You are very brave. I could never do what you do– traveling on your own…

[  HAhhh, here we go again…  ]

How do you do it?

[  Well, you think this is a vacation?  ]

No, I need to go with my husband. He always arranges and schedules things. I wouldn’t know what to do if I had to travel on my own…

[  Honey, you'd be surprised what you can do on your own if you had to or really wanted to.   ]

If I didn’t have my husband, I wouldn’t go anywhere.

[   ...or, you could choose that option too.  ]

Shweta was an intelligent and forward Indian wife and university professor in her 30′s, vacationing with her husband in Ladakh, India. We were sharing a truck through the icy slopes of Nubra Valley and I was being bombarded with the questions that many females ask about solo travel, when they’re standing on the opposite side of it. As Shweta listened to my answers, her eyes drew a hallowed aura over me– a mixture of  admiration, awe, horror and …pity.

There’s a mystique around female solo travelers. We’re considered an anomaly and yet, our numbers are growing. These days, I meet all types of journeying women, from 
experienced to the ‘newbie soloist’ ready to cling to the first companion that reaches out to her.  Countless travel articles spill the hurrahs of journeying alone (read here , here , here and here); and although the advertised gains can feel as sexy as a self-help book or a diet and exercise program to lose 10 pounds, they’re all 100% right. The benefits of solo travel, oddly enough, are experiences you will thank yourself for later.

But…

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Is female solo travel easy?

One of my pet peeves is when I meet or hear a female solo traveler claim that solo travel is easy… for her.

Several years back, I met a European girl in her mid 20′s on a van to LAX airport. She was sharing stories of her recent travel tour de force of countries. She was alone. This woman, I thought to myself, was born with monumental balls I didn’t have the gene pool for! How could any woman  be so heroic and brave?  Me, I had to plan my “balls”;   sketch out their shape and size … psych myself into getting them.    If I could buy them at a store, I would!  I  asked her questions similar to Shweta’s . 

Euro girl cooly tossed her head back and smugly replied that solo travel was easy to her.  Easy.

At that time, I could barely cross the globe, unless I had a friend to visit and stay with in that country.

If solo travel was so goddamned simple, why was I terrified of doing it?   Was I that much of a wimp?    Was there something wrong with me?  If it was so great, then why weren’t many women doing it?

Whether she truly believed that traveling alone was easy  (more power to her!) or felt the need to front  bravery, due to a missing companion, what it said to me back then was that  solo female travelers were cut from a cloth of courage, I didn’t have a needle and thread for. These kind of woman were  bold, daring, relentless and badass. 

Female badass-ism isn’t bad (just annoying to hear,  if you’re not a badass yourself). It creates a lop-sided myth that solo travel is for those female heroines, who need no one and never feel vulnerable.

In many ways, I’m very comfortable with my independence. Eating in restaurants and going to movies or traveling the U.S. by myself isn’t worrisome to me as it is with others.  Raised like an only child, I’m conditioned to being alone. Born to a Hawaiian-Asian family, where safety and wisdom was preached again and again, I came from a ‘sheltered’ upbringing. 

In 2008, I was separated from friends in India  and forced to go it  alone. It was a massive and terrifying crash course I wasn’t prepared for. Yet I survived  (lessons here). Then, there was my first ‘planned’ solo trip to Thailand in 2009, where I highlighted half my guidebook, color tabbed pages and literally held my breath, as I bought my flight ticket.

 If you’re a newbie solo traveler standing at the edge, reluctant to take the plunge, there’s good reason… It’s a scary jump.

The raw truth of the solo female traveler and the life of a single woman.

When I met Gray of SoloFriendly on her vacation to Hawaii, we talked about the ‘pits’ of solo travel. As a single woman herself, we could easily relate much of it to our non-travel lives and when I read her confession in ‘When Solo Travel Sucks‘, I exhaled. Vulnerability is one of the few things a soloist likes admitting aloud.  

The hardest part of journeying solo is  similar to the challenges of living as a single woman:

You don’t always get to fully collapse into your vulnerability, even when you feel it immensely.  

