Black regular = original post from 2015-me.
Maroon italics = commentary from 2023-me.
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Random, but I thought it'd be fun to do to this after seeing Fb's "on this day" reminders once again this year. Out of all my travels so far, there's only one trip that I truly regret not writing about - my very first solo trip on 10-19 Jun 2015.
That was one of my final trips on exchange in 2014-15 and there were 2 distinct reasons for deciding to go solo. The first was purely practical - many of my friends already had trips planned with their families in the summer. The second, cheesy as it sounds, was that I wanted to challenge myself. I learnt how to travel on exchange and after a year of roughly fortnightly trips around the UK and Europe, there was no better time.
Looking back, I really started off big :O 10D9N across 5 cities in Europe, all on my own. 8 years on, here's some additional reporting just for the fun of it, built on the 10 Fb posts I made on each of those days and some photos I dug out of my hard drive!
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Time to 报平安 (I hope that's how it's written). It'll be terse, coz wifi is lousy. So, I reached in one piece. Weather's currently like London unfortunately. Forgot to bring my ray bans :( Made friends! Went out for dinner with 2 other girls in my room (one from HK one from Australia). Chatting goes well with 0.5L of beer along with pork in beer sauce. Suffice to say I'm v full now. Looks like my travel plans correlate quite a bit with the HK girl's so we'll be seeing more of each other along the way.
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Haha this is so cute. I know I decided to do this daily update to let everyone know that I was well and alive somewhere in Europe.
Ah wifi. As a student, there was that undying need to save on every last tiny thing. So spending on data roaming was never a consideration. If you ask me now, I couldn't do without it. But back then it was business-as-usual to go offline for swathes of time until in range of free wifi.
Also looks like I was friendly enough! It's nice to meet people for the first time and start talking as though we've been friends forever. Those were the days of staying in 6/8-bed female dorms in youth hostels. Nowadays, it's more of single (hotel) rooms for the comfort and better sleep. Fortunately, there are still other ways to make friends.
There was actually a lesson I learnt on that day that I remember till now, but which I deliberately left out of the update. That is to check the baggage guidelines properly whether for check in or carry on. (Not all full-fare airlines allow multiple check-in pieces, just saying). Anyway, I faced a lil hiccup before I even left London. I was flying out either on Easyjet or Ryanair (can't rmb). Whichever it was, the airline only allowed 1 piece of cabin baggage. I had 2 pieces (backpack and duffel) and was surely under the overall weight limit, but was still singled out and made to pay about £45 before boarding. I wasn't equipped with any sort of negotiation skills back then and was prob an easy target. My fault for not reading all the pages on the flight booking but really... cheapo airline. My return flight was on the other budget carrier and they had no piece limit. In any case, I put it behind me after arriving safely in Munich and proceeded not to let it ruin my 10 days ahead.
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Day 2, 11 Jun 2015: Munich
Went to Dachau concentration camp memorial and spent 5.5 hours there. History is intriguing even though it can be sickening. The picture below shows the roll call grounds and the prisoner barracks in the distance. Got back too late to do museum hopping, so I hopped elsewhere instead - around marienplatz, English Gardens, odeonplatz... basically wherever that took my fancy coz I'd bought a 24 hr transport pass. Public transport is lovely, just as easy to navigate as back home. And they have proper street signs!!! Compared to other places I've been, I really like Munich. Gotta stop relying so much on gps though. Nearly walked into a pole - four eyes no use if glued to screen. Oh, and turns out HK girl is staying in the same hostel in Salzburg as me. What affinity :)
Day 2, 11 Jun 2015: Munich
Went to Dachau concentration camp memorial and spent 5.5 hours there. History is intriguing even though it can be sickening. The picture below shows the roll call grounds and the prisoner barracks in the distance. Got back too late to do museum hopping, so I hopped elsewhere instead - around marienplatz, English Gardens, odeonplatz... basically wherever that took my fancy coz I'd bought a 24 hr transport pass. Public transport is lovely, just as easy to navigate as back home. And they have proper street signs!!! Compared to other places I've been, I really like Munich. Gotta stop relying so much on gps though. Nearly walked into a pole - four eyes no use if glued to screen. Oh, and turns out HK girl is staying in the same hostel in Salzburg as me. What affinity :)
I'd landed in Munich without much of a plan. My itinerary back then was literally just the cities I was visiting, the flight and train bookings, and my hostels. Maybe coz I was busy with exams or smth. But the good thing was that youth hostels usually came with free, brightly coloured maps of tourist attractions and I was happy to rely on those. Quite different from now where I plan my itineraries in detail haha. In this case, Dachau was a recommendation from the Australian girl at my hostel who also commented that my 10 days, 5 cities plan was rather rushed. 2023-me agrees with her, but no regrets on the epic exposure on the first solo.
