Who's never heard about solo travel? I think everyone knew and maybe some of you have tried or considering it at the moment. I've tasted tried it and I actually love it. Not that I have a lot of chances to travel alone, since I wasn't independent before June 2018 (I was still a student until last year). But since I got some chances at solo trip, why not?

If you're considering this type of traveling, here some of my tips and trick and what to prepare for your solo trip..... All this tips and trick are based on my experiences, so it might not be perfect or work for you, but it'd be nice to have a head up before you jump into solo trip.

1. The Basic Plan

Unless you're an expert in surprised-unplanned trip, then yes, you need to plan it (half-way or thoroughly). As for me, I'm more into planning it thoroughly and see what will happen on the field that day.

For starters, decide your destination.

If you're a beginner at solo trip, start off with countries that quite save for solo traveler, specially if you're a girl. My first solo trip was to Nikko, Japan. It was a 2D1N trip to hot spring near Nikko and since I lived in Tokyo at that time, it's not that different to me. The only difference was I got no one to talk to. My second solo trip was to Seoul and Busan, Korea. It was really great because the aunties helped me a lot with direction and I got a lot of freebies even though I was quite confused as how to communicate since I don't speak korean and not many can speak fluent english... As you can see, both Japan and Korea are save for solo traveler, even if you're a girl.

You can also check some of this website for more recommendation on the destination...

My Life's A Movie

Tea Cake Travels

Matador Network

Solo Traveler World - They put the affordability, cost to get there and safety (the writer is based on Canada)

In this step, you have to do a rough research on what you're going to do there, anything you're interested in like the festival, amusement park, the flower season, anything. This research on your purpose of the trip will help you decide on the next step: When and How Long.

After you decided on the destination, ask yourself for the when and how long question.

It's best to decide to go on your free time, like summer break or take a time off from your office, or if you're on the freelance side like me, you can decide on the festival or seasonal theme. For example sakura season in Japan, or Holi festival in India, or Lantern Festival in Thailand. After you decide when, next is to answer the "how long will my trip be?" question.

Once again, please consider your own availability. If you got a tight time off, then maybe you can't explore much or go to far away land. If you got the time, then you can decide on a week or 10 days vacation to a far away land.

The next step is to see your finance.

How much can you spend on this vacation? or how much are you willing to spend on this vacation? The bigger you're willing to spend on your vacation, the greater it will feel. I mean, you won't think twice to book a 4 star hotel, or take a taxi everywhere you go, or enter an expensive restaurant, or maybe enjoy a bit of massage or spa on your vacation. But if you're in the tight budget kind of traveler, you can put more of your money into the activities rather than on the hotel and transportation.

The quickiest thing to do is to go to trip advisor and ask the senior or ask your friends who had been to your trip destination or a friend who live or are from your trip destination.

The additional step is to see how long do you have to save your budget.

If you're happened to be like me, the beggar who doesn't want to travel in tight budget, you will try to save your money for at least 6 months. FYI, I saved my allowance money for 7 months before I took a solo trip to Korea, and 11 months for my upcoming trip to Thailand this year.

If you have 6-12 months to save up, you can save bit by bit, but if you only have 1-6 months to save up, better save a bit more or just take your emergency saving. LOL... it's not recommended to take your emergency saving though... but if you're in an urgent situation where your doctor advice you to take an immediate vacation, then it's an emergency.

2. The Intermediate Plan

You've graduated from your basic plan and there're next steps to consider....

Do more advance research.

Yes, you know your purpose of the trip, but you're not going to do it everyday, aren't ya? Go search on historical places, restaurant, street food to try, nature attraction - things like that... I usually write them down on my notebook; the name, the address, open hour, fee, what can be found or see, and how to get there. Write everything down, or maybe just copy-paste it into your microsoft word.

Here, in this step, I usually look at surrounding district or region if I got a week vacation or so... I will look at how to go there, if I need another plane ticket or train or bus... and how to buy train and bus ticket for between city travel. If it's only a 2D1N trip, better forget it and just focus on your main destination or purpose.

After you got the outline of your itinerary, book your plane ticket.

As for me, who wants to travel without worries and cramped legs (I've got long legs so yeah....), I will recommend you to look at travel fair. I'm not sure if your country has travel fair, but if it has, go check it out. Prepare your credit card for the additional discount! ;) But if you're okay with budget plane, tyou can skip the travel fair.

You need to keep checking until the price is in the lowest (if you have time before your trip). They said wednesday is the best time to buy plane ticket, but I'll say check it everyday for 2 weeks or several months prior to purchase.

After you got your flight ticket, prepare the document for VISA application.

Not all of us have the Singapore or USA passport, so yes, some of us need to apply for VISA. Go look at the embassy website for the list of necessary documents and apply for your visa. This step is not needed if your country has the leeway of free entry to your trip destination, like mine is to ASEAN country...

3. The Advance Plan

This is the final preparation step before you can relax ;)

make your fixed itinerary.