Eating alone at a restaurant feels awkward, having no one to watch your luggage when you have to go potty is a pain, and bouts of loneliness will probably never make your proud Facebook status;  but crumbling to a sob in your room when someone is unkind, feeling overwhelm with all the decisions you must make for yourself, almost getting pick-pocketed or  stomaching a pervert’s failed attempt to jack off to you in a bus … all make you feel like a helpless little girl stranded in a big, scary world. 

Instead of wallowing, a solo traveler must pick herself up after enduring the blow.  She has no choice. 

What’s the greatest comfort for a solo traveler?

Angels in the form of passing ‘strangers ‘ or fellow travelers, who offer a word of encouragement, some helpful guidance and an umbrella of temporary protection… before moving on.

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Why did I choose solo travel?

I was having lunch with a PR representative for a famous Hawaii hotel chain.  We were talking about tourism and travel blogging , when she drew into her admiration for female solo travelers like myself. Travel alone was something she’d never done. Not without her husband or family.

I felt like I was growing big bulging biceps, rippling muscles and a red cape! I felt self-consicous, naked, proud and yet embarassed.

Out of the blue, my spigot of truth turned. Out came the answer I’d been holding back :

” Honestly, the only reason I became a solo traveler was because I had no one to travel with. I love travel and as a single woman with no babies or husband, I didn’t want to drown in wait for someone to arrive to start my travel dreams (I could be waiting forever and how pathetic would that be, right?…). I wanted to travel -not badly, but desperately- and if you want something desperately enough, you find a way!  …. But had I a constant companion to travel with, I can’t say I would’ve ever tried going solo.”

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There it was… out on the table as if I had vomited all over my lunch. The rep sat speechless. I felt like a prim vegan, who broke into a gorge on a package of good ‘ole Craft American cheese.

Maybe I was expected to stand strong… survive the myth of a heroic female Tarzan.

Everything you want is on the other side of FEAR. - Jack Canfield

 

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How did I make the leap from fear to solo travel?

I’m a woman like any other.  I wasn’t born with superhuman genes and I didn’t jump into solo travel out of courage. I leapt out of fear in the way a person in a burning building leaps to a possible death.

In short, to not attempt my travel dreams equated to ‘a death worse than any other’. My fear of regret trumped fear itself. 

 Simple as that… although not quite simple.

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If you’re a newbie to solo travel, when does it get easier?

I’ll tell you how it happened for me and my first solo trip to Thailand…. After I hurdled my fear to buy my plane ticket, everything became more breathable. It was like jumping into cold water. You feel the first bite of cold and then you acclimate.

Perhaps I felt more relaxed because I was then dealing with a tangible reality that I couldn’t  make an excuse to back out on. Or maybe I went numb as a way to deal with  aftershock.

After landing in Thailand, I felt a shaky and uncertain. But the intoxication of being in a foreign country on my own, quickly turned into an energizing buzz. I couldn’t believe I did it. I was scared, excited, thrilled and freaking out. But overall, I rocked. I found myself more capable than I imagined and that trip was the best in my life!

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Does the fear in solo travel ever go away?

I’d love to reassure you that the fears around solo travel go away. But everyone is different. 

Even though I’ve traveled on my own many times in the last two years, I still experience bouts of reluctance in planning a solo trip. You get the hang of things and you don’t.  You think you know how to navigate a new place and know the ins and outs of being on your own, but travel holds many surprises to keep you on your toes.  It’ll thrill you, scare you, piss you off, challenge you and make you laugh at yourself and life.

 There is nothing like going solo…  if you can find your own way get over the initial fear.

Here are some other good articles and references if you’re interested in female solo travel: rtwin30days, independenttraveler, journeywoman

 With budget hotels in Southeast Asia,  you never know what to expect.

Sometimes, you stumble upon a princely palace that’s cute, charming and cheap, all in one.

Other times, a first impression doesn’t always do a place  justice and you can’t always tell a bargain when you see it. 