I still very much agree with 2015-me that public transport is lovely though. For solo travel, cities with a reliable, well-connected MRT rank the highest.
No idea why I was so impressed by the street signs. There must've been somewhere else with much less impressive street signs.
Day 3, 12 Jun 2015: Munich --> Salzburg
Made the last use of my 24 hr travel pass getting to marienplatz from my Munich hostel. Tried to while time away walking around and in a toy museum but still had lots to spare so I sat at a cafe and read. On to Salzburg where the weather was a huge improvement from Munich's consistent London. It's not a big place and there are obvious tourist areas but the rest is quaint. Was v much tempted by choc pretzls but decided not to jeopardise dinner. Mirabell gardens is beautiful. Dinner at augustiner brewery where two of us were the only asians around - thinking back I'm surprised that I was surprised. Drizzled. Off to Hallstatt tmr!
Haha and not too long ago I was writing about spoiling dinner thanks to a croffle in Busan... Still the same. I guess the difference was that it would be very awkward to be too full at a dinner with someone else. I wonder why I chose to have a modest 0.5l mug amongst all the Austrians with their 1l + refills hahaha. Could be due to $$$.
I guess the habit of bringing some offline form of entertainment started in those days of no data roaming. It makes me wonder how I managed to meet with my friend too when we were both out of the hostel. Might've been the old school way of setting a time and place in advance, but I can't rmb.
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Day 4, 13 Jun 2015: Salzburg/Hallstatt
Had a hard time choosing a photo to share, so here's 3. Took sooo many coz (my roomie was right) Hallstatt is REALLY REALLY BEAUTIFUL. But we mustn't forget the getting there. Hallstatt is a bus-, train-, then ferry-ride away from Salzburg. Usually takes 2.5 hours in total but because I took the train in the wrong direction, my journey was 1.5 hours longer -.- There were quite a few others who made the same mistake and I'll explain this blurness in my blog. Even before the ferry docks all cameras come out in a photo-taking frenzy. Just wow you know. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. And for once I wished that I'd had proper skills/better equipment for this. Walked up to the waterfall but most of the sights were better on sea level. Oh and it was very, very hot. I didn't check the temperature, but I'll definitely be coming back darker than I've been for some time.
Back in Salzburg I didn't think I could sprint up to this green area on my map called Mönchs and get back before dark, so I just went for a quick round in the city centre. Where everywhere was closed except for sit in dining places. A question burns: in a diet of beer and pork, where does fibre come in? Unless of course beer is a vegetable, just like my dad says ;)
Gotta be up early for my train to Vienna tmr!
And here I am explaining said blurness on my blog, 8 years later. It was simple. There was a single train track in front of the platform, with a sign beyond it reading "Hallstatt -->". However, the first train came in this way <--. I and many other tourists got on because that's what one does when a train comes up at the only platform in the place. I can't fully rmb the rest of it, but I think a train/station staff enlightened us at some point and everyone got off to wait for the --> train to Hallstatt. It was hence a good thing that I didn't have detailed, packed itineraries back then and had no pressure to rush back for anything. Wouldn't have wanted to miss out on fully exploring the small but beautiful alpine village of Hallstatt.
Knowing what I know now, I would've given Salzburg, my second favourite stop of this trip, more than a measly 2 days. The city was quaint and lovely and felt quite different from the other 4 stops. Also, Salzburg was the shooting location for The Sound of Music and I'd have loved to go twirling around on the green hills too hahaha. Maybe next time, this is definitely a place I wouldn't mind revisiting!
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Day 5, 14 Jun 2015: Salzburg --> Vienna
In a 10D9N trip something's gotta give. In my case it's Vienna, where I'm only spending one night. It's unfortunate, coz it's really huge with so many things to see. To make up for lack of stay I reached early and will be leaving tmr evening. Had planned to make full use of the day to wander, but it was hot to the point that it became draining. Temperature reached 32 deg C! Supposed to be my kind of weather but v hard to tahan man. I think I've been in the UK for too long. But because I have a 24 hr transport pass (love these) I simply went back to the hostel for a rest. See picture below of Karlskirche - beautiful sunny day with cloudless blue skies, and boiling. At least there were many park benches in the shade almost everywhere. [Also walked pass a small bouldering area ^^] I had my dinner on a park bench - a bratwurst hotdog and beer which was nice but I struggled to finish. At the same time nodding away to the old lady beside me speaking to me in German about some rowdy kids in front of us. It was obvious what she was speaking about and also that I couldn't take part in the conversation, but I think she was happy just to have someone listen. Today really shag man... hope the weather's just A BIT cooler tmr xD (sorry weather I'm that fickle).
