Solo Traveling Tips

Tip 01 – Have your own notes

Write down everything that you want to know about where you're going. Your flight details, taxi fares, routes, even mine had weather predictions.

  

This is my note to Zipline. First flight time. Then I had a taxi to take to bus terminal. Taxi fare is there (Philippines taxi drivers are complete another story). Then I had 2 busses to take. Bus fares, estimated travel times, additional advises also there. That information I found reading TripAdvisor and Google Reviews. Then hotel phone numbers, booking references and everything.

I knew I'll be landing in completely alien places. To be familiarized, I took printouts of Google maps and places. You might not have internet where you go, your battery may be dead, but still you can use this.

People who have been with me on trips (The ones I get to organize in SL) know how I organize stuff. Finding places to making routes. Simply I don't want anything to miss after going 200, 300km. Googling is the best way to find information.

Tip 02 – Update someone

Have someone updated about your journey. Easily you can use WhatsApp or Viber.

The ones you pick to update should have a decent history of replying WhatsApp messages at least. In my case these 2 and my parents knew where I was, where I'd be going, estimated time to destinations, and time to start panic. Once I made to my destination points, I updated them. Just small WhatsApp messages. Also they all had hard copies of my schedule of stay, Hotel phone numbers and detailed itinerary.

  

I'd trust my life with these 2 any given day. And of course these 2 knew more than my parents. The crazy stuff I'd be doing and all. My mother still doesn't know about the zipline (Even still, January mid). And not a word about Whale Sharks. She's sensitive as a sensitive mother can be. See how she's panicked for me for standing on 2 feet water, but she doesn't know that I swam with whales :P

In Philippines, Police shot at sight if they suspect you as a drug Lord. (Hope you're aware of their new President, if not refer some western media. But Filipinos love him. He's doing a good job; just the issue is his mouth). Civil casualty, as their President himself said, it's civilians responsibility to take care of themselves. Kill a drug lord, no bound for civil deaths, but reward is 50000 pesos (close to $1100). And human trafficking and kidnapping rates are very high. (Even my 2 friends will learn this part now. I knew but didn't want them to give extra headaches). And be very careful with Philippine taxi drivers. Those are concerns for Solo Travelers. That's why updating someone is important

Tip 03 - Secret pockets, Fake wallets.

I got my tailor to make 2 extra secret pockets in my shorts. He charged me only Rs 100 (like $0.75) for each pocket. I clearly told him this is what I'm going to do, this is how I want them and sizes. In that pocket I used to keep my very valuables like passport, and greater extent of money.

I used 2 wallets, one real, and one fake. The real one is more than a wallet as it was a present from my Granny. When I was in grade 8 (2002). Since then I kept it and under no circumstance I'd let myself to lose it. Fake wallet also had 2 expired debit cards and lesser amount of money, which I used to pay taxi fees, bus fees and for goods I bought at shops. If I ever encountered a robbing sort of a situation (Note 'IF' ), I'd throw away the fake wallet and run. The time robbers busy with fake wallet would've been enough for me to get my head out of danger, that’s what I thought, if I ever got into trouble. But nothing like that happened. Philippines is absolute safe to travel. But you never know. Better be prepared. These are very easy things to keep your stuff securely. Even for the local trips, I hope this would help. These photos I took in Oslob, the night before I went to see Whale sharks.

Tip 04 - Medical kit.

I had medicine for stomachache, toothache, Panadine, Detol, Plasters, ASAMODAGUM, bandages, Siddalepa, Wintegeno, and few tablets for any kind of pain. Also that liquid to clean eyes in case a refuse stuck in my eyes. I'm a bit regular customer in Nugegoda Cargills, as you know they've a pharmacy. I know those guys and I told them what I want, they got my medicine important-as-they-thought prepared (Since I know them, I didn't have to give a prescription. And last year I went South Korea, back then also they got me prepared the medical kit). I spent like Rs 400 or 500 for that. Nothing much, very simple. Used it when my legs got wounded in El Nido while snorkeling. Wintegeno I used for legs after trekking rice terraces. You never know what to expect, so be ready

Tip 05 - GLUCOSE! GLUCOSE!