It’s like that first 15 seconds of surprise, when you meet a blind date in person and discover he’s mildly errr… ugly or just not your type. It kicks your *shock* notch up a little. But maybe after 15 minutes after the initial stun wears off, you warm to him; find he’s actually a nice guy.  But do you dream about a second date?  Not necessarily.

You still need perspective… to shop around a bit.

Finding the right budget hotel can feel like searching for Mr. Right

We all make mental checklists of what we think is our standard and ideal. They’re romantic wish lists we’d like the Santa Claus of life, love and luck to fulfill. This was my Mr Right wishlist for Phnom Penh budget hotel search. It’s not a lavish or outlandish wish list, but one I thought an acceptable standard to start from :

•   cool interior design and cheerfully painted walls
•   unique character with an air of brevity and hearth
•   well-maintained and clean rooms, which don’t appear worn by other travelers (NO stains, soggy mattresses, personal hairs left behind, or human smells)
•   a welcome cafe, where I could meet other travelers
•   bright and honest-looking front desk staff with knowledge of tourist attractions 
•   safe and secure 

My driver dropped me at Capitol Guesthouse as I requested (photo below).

A young, stiff Khmer woman at the front desk greeted at me as if I were both, business and bother. No smile. Behind her was an aged wall with a surveillance TV. 

The building and rooms felt impersonal, basic and a bit dull. It echoed ‘bland’ and similar to booking a spot at a YMCA, I felt like I was standing in a domicile for single, old white men with sketchy purposes. Hardly young, vibrant and sexy.  

It still had some things going for it though. It offered seemingly clean rooms (the cleaning folk were actively going down the hallway) with lots of light and a bathroom ensuite, a street level restaurant that was reminiscent of a greasy frying pan and conveniently, a bus company. Moreover, the location was central.  

It wasn’t a huge turn-off. Just  not a turn-on. And it didn’t fulfill my ideas of what my Mr. Right looked like.

I decided to try my luck on the streets a little longer.

Window shopping and dating

I walked up and down streets and through crowded morning street markets. I pointed at my guidebook a lot to ask for directions. I walked in and out of recommended hotels and random neighborhood ones. They quoted either, prices too high or rooms too low. Fifteen minutes turned into 45 minutes, then into  two hours…

Six guesthouses and hotels later, I was tired and whiny. My feet hurt. Being a sherpa to a big backpack and daypack, which felt like it was stuffed with rocks (aka my tech equipment), I was starting to huff and puff. I’d never walked so much just to find a right hotel in my life! I was starting to feel ridiculous.

 Yet nothing was impressing me. It was like going on a series of dates that didn’t do anything more than make me depressed; and yet, I couldn’t stop. Not as long as hope existed. I wanted charming, forthright, affable, warm. Instead, I was meeting depressed, too touristy, lonely or sketchy.

Then I came upon a backpacker’s guesthouse! It wore the charm of color, a relaxed outdoor patio cafe decorated with potted plants for soothing conversations and dining. It had a used book stand to trade books. The Khmer staff looked young and hip; the owner, friendly and inviting.  I felt excited hope. This might be my Mr. Right!

Well, it had one catch. There was only one bed left and it was in a dorm, shared with female NGO volunteers. The room was left in disarray with vomitous backpacks. Bras, towels and clothes were tossed shamelessly onto ruffled bed sheets or hung on anything that presented …a hook. There was one standing rotating K-mart fan to push the heat and smell of toe jams out the windows.  

This Mr Right came with one big burping flaw I couldn’t tolerate…  the baggage of piggy roommates.

When is the hotel search over?

As I walked away from the guesthouse, that ticking clock feeling was as palpable, as my dripping sweat. Was I being too picky? Maybe I was looking for something that didn’t exist.

The 11 am sun was beating down, making my search unpleasant. I needed find a place soon. A decision was imminent. Do I  continue my search for a Mr. Right… or do I settle for a Mr. Right Now?

And then I received a sign.

Squirt.

The sensation signaled wide-eyed panic. Was that just…?

Squirt.

Inconvenient moments happen in travel. …Like getting your period, when you’re strapped to a heaving backpack and every crevice of you is sweating from the early afternoon heat.  