Oh wow tsk and I thought the Salzburg stop was short. I rmb that the weather made the Vienna stop not that fun. It wasn't just an issue of the temps or that I wasn't used to it but moreso that, aside from the park spaces, the city was very concrete and the air was dry. So humans tend to bake.
Can't quite remember what I did in Vienna other than stroll in the parks and one street market. Haha "wander" really was a nice word for "no planning". I think people told me to go and listen to operas (like standing at the back for a cheaper price), but I wasn't that interested. While my current impression of Vienna is that it's a city of culture and history and that there should be lots to do, it might have made more sense to skip this stop and spend more time in Salzburg given my interests. But 2015-me did not have that in mind. The priority then was to squeeze as many stops into one epic tour as possible xD
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Day 6, 15 Jun 2015: Vienna --> Budapest
Spent the daytime covering the major sights in Vienna. Amazing architecture, but more on those another time :) Good decision to visit the shopping areas ytd since this being Sunday, most places were closed. It was again scorching, but rained in the late afternoon (macam tropical haha). Fast forward to Budapest where EVERYTHING has exceeded my expectations so far. Esp the gleaming metro (certain lines) and aircon in my hostel room! Tbh I haven't had good sleep for the past 5 nights for various reasons. Even then I dun get sleepy in the day. Since my body seems to be on perma high alert I think I'll crash when back in London. But that's a care for another day. Right now I'm excited to see Budapest tmr after hearing so much about its beauty :D
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Ok I have no idea what the amazing architecture was (could be the few photos I unearthed below) and why everything was closed on a Sunday D: Haha dammit. But I can't blame 2015-me, writing takes time and I know I was very busy enjoying the last of exchange xD This was the first of 3 trips that summer (the other 2 were Cornwall and Santorini which I never wrote about either) and while in London in between, I filled my time with musicals, museum visits, and packing to go home after a year.
I have a random memory of eating sushi alone in a restaurant and wonder if it was on this day before I left for Budapest. But nowadays, I can't be sure if my mind is making memories up, which is part of the reason I still blog haha.
The high alert thing still holds true esp when I travel solo to a new place. Gotta take care of ownself, make sure I don't get lost and none of my possessions get lost. And also this was in Europe with areas known for pickpocketing.
Such a student thing to be excited about aircon in the accoms haha. As yet, I still don't mind staying in hostels and have done so this year. But must be single room and definitely with aircon xD
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Day 7, 16 Jun 2015: Budapest
The easternmost point of my journey, such a beautiful place. With a huge river, high viewpoints, majestic architecture and a good overall mix of modern and rustic, it's like the perfect photo backdrop. I have such a short time here I was forced to cover many sights today, which I managed but takes stamina. My pace won't suit many others, so esp today, going solo was a boon. Aside from marching between sights, I spent much time simply marvelling. High points next to the river are awesome, and the second picture is my favourite view from up on Gellért Hill. Also pictured are St. Stephen Basilica and Heroes Square - the first and final sights I visited today. Definitely had quite a bit of exercise lol, including running in the burgeoning rain. Physically exhausted but satisfied :)
Oh, and I had dinner with my occasional travel companion. It's the last time our paths will cross this time round, but the world is small. And SG and HK how close ;)
And here it is, my favourite stop of the trip! In fact, Budapest was prob one of the top few travel locations in my whole exchange. It was clearly my kind of place just that I didn't know it before the trip haha. Apart from being the safer and more practical option for solo travels compared to rural nature areas, I actl like cities. But not all cities. If I weren't from SG, I'd like travelling to SG no kidding. It is the balance between infra and nature that makes all the difference. Throw in culture and history for a well-rounded package.
This little passage from 8 years ago brings about a strange sense of familiarity. Maybe it's coz in recent years I've found and repeatedly visited a place on this side of globe with the very same characteristics I loved about Budapest - Seoul. I was just looking at that shot of the Danube River from up on Gellért Hill... What 2015-me pointed out as a favourite... Wow, it looked so much like a much more recent photo from a highpoint next to the Hangang in Seoul (below).
Some of the places I visited other than those alr named: Parliament Building, Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and the Great Market Hall. Overall a very good mix of locations!
I did meet HK girl once more after this trip. That was in Apr 2018 when I visited HK on my second solo trip - which I didn't write about either lol. I haven't visited HK or been in contact with her since (not unusual considering the events after 2018), but it's natural that not all friendships are everlasting. It's enough that some people pop by just for bouts of good times in life!
