Wilson Zhao

Context

I recently embarked on a journey circumnavigating the world from 1/3/19 to 4/15/19. By writing this series of blog posts, I hope to accomplish several things:

• This blog post serves as a way to unpackage all the thoughts floating rent-free in my head, patiently waiting to be captured by the written word. If I don’t write these down, they’re going to fade away.
• It also serves as some sort of guide to future solo travelers (and my colleagues) who have asked me to document some of the findings on my trip, so that they would not repeat the same mistakes I did. Although there are a couple of solo travel communities online, there were a lot of lessons I learned through trial and error.
• Lastly, it is some cathartic release for me to relive some of the memories as I sit here, trying to adjust to adulthood in suburban Fremont.

The content is prosaic, kind of a stream-of-consciousness rant, so please forgive me in advance for all the grammarly offences I am about to commit. It’s been four years since I took AP Lit– I’m used to writing C, not English.

The Motivation

Solo Travel? Who the fuck does that? Do you have no friends? Aren’t you gonna get lonely? You’re gonna end up in a ditch somewhere on the other side of the world. - My parents and other related parties

It took a lot of baby steps and some twists of fate for me to buy that first airline ticket to Korea.

Inception

It all started with this little thought in my mind. I was browsing a Reddit thread sometime probably in Junior year about the best underrated travel destinations in the world. And one of the top comments was Prague: beautiful, sprawling, old, cheap, and most importantly, unbombed during World War II. That was ground zero: it all started with this childlike inkling of desire to see Prague. But none of my friends wanted to see Prague. I brought it up in passing conversation. So I shelved that thought for a couple years.

I had embarked on some “solo travel” trips. In Puerto Rico I stayed in a hostel with friends, so I knew what a hostel environment was like. When I interviewed for Microsoft I explored Seattle for two days by myself. I had a taste, so I wasn’t diving in completely blind.

Ready to leave?

I was going through a conundrum sometime in the middle of November. I had just confirmed with my advisor that I had all of the required units to graduate one semester only. I originally had the naive thought that I would stay another semester part-time at CMU, thinking of course it was my senior spring. Instead, I would do research and take one high-level CS course in order to stay part-time and enrolled, preferably something that can prepare me for my upcoming job (C++).

That being said, I could still participate in Greek life and go to bars every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, stumbling from Hofbrauhouse to Tiki Lounge to eventually one of the more degenerate (and never well-remembered) bacchanal known as Jimmy D’s. On Fridays I would go to the Hidden Harbour happy hour and probably Mario’s in Shadyside. On Saturdays, well, probably a frat party or two and then Tequila Cowboy. Rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat and so it goes. Cheap beer and top 40 and always ordering Dominoes by the end of the night.

I wasn’t neccesarily sick of Pittsburgh, but I definitely sampled basically everything the Steel City had to offer. I had also accomplished most of my goals in college: I had a job, I passed all my classes, and I had a fairly diverse life outside of school. Subconsciously, I was spiritually ready to leave.

Youth

Another thing I was slowly was growing conscious of was the ephemeral nature of youth. I had the opportunity to visit various alumni when I was interviewing for tech jobs in both San Francisco and Seattle, and all of them complained about how fun college was, and how shackled they felt to their 9-5 job. They missed the freedom of college. They missed the freedom of youth.

“Youth is wasted on the young.” - Some old guy, probably

This was going to the only time in my life where I had completely zero responsibility, beholden to no being nor syllabus, and I was going to take full advantage of that. True freedom.

Forcing my hand

Sometime during mid-November, I was clutching an ice-cold bottle of Ace Pear Cider at some bar, eating smashed potato pizza. And I lost odds. Odds to just say “fuck it and travel the world.” Odds out of 3. I felt like the universe was definitely sending me a message. So I instead of this abstraction I would sometimes daydream about while doing my CS homework, the possibility of saying “fuck it” and leaving wasn’t just a pipe dream.

I started researching logistics. I started lurking in some travel communities, such as /r/solotravel. I called Fletcher (the only one who had the balls to do something similar) and interrogated him on his experience. I started doing some math and I realized that this was totally within the realm of possibility.

Nail in the coffin

The nail in the coffin was actually the cost of staying in college. To take a class that I didn’t even need I would have to spend around $25000. To travel the world for 3.5 months would be less than half that amount. I think the choice was clear. I was going to pursue a different type of education.

Planning

Budget

I had saved $10,000 from previous internships and red envelope money, and decided there is no better way to spend it on this trip. After all, it was literally cheaper than staying in college. I had just finished my last semester of college in Decemeber, and I had 20 days to plan my trip. And then I realized I could go anywhere I wanted to go, as long as my budget allowed it. Radical freedom.

Where to go?

So there I was…going to Prague, land of cheap beer and well-preserved castles. Well, might as well explore some other countries along the way.

I saw my friend’s Instagram stories on Thailand. They looked like a lot of fun, but seemed a bit crazy. I asked her if it was safe. “Safe enough that I’d be down to do it solo.” Okay, guess I am going to Thailand then.

How about Korea? Some of my friends from college were going there on winter break. Might as well join them.

I never saw middle-eastern architecture before, and another friend was studying abroad in Qatar. The caligraphy and mosques were stunningly beautiful. I’ve been to Asia, Latin America, and Europe, but never the Orient. Guess it was time to experience a new culture.

I probably wasn’t going to any Scandanavian countries, but I heard Greece and most of East Europe was very affordable. Time to get the most out of my money. I’ll just stay out of Northern Europe.

And it so it went. Two weeks before my tentative start date I booked my flight. I left January 3rd after coming back from a snowboarding trip.