So far, I never did a more-than-two-days solo travelling. Well, I almost did once when I visited KL during new years eve in 2012 but I teamed up with a friend there. And finally I got the chance to do it right before I went home earlier this month. It was a five day-ish trip to The Netherlands, to Holland to be precise. The trip was awesome, I loved the cities’ architecture. the canals, the windmills and the bicycles.
I ended up visiting six cities during my trip: Amsterdam, Delft, Kinderdijk, Den Hague, Volendam, Edam and Marken. Everybody knows Amsterdam, the busiest metropolitan in The Netherlands. To my surprise was that this city was awesomely beautiful. The old houses by the canals having the signature architecture of the time are simply great achievement both in art and engineering. A trivia, the canals in Amsterdam are filtered once every three months to keep them from having foul smell. Another interesting spot in the city is of course the red light district. Ladies over red-pink-ish windows and weed’s smells are over the place. According to James, the guide from the city free tour (I recommend you to do this tour on your first day of your trip), the district itself is partitioned into several areas, which served different segment of customers, yes they are so business minded.
Delft is a small yet beautiful city, which is famous for its TU Delft (I was admitted to the university, but no scholarship :D). It is a perfect week-end escape from the busy Amsterdam (45 minutes by train) or The Hague (15 minutes train). Kinderdijk is a must to visit for engineering and history geeks where the originals windmills are kept as part of the UNESCO world heritage. Volendam, Edam and Marken are must visit places if you were in Amsterdam. You can explore those cities within a day by buying a day ticket for only 10 EUR.
Ok, now lets get back to the topic. Travelling alone can be a challenging feat to do, but it has perks that you may consider. First and foremost is the freedom to do what you want and need to do, schedule wise. At some point your priority may change and need to rearrange somethings. This won’t be a problem when you’re alone, if not then you have to compromise. When you are travelling alone you have a lot of time thinking and wondering while exploring the cities, and perhaps you might find a cool idea for a startup, which not in my case tho. Lastly, solo travelling expands your comfort zone which at the end will give you new experiences that you might not encounter when you travel in a group.
On the other side of the coin, as you travel alone that you have to rely on yourself to plan the itinerary. This may be tiresome (even more if you’re a lazy person like myself) but again, it is OK if you don’t plan it in details as you have the flexibility to plan later on. No friend to talk to maybe is one of the most difficult hurdle while travelling alone (for some people). However you can make new friends with other travellers and got to know more about their countries, cultures etc, which will broaden your knowledge and open up your mind.
So I guess the takeaway is don’t be afraid to do a solo travelling once in a while, expand your comfort zone and see the world!
ps:
Amsterdam is actually better visited with the loved one as it is kind of romantic place, and it has been added to my wish list.
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“ps” nya itu perlu ditulis ya pal? =))
biar ga lupa san, wish list itu :))
berarti udah kesampain ya mas “nge-trip sendirian” 😀
http://wp.me/pfdsh-8w
hehe .. iya sih, but this won’t be the last 🙂
just one pic and not red light district ? madness!
those are private collection bro, and there’s a saying the best picture is best captured by eyes not camera 😀