#6: Plan A Trip

I used to sit around, jealous of my friends who were married or otherwise in relationships, jealous that they always got to take trips abroad because they had a travel buddy. They had someone to share a hotel room, and they had someone to hold hands with while they walked around a city or someone to take pictures with at the tops of mountains. I love all of my girl friends, but the truth is a lot of them are married by now, and even when they weren't, I wasn't sure we'd make ideal travel companions. I am a very...particular (re: strange) person. That is why, after all, I live alone and don't have a roommate.

I thought I'd have to wait until I was in a relationship with someone I knew I would not murder or would not murder me before I ever went anywhere exciting for anything other than work. However, after a work trip to Hong Kong when I was 23, I had caught the travel bug. It took  me a few years to plan another big trip, but eventually I made my way over to South Korea to visit my friend Katherine and her husband who were living there. After that, it was London, and pretty soon, in celebration of my birthday, I'm going to Mexico. Once, when I lived in New York, I even booked a suite at the Sofitel for a night by myself and ordered room service, watched tv, and had a king size bed all to myself.

While I was meeting up with people in Seoul and London, I did travel alone. I must say, there's something really satisfying and grown up about knowing that you paid for your trip, you took the plane by yourself, and you didn't need anyone's help to do it. There's no reason to wait around for the perfect travel companion when you've got yourself.

Alex, knower of all things and constant source of knowledge, even introduced me to the "explore" function on Kayak.com. This is a cool way to see what kind of trip you can take by entering in your budget and dates. I believe this is how Alex decided to go to Lisbon a few years ago. As always, she is an inspiration.

So, start your search today! You should absolutely not be waiting around for anyone else to do the traveling you'd like to do!