Perhaps stress brings these moments on. 

…Or when you’re wearing thin cloud blue fisherman’s pants!

I ducked into a motorcycle servicing shop to rest my pack and ask for their restroom. The kind Khmer folk were happy to let me use their facilities and “refresh” myself. I stood for 15 minutes in front of their fan taking the heat and  my disappointing options in.

That was it! End of the hotel search.  I turned around and traced my way back to Capitol Guesthouse.

Second Chances: When ‘simple’ fits

We always think we need a lot to be happy and content. The reality is, we just need a few things that we can’t live without.

For me, Capitol was that second date you take, because you don’t know what you want and you’ve exhausted your options. Luckily however, it made me realize what I actually need for fufillment: 

Cleanliness, a simple non-descript room with a firm bed, ample light and a great price….And if it throws in a private bathroom and free Wi-Fi and a cheap tour bus agency downstairs, that’s a helluva bonus!

My cost? …Four dollars a night! $2 extra if I wanted air-conditioning. You can’t beat that kind of bargain!

I actually had everything I needed and more than I asked.  Due to Capitol Guesthouse, I actually extended my stay in Phnom Penh longer than I imagined. I wouldn’t have imagined it judging from appearances, but my room gave me much contentment. It was an inexpressible feeling. I had fallen in love!

I found my Mr. Right.

How far would you go to find your Mr. Right in a budget hotel?

Capitol Guesthouse (website)
Capitol Guesthouse (restaurant, tour agency and bus station)
#14Eo, Road 182
Sangkat Beng Prolit
Khan 7 January, Phnom Penh
tel: 012-548-409

<< Are you a street-smart traveler or just travel-jaded? (Part I)

 Street wise.

Been-there and done-that.

Old hat.

After traveling in Asia over the course of a year,  there were two things I felt I had become proficient at:  haggling and avoiding scams.

If I sensed a scam, my windows rolled up and my auto pilot kicked into a prickly cold shoulder with a ‘Don’t fuck with me‘ attitude.  In a negotiating situation, I’d never trust the first price up front. Assuming the dealer was trying to score a few extra bucks, due to the “tourist” sign blazing on my head, I’d shoot for lower or walk away… and keep walking. 

Did I forget how to have fun at these times? Maybe so. But as a solo female traveler looking out for my own back, I’d learned to cultivate street smarts.

Then again, maybe you’d call me …travel- jaded.

Could you tell the difference between a local who’s giving you honest advice or  scamming you?

Not always.

As a traveler, is it naïve to assume every stranger is innocent and sincere?

Or is it wise to be guarded until you get to know someone’s intention first?

It’s a fine line, straddling between the two.

In countries, where a tourist toting a fancy DSLR might equate “rich”, not every local is out to make a quick buck off of you. Sometimes, a conversation is  sincere and friendly and a sale, a smile or a piece of advice, honest.  But when happens whens when a smile is dishonest?  Would you be able to tell the difference ?

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Street-smart or jaded:  Never trust tuk-tuk or taxi drivers.

It’s one of the many warnings you hear about in Asia/Southeast Asia: scams with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers telling you your hotel is closed, was burnt down, etc… only to redirect you to another hotel, where they garner a commission.  I’ve even diverted this scam myself in the past, a few times.

When my bus lolled into Phnom Penh at 6 am, tuk-tuk drivers swarmed around the new arrivals like buzzards.  Drowsy travelers, standing in couples and teams, were scooped up into negotiation with their drivers. Dopiness was quickly replaced by slightly skeptical ‘game faces’ of a war dance. With the business of haggling, one needs to be quick on their toes.

A wiry Khmer tuk-tuk driver approached me as the crowd thinned.  He asked me where I wanted to go.  As the one female soloist around, I felt naked… an easy target with no one to shield me.

Whether I’d gotten used to planning my itinerary on a  day-by-day basis or the fact that many budget hotels in Cambodia don’t have a website listing nor a way to pre-book reservations, I was growing bolder about finding my hotels on foot as a “walk-in” arrival.

