Pure adventure, but now alone

Heyho dear ones. :)

Yes, I'm actually still alive, even though the two girls now have to shiver in cold Germany. So this is the first blog entry by a solo traveler Philine. After I brought Hedda and Lea to the airport and said goodbye to them with tears, I would have liked to just fly home or just sit unhappily in a corner. Fortunately, my mind prevailed and I realized that both options didn't sound very promising. So I grabbed my things, ran to the bus to Phuket Town and forced myself to listen to cheerful songs (including Don't worry be happy) and grin. It must have looked pretty silly, but actually it helped, maybe because I just had to laugh out loud when the bus made a full stop, everyone flew halfway through the bus and looked very offended (at least almost everyone laughed along when I burst out laughing like that). My actual plan was to travel to Chumphon by night bus to get as close as possible to the border of Myanmar (my soon-to-expire visa is already waving). Unfortunately, this plan quickly fell apart when I finally arrived at the terminal after eternal driving and was told that everything was closed. 'Well, then I'll just stay here in Phuket for one more night, there must be a hostel here' I thought, but nope! Since I didn't have internet (no Google Maps), I just walked around aimlessly (of course, once again in the wrong direction) and found nothing, except for later two hotels, which were unaffordable for me. I didn't even have that much money with me. At first it was still quite funny, but eventually desperation set in and that's probably what I looked like when I went to the next expensive hotel to ask if there was a hostel somewhere. Because the woman at the reception was a little worried and tried to organize something for me. Fortunately, I remembered the name of our last hostel in Phuket, so I could simply say that I wanted to go there. She made a lot of phone calls and finally even ordered a scooter taxi for me, which was cheaper than a regular taxi. So 10 minutes later I sat on a scooter with a driver, my backpack and hand luggage and drove through Phuket. After 5 hours of travel with all kinds of means of transport, I finally arrived at the hostel and could laugh about the whole action again. Because afterwards I found out that (before I went to the bus terminal) I was already very close to the hostel and could have saved myself 3 hours. Well, that's what happens when you travel without internet and without a plan. That evening I even met Pedro, a Brazilian backpacker, who actually wants to travel around the world. That sounded really inspiring. So I exchanged a bit with him about everything and then fell into bed exhausted (unfortunately without air conditioning, but with a fan - accordingly I was really glowing from the adventure).

Fortunately, on Thursday I caught a bus to Chumphon, which drove for a wonderful 10 hours. But by now I have noticed that you get used to these long travel times and when someone says the bus takes 8 hours, you think to yourself 'Well, then at least I can sleep for a long time'. Anyway, I arrived at the hostel around 11 p.m. and was so tired from the mountainous journey (with thunderstorms) that I went straight to bed.

Actually, I wanted to stay in Chumphon for a while, but that quickly fell apart again, because I found out that you can't just enter Myanmar that easily. So I decided within a few minutes that I quickly have to continue towards Bangkok. But since I still have 4 days, I'm currently making a stop in Hua Hin. So after 5 hours of bus ride and 30 minutes of walking, I finally (once again in the dark) arrived at the Buathai Hostel and can say that it is the most beautiful hostel I have stayed in so far. The people here are unbelievably hospitable and come and sit down with you and want to know everything. I also met other backpackers and spent the next day at the beach with them. The next plan is that I travel to Bangkok by train (for only €1.10) together with Caroline, a backpacker from Holland.

All in all, you don't have to worry at all. Even though I had incredibly big doubts before, I now realize that everything works and will work. I enjoy being able to decide spontaneously within minutes where I will travel to next. And of course, I have already met so many new people (backpackers but also locals) within a few days, which I simply didn't expect. I am really happy with everything here right now, and in a few days even happier than a lark, when this visa story is finally sorted out. The adventures continue busily and time flies by (a whole month is almost over - crazy, isn't it?!)

Warm greetings from hot, sunny Thailand to cold, Christmassy Germany. Eat lots of cookies for me. :)

PS: There is still a blog entry coming up retrospectively about the last few days before the big departure, which Lea and Hedda will write from home. :)