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.
Actually, does using VPN with that bring it's benefits?
ReplyDeleteUsing VPN is profitable overall, so you do wanna check bestvpnrating.cоm
Delete