New Zealand

I woke up the other night in a panic. I was in my own bed, but the thoughts raced, “What am I going to do in this new city tomorrow?”

The hubster has been has been away on a rural clinical rotation in the middle of Florida for 2 months. During the week, I’m sleeping alone. Don’t feel sorry for me, it’s a new king-sized bed and I sprawl out in the middle with my ginger kitty smack-dab next to me, while I’m wearing my Spice Girls tshirt and no pants.

Ah, the life.

But as I was going to bed that night, the thought struck me that I would be doing the same in less than a few weeks, alone, in a new city, on the other side of the earth, in a foreign place that didn’t speak my language. I brushed it off and went to sleep.

Clearly, the thoughts stayed around for my dreams.

I know myself. I’m a bit more anxiety-driven than most. It’s certainly improved over the years, but there are moments that I do tomorrow’s dishes and cause unnecessary worry. I think part of the reason I haven’t thought of traveling solo to Hong Kong much was because I knew if I did, I’d start worrying.

What if my debit card doesn’t work and gets eaten by the ATM and then I’m left with no access to Hong Kong Dollars while I’m there, so I have to resort to selling my body to earn dolla dolla bills to pay for some dim sum from a street food vendor?

See? I’m crazy.

I put together an excel spreadsheet of possible things to do while I’m in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. I sent it off the floozies I’m traveling with in Australia and New Zealand. I haven’t gotten a response yet (when this was written). Most likely because they’re thinking:

THIS CHICK IS NUTS.

In most instances, when traveling, I’m over-prepared. I like to know options of things to do, I want to know the layout of the city, I scout out reviews on TripAdvisor of the best room with a view. But, I learned pretty quickly after having to cancel out trip to Southeast Asia this past summer, that looking too much into things can set up high expectations.

Canceling our trip was a gut check.

I haven’t done a ton of investigating for this upcoming trip besides putting together the options of things to do.

Nothing is planned in regards to what is going on for certain days, really at all.

I’m on a flight to Detroit, heading back for the holidays, and I’m getting a quick glimpse into what I’ll be doing for hours on end while alone on a plane. (Get prepared for a backlog of posts, peeps!)

Yes, I’m actually currently flying with the hubster, but he’s back in coach.

Yes, I’m for real.

Yes, it’s hysterical to say that.

But, real talk. This is what it will be like for me while I fly alone to Australia (15 hours), then to Hong Kong (10 hours) and back to the US from South Korea (14 hours).

Let’s not kid ourselves, (okay, the 2nd 3rd glass of wine is kicking in…) having my laptop open, listening to my tunes (Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight) while writing at 30,000 feet without any interruption besides the beautifully dotted night landscape of the land below is the bomb.

Shouldn’t say bomb on a plane.

Lock it up, C9.

I know I can do this solo travel thing. I’m a pretty friggin’ adaptable gal. I mean, I learned pretty quickly that even in South Florida I needed to bring a jacket into a restaurant to acclimate myself the the nauseatingly cold A/C that blasts from the ceiling.

Once I push through feeling uncomfortable, I will have some monumental learning experiences. That’s the logic speaking. Now if I could just tell my anxious head to buck up, I’d be set!

Any tips for me? What would you do along in a major metropolis (besides buy cute scarves and jewelry — that’s a given)?

I’ll describe how the process went once I finally decided that traveling would need to be done solo this time.

1. Ask readers where I should go.
2. Contemplate super expensive European destinations.
3. Look over super expensive group tours.
4. Ask your dad to go with you. (He said, “No.”)
5. Sit on the decision for many weeks as life gets hectic.
6. Remind yourself that you have plenty of miles and points to make this cheap.
7. Remind yourself that you have girlfriends going to Australia in December.
8. Contemplate wanting to travel alone vs. with friends.
9. Remind yourself you can have the best of both worlds!
10. Book a flight to meet up with said friends and stop somewhere solo on the way back.

Boom. Nailed it.

I will be traveling to meet up with some awesome gal pals who already had their destinations chosen and arranged. These are the same floozies I went with to Spain and Portugal last year. Term of endearment, I swear.

I’ll meet them in Australia and from there, we’ll go to New Zealand. On my way home, I’m going to make a small stopover in Hong Kong. No biggie.

Australia

I’m flying into Sydney a day before the girls get there. Since it’s on the edge of high-season in Australia, it was one of the last few days that week where I could snag a good deal with miles. I’m flying business class on Virgin Australia all by my lonesome. (I know, woe is me.) But I really wanted my first lie-flat international experience to be with the hubster. That sounded way more naughty than I intended. But, such is the lack of flexibility with that minor thing called med school.

I’ll spend the first day exploring Sydney. Read: Taking multiple selfies in front of the Sydney Opera House. Once the girls arrive the next day, we’ll cause trouble around Sydney for a few days.

New Zealand

I used an agency to help me find the rest of the flights using miles and points because 1) I was spending too much time on my own without many respectable options and 2) The use of my points was ending up to be a poor value because it was around the holidays and high-season in Australia. Meaning, I wasn’t about to drop 150,000 miles for a one-way ticket somewhere when I knew there were better deals.

Cue to New Zealand.

I mentioned to the agency (I’ll write about the experience in another post — highly recommend) that my girlfriends were also going to New Zealand as well and if there were better options from there, I can adjust my sails for New Zealand. I wasn’t necessarily planning on going to New Zealand at all.

Well, they found an awesome deal out of Auckland, New Zealand that I couldn’t pass up and hence, I’m going to New Zealand with the gals. My girlfriends are awesome and flexible and also didn’t have anything planned…so they hadn’t even chosen when they’d be in NZ yet. With a good deal on my flight, they gave me the thumbs up and said we could set out for NZ after a few days in Sydney. We’ll be in Auckland for a few days.

I’m flying out of Auckland in Cathay Pacific business class on a 10 hour flight for a solo trip to…

Hong Kong

I ultimately knew wanted to get to back to Asia and now is my opportunity. I explored options in Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Tokyo before ultimately deciding on Hong Kong. The fact that it will still be relatively warm in Hong Kong is what sealed the deal for me.

Oh and dumplings. *omgicantwaitfordumplings*

I’m staying at a hotel on points near where all the action is, based off the advice of a coworker that used to live there. I’m both excited and scared to explore alone. I know I’ll be fine. Hong Kong used to be a British Commonwealth, so, from what I heard, it’s relatively easy to get around only knowing English. Perfect for my first truly solo trip.

I’m flying back to the states, via Seoul, South Korea, in business class on Asiana airlines. Again, all on miles and points.

I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself! Traveling is all about prioritizing and leveraging what you want to do, so you can make it happen. And I am! I can’t wait to share more with you guys.

(Also, a big congratulations to Kim and Katie who were the first to guess correctly about where I’m going on this trip. I’ll be bringing back something fun for you gals!)

What do you think?
Have you ever been to Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong?
Any suggestions for me? I’m all ears!