Traveling burns your calories one heck of a lot. Taking 2 packets of glucose was accidental but one of the wisest decisions I've made. Recently I was calculating my travel km within Philippines. It was 4543 km. Just to give you an idea, Colombo Manila distance is 4562km. I traveled 1896 km on the road and 2647 km on air. 9 days, 6 air routes, 8 planes, 8 take offs. Trust me when I had my last flight to SL from Kuala Lumpur, as soon as I got on to the plane, I fell asleep. I felt the plane was moving, so I thought it was on a runaway. Then suddenly I woke up, by then also I thought it was still on the runaway. Once i checked my watch only I knew it's been good 45 mins since we've started flying. Traveling is exhausting, you get lack of sleep, and you need energy. Except for the transportation I drained lot of energy doing trekking, swimming, of course thinking as well. So, GLUCOSE is your nectar. You don't necessarily need to have it, just add it to your water bottle. Whenever you feel fatigue, have 2,3 sips. One of my biggest challenges was to stay without getting fainted. If I fainted at any point, things would have happened in ways which I don't even want to imagine. So, have glucose with you.

This is very vital.

Tip 06 - Personal Kit

Other thing is personal kit. I had wet wipes, ( In case you fear of nature calls and water . So, substitutes. පිලිපීන් කාරයො නම් හොඳට පස්ස හෝදන ජාතියක්, so whole lot of wet wipes I took there, I brought them back  ). 5 Maliban Gold Marie, Sugar packets and tea bags. I'm a Maliban Gold Marie fanatic (Not Tikiri Marie) so I took them just in case. And it was very useful. Couple of nights and 2 bus rides, I missed something to eat but biscuits kept me away from feeling hungry. Plus glucose water. Sugar I couldn't find small packets but those days we had our annual office functions, so I took few sugar packets Mount Lavinia people(the ones in BMICH) kept when they served Morning and evening tea . So, that's how I solved sugar issue. Big packets, 1st time open, big headache. Small packets, one time use, end of story. Unless for these I would have been in a serious trouble. Gastritis, headaches and all. So, have some separate food for yourself. I didn't do this but I'd recommend, take few Milo packets with you. The place I stayed in Oslob, Stop 'N shop Inn people seriously need to be praised for this, they've kept Milo packets and a kettle inside the room. Didn't find it anywhere I went. Life saviors. I took these pics there.

Tip 07 - Mental Preparation

You've money, you've a destination to get lost, and now you can do solo traveling?

Na na you can't do it like that. At least I don't recommend it. Solo traveling needs some guts, I'm not boasting but to do the amount of things I did in Philippines alone need some serious balls. Just telling you before your pseudo-confidence put you in danger. During solo traveling it's you, yourself and ONLY yourself. That's a weird mental feeling. You'll realize this in the very moment you get isolated. So, before traveling abroad, do a solo travel within your own country first. 

As for Sri Lankans Arugambay would be ideal as it's rural, tough conditions, but a tourist area, though there are Sinhala speaking people, majority muslims speak Tamil. Some tuk tuk guys don't even understand Sinhala. [But they do know 50 in English(Taxi fee)]. So, get yourself lost among your own people first. Feel the solo traveling feeling, in case you can't bear it, you still can give up and come to your home easily.

At least go Kandy and spend 2,3 days traveling each place alone. So you'd know the level of mental pressure you'd be absorbing( I did all those crazy stuff forgetting my travel insurance at office ). Preparation is the key, I did solo traveling here, took 2 diving lessons before I went. (බයවෙන්නෙපා, මහ ගානක් නෑ රුපියල් 500යි. scuba diving is costly), read truck load of reviews, watched zillion amount of YouTube videos. By the time I went to zipline, I even knew the best camera angle. I do take risks for adrenaline, but calculated risks. Simply 'Risk nothing, has nothing'.

So, mental preparation is the final tip. There were downs. But, whenever I was passing that tough patch, I thought "by the time I hit my 60, will I regret not doing this when I was 27?". 

You only have one life to live.

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