This is exclusively for you OCD traveler out there, a.k.a my companion. Yes, I usually type all the information I wrote on my notebook into excel. I separate them into date and time, place's name, how to get there, and additional info like fees and open hours. I printed them out as my bible (beside maps) while I'm on my trip...

next is book your hotel(s).

Don't forget to check all your dates, don't double book, don't miss the date. I missed a day before and I had to spend NYE in Jimjilbang back in Seoul. It's one of unexpected experience and somehow nice in a way, but if I have choice, I will pick a personal room rather than the bunk bed in jimjilbang... LOL

The last one is to change your money. 

Check the rates and if you're lucky, you'll get a cheaper rate for your upcoming trip.... even a penny difference counts. ;)

Additional step is to buy amusement park ticket, or transportation discount ticket (like JR pass if you're going to Japan), or book a wi-fi for your trip. This might be additional, but quite necessary for  extra enjoyment on your trip.

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Korea trip images are mine, taken by Sony A5000

Okay, so I went to watch Lion King at Singapore, and had a free day after that, so me being me, and the fact that I haven't visited Singapore for 5-6 years made it like super short trip. My cousins and I decided to go around Bugis and Haji Lane. We took several pictures and just strolling around until late night. It was quite fun, and I hope I can do it again soon!

Hello again sweetheart (^⌣^)ʃ

I've been wanting to explore Kyushuu area ever since forever, and I got the chance right after graduation. My parents and I planned a trip to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Yufuin. I actually wanted to go to Fukuoka and more places near Nagasaki, but since my parents have another schedule right after our trip, I just packed all of it into 1 week vacation.

Why Hiroshima-Nagasaki?

Because of my dad influence, I always feel I have to learn something new whenever I travel. It can be everything like the local culture, history, the art performance, festival, anything! And this time, both my dad and I felt like visiting the memorial of world first atomic bombing to actually remind us the effect of war and well, it's part of my country's history too.....

► HIROSHIMA ◀

We went to Miyajima Island first thing in the morning. A bad move when the tide will go down in the afternoon to evening, but it's still beautiful nonetheless... We need to cross to the island with ferry, but it's cheap. The island itself is quite big and there are more than just the floating torii.. As we don't have a lot of time (as we kept stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures), we only go around the the Itsukushima Shrine, the torii, and the five-floored pagoda.

After Miyajima Island, we went to Atomic Bombing Memorial Dome. The feeling when you saw a picture of the A-Bombing Dome and actually going there is so different. There're the victim memorial hall and museum, and students project wishing for world peace. They also have local tour guide to explain about the historical stories behind this dome.

There's also a bridge near Hiroshima station (and it's literally beside our hotel) and it's a nice place to take picture too..

► NAGASAKI ◀ 

As for Nagasaki, we decided to stay a bit longer here due to a lot of tourist attraction and nearby amusement park, Huis ten Bosch. You can see there are influnces from chinese and western countries in Nagasaki as they have a lot of chinese temple and church. Even the atmosphere is not like in Japan. When I was there, there's no international tourist on my sight, or maybe it's just my bad timing. But I really love the place.

Some places I visited in Nagasaki:

 ● Oura Church

 ● Clover Garden (literally beside Oura Church)

 ● Nagasaki Peace Park

 ● Sofukuji Temple

 ● Chinatown

 ● Urakami Cathedral

After walking around the city, we decided to go to Huis ten Bosch, an amusement park located in between Fukuoka and Nagasaki. It was beautiful, every corner can be snapped and put into your social media. And according to mom, it's not as childish as disneyland, so she was happy when I brought her here. Her reason was the tulip flower. We enjoyed our time here, but the weather was against us that day. ^^a the wind was horrible and it's really cold. Maybe a trip around May or June would be better.

Could you see? Our pictures had to be taken several times due to the wind... and when you're travel alone with your parents, you just can't expect your picture would turn out all good, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's weird. Everytime I took pictures, the wind blows, and in the end I had to put on my sunglasses just to make everything a bit better...

 ► YUFUIN, OITA ◀

After Nagasaki, we went our way across Kyushuu and found ourself in a small onsen town with the-oh-so-cute small shop along the main street. It was quite far from the big city and the train was not as frequent as in Oita. Most of the visitor are from Japan and Korea, as it's not main destination for most countries. But let's give this cute town a bit of exposure. 

If you're a fan of Ghibli, or if you love cute places, cute food, cute shops, and onsen, you definitely have to come here.

I can't recommend specific shop or food, or in better words, you have to try every food they sell since everything looked good...... and our trip was ended in Yufuin. It was hard to leave the place, but I'm sure I will go back again.... and I'll see you again in next post ;)

pssttt............ tell me which one is your favorite place or if it's in your wishlist bucket.. or if you have question or if you want some tips and trick for your trip to Japan ;)

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Photos are taken with iPhone X

by mom, dad, and I (we just take turn)

See you again sweetheart!