening, and will remain the greatest adventure I’ve set foot on for a long time. It won’t be a couple more years before I embark on another big trip.

Maybe it’s the people I’ve met, the click-on-first-interaction connections, the old friends I’m finally seeing, but bidding goodbyes were really hard. In fact, I found myself bawling twice bidding goodbye to the people I’ve met. April-May has been filled with too much goodbyes, or it might be my hormones fucking me up (period days are right round the corner), but I truly appreciated every conversation I’ve held – with strangers or friends.

I don’t know what the future has for me. And I surely have no idea where these friendships will go, but I know that these memories I’ve made will stick with me for life, and they will be stories that I continue to tell even as time passes.

Love,
Olivia L.