My solo trip to the Philippines was probably one of the best trips of my life, even though it wasn’t without its bumps and challenges. I chose to stay in a hostel for all ten days of my trip and each stay was in a shared room. I’ve stayed in somewhere close to 30 hostels during the last decade, so I wasn’t a stranger to the shared room situation.
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1. You will stand out
I distinctly remember my flight from Cairo to Bahrain. It was late. I was beyond tired and I had already flown across Egypt earlier that day. I was looking forward to curling up in my cramped airplane seat and trying to get some rest. -
If I only had a nickel for the amount of times I’ve gotten lost on a trip. Scratch that, I’d love a dollar per time. I might as well make it worth it. As someone who loves to plan, you’d think that this would happen less often but it’s hard to prepare for every single scenario. The first time I went to Buenos Aires, for example, a friend and I made our way across town using Uber and assumed we’d be able to find WiFi again to call another one to return to our Airbnb. That was clearly the wrong assumption.
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Cuba is a country I was excited to cross off my bucket list; beckoned by vibrant colored buildings and the promise of energy thick in the air. Naturally, on my first day in Havana I was eager to explore as much of the old town as possible—camera ready at the hip. The day, however, didn’t exactly go as I planned. I remember turning down a bustling street, enticed by the soft music coming from an open window, but immediately stopping short when I heard someone whistling in my direction.
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I remember sipping my piña colada at the hostel bar in Boracay in the Philippines, relishing the taste of fresh coconut. There’s just something about drinking that cocktail when you’re steps away from crystal clear water with the sun lazily warming your shoulders that truly encapsulates the feeling of vacation. A group of girls joined me at the bar and I leaned over to recommend they also order the piña colada. They needed to know how life changing this drink was. We naturally started chatting and the topic of age came up, a theme I was starting to notice was common in hostels.
