SO, I've been back almost 1.5 months and I'm finally going to update about my 21-day (and first!) solo trip to Taiwan. It's not my first time there - in fact my 5th time (?). The last time I went was just last August! 

You can read about my previous trip with Jasmine Tay here: 

- Kaohsiung

- Kenting

- Taichung

- CingJing 

- Taipei

And these are where I went for this solo trip:

- Hsinchu (city)

- Miaoli

- Taichung

- Tainan (city)

- Penghu (Magong, Qimei)

- Taitung (Green Island)

- Hualien (Ruisui Township)

- Yilan (Luodong)
- Taipei

 I must say I really enjoyed wandering around alone and on days when I make friends, I do get excited telling them where I'm from and hearing stories from them as well. I didn't know I could be so independent and there were even some last minute changes/plans which made the trip exciting and adventurous. I probably had an easier time communicating with the locals because my mandarin is not too bad (hahaha) but there were definitely days when I miss speaking in Singlish. (I recall once speaking to a new HK friend and I suddenly inserted a 'lor' at the end of the sentence!)

There has been so many articles circulating around on the internet, and it's about how solo trips help you find yourself or gives you a new/fresh perspective about life. I don't know if it has happened to me, but one thing for sure, you'll feel liberated from whatever is pulling you down. For once, you don't have to live for someone else. You don't have to care about what others think of you - you do anything without worrying being judged because you're in a foreign land and you can just be yourself.

For this first solo trip, I explored places in Taiwan which I've not stepped foot on. It's really good for solo trips (best if you can speak mandarin), not just Taipei. There's definitely many more places I would love to cover, but sometimes being alone can be a pain in the ass - e.g. it isn't peak season for the period I went so it's kind of difficult to find companions from hostels who wants to embark on same journey with you. I wanted to cover places like mountains/ trekking up hills etc. 

For this solo trip, I only booked about a month before departure date so tickets weren't exactly cheap. In addition, it wasn't really a very budget trip but prices were taken into consideration - must be reasonable!

Total spent: $2,700

Air tickets (Scoot): $340

Accommodation: $700

The rest were spent on travelling around (such as air tickets, buses, trains, which I will be putting the prices as I cover the places slowly), admission tickets, some packages for water sports/dolphin-watching/ white water rafting and food (which I spent a huge bulk of it hahaha). I didn't do much shopping, only bought a pair of shoes, some food and books!

It is definitely possible to spend lesser than that, because the books I bought were probably at least $300. Food too, because I didn't spend most of my meals at night markets (got sick of smelling oily food). 

The main objective of the trip was to spend time alone and do whatever I feel like without having to compromise for another companions' needs. If I felt like doing something, I go ahead. If I felt like eating a particular thing for dinner, I go ahead (without looking much at the prices). If I get tired, I rest.

And the best thing, because I walk a lot and have irregular meals (sometimes brunch or sometimes a really late lunch), I lost 2kg! Muahaha

BEFORE THE TRIP

Of course, book early for cheaper air tickets. Always be on the lookout for cheap air tickets. For accommodation, I liked to have a good mix of hostels and budget hotels/ hotels. Sometimes, some places just don't have hostels and you'll still have to go for the latter. The best part about hostels: making new friends. And best part about hotels: you can your own bathroom, TV, and a big bed to yourself hahaha. 

I like Booking.com because there's no charges for cancelling the rooms! This is very important if you want to have freedom in your itinerary. I met a lot of travellers who have no itinerary at all (sadly, I am one who lives by itinerary and have to book accommodation in advance because I'm afraid to sleep on the streets hahaha) so they only book as and when they feel like moving on, which is something I would want to try on my next solo trip. 

Some of my beds/rooms were booked on Agoda - sometimes they have cheaper prices but a downside, they have a USD15 cancelling-charge which is crazily expensive. I also had 2 good stays from nice hosts who placed their BnBs on Airbnb.

It is when I stay in hostels that I realised there's many other girls who are doing solo travelling too! My room mates were mostly from China or Hongkong, though I hoped to make some Caucasian-friends (secretly). And this mean no handsome angmohs too. Hahaha..

Minsu (or B&Bs/ alike budget hotels usually run by the locals themselves) are also popular in Taiwan. If you can google in Chinese, you can search for 民宿 and the place you're heading and I'm sure a whole list will appear. Some of these aren't listed on websites like Booking.com etc because they're small businesses. However, their rooms can be really nicely decorated, with awesome themes too!

It is also pretty important to note the peak periods (generally peak periods mean expensive lodging) and the weather or maybe I should say, the best/good periods to visit that country. I went in June which everyone around me said it'll be crazy-hot and raining (and monsoon season or what-not). Yes, it was hot but not humid. It did rain (almost) every day but most of time they were light drizzles or short showers. Might be dampening on some days when you hope it's bright and sunny (like when I decided I want to hike a hill or visit a lavender garden). Speaking about lavender garden, I badly wanted to go and I was disappointed because it wasn't the blooming season for lavenders (zzz). And this is why, the period you're going is important if there's some things you are dying the see and you don't want your mood/plans to be destroyed by the weather.

If you can, go make an International student card too! I brought mine along and I didn't know it was expired. Thankfully none of the counter people realised.

PREPARATION FOR THE TRIP

Thanks to Sam's mummy, she lent me a 50 litre Deuter backpack for this trip. It's really comfortable on my shoulders and enough to contain all the things I need for the 21 days. I had a big Timberland day pack (borrowed from my mum) which came in handy on the last day because I bought too many books/food and the Deuter bag contained all these stash while my clothes were stuffed in the Timberland bag. 

I brought a sling bag too because some days I wanted to carry something slightly smaller than a backpack. But usually, my bags are heavy because I have all these: 

• My Lumix camera
• Instax camera
• Wallet (I bring my whole stash of cash out because I feel unsafe keeping them in the hotel/hostel's locker)
• Passport, maps, itinerary
• Handphone and ipod
• My pouch which contains moisturizer, eye drops, pad, eyeliner, mist spray
• A bottle of water (which I always buy a new one from 7-11 because it's cold and cheap!)
• A SELFIE STICK! 

The selfie stick is really important for a solo trip because at some places, there aren't any single soul around to help you take a picture and when your hand isn't long enough (like mine) to take a good shot with a herd of goats or cows. Really super handy though you might feel judged when a random guy walks by. 

I shall update about the start of my trip in the next post. #iamlazyalready

If you're thinking about a solo trip but afraid to take the first step, choose somewhere you're familiar with but of course, with new places you can explore. Go on!