On the bus, I had picked out a guesthouse from my Rough Guides guidebook (published in 2010, it was the current version):

” Lakeside /Number 10:
A guesthouse offering budget rooms in a spectacular spot, with a large terrace overlooking Boeng Kak Lake. Free pool table plus videos, hammocks and sunset views $3

I showed the driver the listing. The guesthouse lay north of the city center.

” No no, not go here.  Hotel not good.  I take you somewhere else.…  “, my driver responded.

I volleyed-

Are you sure? Hotel by Boeng Kak Lake? 
 

” No, lake dried up. You no want to go there. Not good place. I take you somewhere else.“

I rolled my eyes back into my head. It was 6 am in the morning . The “scam” was underway. 

I wielded a lie in quick defense…
 

 I’m meeting a friend there. I must go there.  My friend is there waiting for me. Take me there.

After a short tennis match of words with me, doggedly lying through my teeth (something I’m actually not very good at), the driver agreed to take me there.
 

How much?
 

“One dollar”, he quoted.

At least he wasn’t going to make me haggle. A dollar is said to be the going rate  for driving short intercity distances in Phnom Penh. I agreed to his price and we were off!

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When ‘scams’ don’t turn out to be scams
 

This… isn’t …it,  is it?

I said, as we pulled up at the guesthouse where I was supposedly “meeting my friend”. My eyeballs wanted to fall from its sockets from the sheer shock of what lay before me.

  “Yes,” he answered.

The surrounding area of the guesthouse looked ghetto. The streets were empty and were spotted with a few demolished buildings and rubble. Vandals had tagged the crumbling walls with spray paint. It felt like an area where you might find crack pipes and broken needles on the ground.  The so-called lake? More like a shriveled swamp pond; hardly something to invite a “picturesque” sunset.

No.   I answered.

“Yes,” he replied.

By now he was smiling. His grin was burning a hole into my pride and filling me with shame.

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I went to the manager’s office to ask to look at the rooms. The hallway and rooms were at least, bright, but they still reminded me of a crack house or squatter home for homeless. I showed my guidebook to the disheveled and grumpy manager and pointed at the listing.  This was it– Lakeside/ Number 10.

So then I pointed to the next listing, which was supposedly a neighbor:

“Number 9:

The  most picturesque of the lakeside guesthouses with basic en-suite rooms set around a small lily filled lagoon. Free pool, videos and a relaxing deck restaurant serving the usual travelers’ fare. $3

The manager grunted incoherently to the effect of either, this was the same place too …or guesthouse no longer existed! They both equaled the same thing. Shock, panic, confusion,… I didn’t know what to do but curse my Rough Guides’ 2010  book and its lame “updates” of ‘recommended hotel listings’!

How could a guidebook listing be so off-base?

I emerged from the guesthouse to find my tuk-tuk driver waiting for me.

“I take you to City Center now?”

When a shocking situation like this hits you, you don’t know what or whom to trust.

Paranoid  shapes your mind, as daylight begins to warp. 

Perhaps this was one enormous scam that everyone, including the lake, was in on?

I had to walk around the area to see for myself. I knew there were more guesthouses in the neighborhood and more listings in my guidebook. But most places were closed and despite the signs advertising ‘Falafel Cafes’ and international food (which hint that travelers must stay here), the boarded up windows and doors of guesthouse exteriors didn’t look too promising.

I turned to my tuk-tuk driver who now followed me.

“I take you to City Center now?”

How much?  I responded.

“Two dollars. “

Street-smart or jaded: Everyone’s out to rip you off

In Asia/Southeast Asia, I’ve learned never to take the first quoted price. I paid one dollar to get in. Now being charge double to get out!  Nothing was open and no traffic stirred on the sleepy streets. My tuk tuk driver had the upper hand and knew it.  

But now that my pride was at stake, I wouldn’t back down.

I’ll walk.

I said, non-chalantly as my mind seriously considered the hours it might take to get into the city by foot… if I could even find my way to the city center.

With that, he tossed me a cynical glance and left with a laugh, only to park at a safe watching distance a block away.  So I approached a nearby motorbike taxi .