Day 8, 17 Jun 2015: Budapest --> Prague
Spent the morning doing some final sightseeing in Budapest before being stuck on the train to Prague for 6.5 hours. Nth to report on that. So let's talk about food instead! The way I roll is to have a good bfast + one more proper meal each day at whatever time I like (usually dinner time). Of course my bag always contains bananas/Kellogg's bars just in case. I'm not eating less to save money - I've got such a small appetite this arrangement suits me well. This also means I get to spend more on the one meal if I want (and which I have done :D). Tonight's dinner: roast lamb leg with potato & carrot mash which was really good! Along with 0.5l of beer, total cost was 278 CZ or £7.80. The beer was roughly £1! It's that cheap coz it's Prague. But European beer was made to be drunk by the litre anyway (such stomach capacity I dun possess, unlike the Germans/Austrians with their 1l refills...). One last thing: I was eating in a pub with my phone and map for company. Kinda wished I had a friend around :/
Haha a whole chunk dedicated to food. Standby energy bars are still a fixture in my backpack, esp since my itineraries these days are intentionally arduous xD But the heavy breakfasts only applied to those hostel days where free-flow breakfasts were usually included in the cost. Nothing fancy, just many many packets of sliced bread, spreads, cereals, milk and fruits laid out in the pantry for hungry kids to fill their stomachs. It was a cost-effective and convenient way to fuel up and breakfast was my favourite meal of the day anyway. So I never used to bother with lunch and looked forward to a good, early dinner around 5pm. Since I've upgraded to staying in hotels, have to ownself settle breakfast (I usually don't opt for hotel breakfasts unless included by default) and lunch.
Now I see why I didn't go for the 1l mug of beer back in Salzburg.
Hmm... It seems like I was already missing my newfound friend back then. I usually have no issues with eating nice meals alone. That said, occasional company on a solo trip does help to balance out and elevate the experience. As I've said in other posts, I've been very lucky so far on my travels.
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Day 9, 18 Jun 2015: Prague
I actually had to double check which day of travel I'm on now. Today was (by my standards) pretty chill, but I'm sleepy. Nice windbreaker weather in the morning, perfect temperature and sunlight. First, I went for a free walking tour around the old and new towns by Sandemans. Highly recommended for their ability to engross and entertain (my guide at least)!!
And then I consumed beer enough for some sense-blunting effect oops :O Beer museum experience includes 4 tasters for 200 crowns (student price) so why not! I'm not sure exactly how much was in each glass, but they're definitely bigger than 0.2l. Which means I had close to 1l of beer in total, in the afternoon. So I've learnt that: the difference lies in the aftertaste, I like darker beers, and taking photos under even the slightest influence of alcohol is irritating. The sun always seemed a bit too bright after that and I'm irked by non-level photos which is why I gotta go back and sift before posting any.
Anyway, after that I made my muffled way to Prague Castle and back to near my hostel for another good, cheap dinner. Without beer this time xD Contemplating my plans for tmr, and it looks like it's gonna be another chill day before my flight back to London.
First, I wanna tell 2015-me that there's something called photo editing xD Gotta do lots of that esp when taking photos of the horizon or skylines~
But yes, the beer-tasting was a good memory. I spotted the museum on my map and made it a point to visit. It's just fitting given that the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world (uh huh, I never knew till I visited either, always thought it was the Germans oops). So visiting a beer museum in Prague was akin to a chocolate museum in Brussels haha. I guess they can drink that much since even my student-self found it cheap. 200 crowns is about S$12.50 today. That much can barely buy one glass of draft beer in SG lol.
It seems even young early-20s people get tired huh hahaha. I'm not surprised tho. After a few more experiences, I'd recently landed on 9D8N as the ideal duration for a solo trip. So 10D9N was a tad too long and it looks like chionging across that many cities also took a toll. I don't really rmb how I settled on 10D9N, but I my guesses are flight costs and packing limitations.
I was really curious about that "good, cheap dinner" but looking at my additional photos below... I'm guessing it must've tasted much much better than it looked xD
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Day 10, 19 Jun 2015: Prague --> London
Reached hall safe. I have a fantastic to-do list out of which 4 things deserve immediate action: bathe, eat, and sleep but perhaps the one that takes precedence should be to figure out what the hell is leaking in my bathroom.
Pressing matters indeed. So in advance, I bid good night, or good morning, whichever's more appropriate. And not forgetting ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! First solo trip and back safe and sound :)
When I got back to London, I found that my hall bathroom was leaking so much (prob over a few days) that it had flooded into the room. My room mate was also off on travels. All I wanted to do was to crash on my own bed the moment I returned, but first I had to report the ponding to hall management to get it cleaned up. What a way to officially end the trip lol.
Truly an enabler of fun times and I'm not about to stop xD Here's to more travels ahead! And the freedom and $$$ for it~
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