30 before 30 | Bent Road

As I ended my trip for the 28th country I’ve visited, I also ended my quest to travel to 30 countries before I turn 30 (which is 22 days from now). Unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances, I have to put my trips on hold. I am party disappointed that I will not be able to finish what I planned but still ecstatic that I was able to do achieve one very important goal I’ve set for myself when I turned 29 — to travel alone for the first time.

What I discovered about traveling alone:

THE PERKS

1. I could make my own schedule without having to consult or think about anyone else. I am actually very obsessive about time and schedules. The problem with traveling with my husband or anyone else, this is usually not followed. So I was pretty proud that I was able to do the things that I wanted on time all the time.

2. It was very easy to keep track of expenses. No one to remind to tell me what they spent for the day 😛

3. The one thing that I loved the most about traveling alone was meeting a lot of people. I was apprehensive about talking to people that I really didn’t know but I knew I had to or else I would’ve ended up not talking to anyone the whole trip. But I made friends and that made me really happy.

4. I truly enjoyed the freedom I had when it came to taking pictures = no husband to nag me about having to take pictures, no waiting for the husband to take pictures of every single thing that he sees. It was the freedom that I’ve been waiting for all these years.

5. I had a lot of time to reflect about my life.

THE DISADVANTAGES

1. I realized how lonely it was to eat on my own. I would eat on my own here in Manila but I suppose it’s different when the place you’re in isn’t home.

2. I hated riding taxis on my own. Not really happy with the Vietnamese taxi drivers.

3. No one to tell my stories to at the end of the day.

4. I realized how easily I get bored. I mean really really bored.

5. Had no one to take my picture! 😛 I enjoyed not having to take pictures too much that I actually forgot to ask people to take my picture. I only have pictures of myself at the airport.

So I’m pretty proud and happy that I did it. At least now I know it is something that I can do and it is something that I would definitely do again 🙂

I have exactly 5 months and 28 days to complete my 30 countries before 30 target- 3 countries left to be exact. In theory, this should be an easy task but I don’t think I’ll be able to explore a new country until early next year with my schedule in the next 3 months. But I’m ecstatic that I’m actually getting there because I never thought that it was possible (and crossing my fingers that I complete my list). Luckily, my husband had to go to Germany, took me with him and made me plan the itinerary so that I could add new places to my list (he’d been to 2 out of the 5 in the list below). This was definitely one of our best trips ever 🙂

New countries I visited in the last 3 weeks:

1. Switzerland