City Center, how much?

“Two dollars,” the motorbike taxi responded with a grin.

We went back and forth between one dollar and two. At this point it was hard to decipher whether I was getting too wounded over a dollar or just being proportionate. He was only asking a dollar extra, something I might unconsciously tip a  young iPhone-toting barista at Starbucks in the U.S.,  out of some twisted form of social guilt. If anything, both drivers would gain more value from my dollar than a some spoiled American. But the environment plays weird mental games on you too and if a room in this city, cost anywhere from $3-7,  then for a two dollar ride, I’d hope for at least a pillow on the back of that seat.

I decided I’d go back to my tuk-tuk driver, where I could at least be driven in shaded comfort. It was then that the motorbike taxi said-
 

Okay. One dollar.

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 Perhaps the lesson here, is to not put too much trust into guidebooks. I pointed to a new guesthouse listing in my guidebook.  If this joint didn’t pan out, I promised to burn my 2010 Rough Guides guidebook! 

Capitol Guesthouse.  Take me there.

Are you street-smart or travel-jaded? Would you be able to tell the difference?
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(to be continued)
Part II:  Budget Hotels: How far would you walk to find Mr. Right? >> 

 The following is not a sponsored post.

It sounds like it would be. I wish it were; then I’d be getting paid for advertising. The sad truth is… no. I do have an affiliate link to World Nomads, however. If you choose to go with them, please click on my link to help support what I do.

 Recently, a friend asked my advice on how to find cheap travel insurance. She’ll be on an overseas program for several months, and the program mandates she get travel insurance coverage.

I can’t say I’m an expert on travel insurance. I don’t know any of the jargon and I’ve only purchased it three times in my life. On my last trip however, I was required to get one for my Yoga TTC program in India… and I discovered searching for cheap options was a pain. Here’s some information I thought would be helpful.

Which nationality should you avoid being, if you need travel insurance ?

American.

Europeans and Canadians may wonder why Americans don’t travel much. Do you know how much we get charged for travel insurance?

Okay, joking aside. Of the western world, it seems Americans get charged a premium for traveling.  Recently, when I was looking for a travel insurance plan to cover my three month trip to India, I was quoted prices which made my heart want to leap into cardiac arrest. The quotes I got for three months of coverage cost more than my plane ticket (ballparking around $600 and up) !

If I were a U.K. citizen ?  I could find plans as low as… $25 a month?! What the hell?

“Cheap” and “travel insurance” doesn’t always walk hand-in-hand when you’re  American.

Travel insurance: Do you really need it?

Not every trip needs travel insurance.

But that’s my personal opinion.  It all depends on your health, how extreme or accident-prone you are, your comfort zone with traveling without insurance and the risk factors you feel may be involved.  Planning a luxury ski holiday in the Swiss Alps or a backpacking trip to Germany? It’s a personal choice.

Life is all a bit of a gamble. It’s like deciding whether or not to buy ‘collision insurance’ on a rental car. In many cases, you probably won’t need it; but you never know…

During my three month coverage in India:

Did I get sick?

- Yes.  I had amoebic dysentery for a month in India. (read here)

Did I get into an accident?

- I got heat exhaustion and scraped up in a motorbike collision in…India again. 

But with accommodations and medical services being extremely cheap and quite decent in large cities, like Mumbai and Delhi (where a friend of mine went to get a fractured toe examined and walked away with an x-ray and doctor’s diagnosis for under $8). I didn’t need my insurance. Filing a claim on my expenses (under $20) wouldn’t be worth the time or paperwork!

Needless to say, I didn’t extend my travel insurance with World Nomads. I was traveling to Thailand afterwards, which is one of my favorite medical tourism hotspots, where medical services and facilities are inexpensive and state-of-the-art.

Then again there are exceptions.

 
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When travel insurance coverage is necessary

You may be traveling or training with an overseas program, where travel insurance coverage is “compulsory”.  In that case, damnit, you just have to suck it up and get it.

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Sometimes, you just have a feeling you should get travel insurance

I always read travel alerts and warnings about a country as well as, get an idea of its medical support before I go.  But sometimes, I just get a traveler’s sixth sense about things… along with paranoid feelings that I might get kidnapped and held at gunpoint.

Six years ago, I took a trip to Spain and Morocco with a girlfriend.  Spain felt safe enough as a European nation, but what about Morocco and Africa? We knew nothing about medical practices there or of crime and this ‘lack of knowing’, in our minds, equated a bit of danger. Getting travel insurance seemed smart and my intuition agreed.

I didn’t regret it. Our first day in Morocco, our luggage didn’t arrive with us. We were left with no option but pickup clothes and toiletries in cities along the way. Moving from city to city was stressful. We didn’t know when or where our bags would arrive and we’d even get ‘false alarm’ notifications to show up at the airport and find … no bags. Finally, two days before our leave, we got our belongings back. My bag was in tact, but my girlfriend’s  jewelry had been stolen.

Thankfully, we were insured.

 
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Top three cheap travel insurance carriers for American travelers:

Insurance comes in options, ranging from short term trip coverage to annual coverage. For the most part, they cover the standard: medical and hospitalization, luggage loss or stolen, flight delay or cancellation, death, etc… They don’t always cover computer and camera equipment too well, so you’ll have to read the fine print. Nevertheless, here are my top three tried-and-true recommendations:

•  American Express (website here)

American Express has long been the credit card for travelers. Sadly, they’ve levied their charges to merchants to the point, less and less places take them. But what many Americans don’t know, is that Am-Ex offers cheap travel insurance. Several years back, they covered an entire trip if you charged your flight ticket to your Am-Ex card and paid a $24 service charge. I’ve used this once on a trip to Nepal and India (because it was so cheap) and my girlfriend used Am-Ex to cover her Moroccan trip. I’m not sure if they still offer this service, but it would be worthwhile to ask. It’s the best bargain I’ve seen so far!

American Express travel insurance still offers traditional insurance policies via a new website . They offer three plans, ranging from pointed coverage to annual full coverage. The most standard and popular plan starts at $59 and covers the she-bang. I’ve not been able to try this service yet, but it seems to offer a good deal. Con: You must be an Am-Ex card holder to get these deals. Non Am-Ex holders can get representation through their affiliate Global Travel Shield.

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• World Nomads  (website here)

World Nomads was my recent choice of insurance and one of the most trusted sources of travel insurance for backpackers. If you type in ‘cheap travel insurance” you’re likely to find Lonely Planet and Travelfish  pointing you to World Nomads Travel Insurance.  It’s because WN offers global insurance, knows what travelers need and they happen to maintain good relations with the travel community, by offering travel-study awards for budding videographers, writers and photographers. What I love about WN ? Their insurance prices aren’t biased to youth (as STA Travel is); it extends to the traveler, up to the senior citizen’s age of 67. 

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• STA Travel

STA Travel has always offered cheap travel services for young adults and the college crowd. I’ve used them for my Morocco trip. Their International insurance offers cheap prices for the under 35 crowd, but if you’re older than that, you’ve “missed the boat” on youth’s discounts. Expect the prices to jump to pricier. Prices for the over 35 crowd run a little higher than World Nomads.

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Filing a travel insurance claim: Is it worth the pain?

I won’t sugar coat it, it’s not fun to file claims with an insurance company . The paperwork and wait can drag out for months.  If you buy travel insurance and actually get into a situation where you’ll be using it, remember to always :

• Get an authorized complaint forms  (ie. baggage loss complaint form at the airlines, police report for theft, doctor’s report for medical services.)

• Keep your flight tickets and itinerary

• Collect store receipts

• Baggage tags for lost luggage

• Keep records of your expenses (some countries are cash-based and may not offer receipts. Keep a hand-written list of purchased items.)

• Basically, collect everything that can be used as proof

When I got home from Morocco, I downloaded the insurance forms from my insurance site and spoke with an agent. I filled out forms, faxed everything that was required. In the end, both my girlfriend and I got small compensation from our insurance agencies so that it wasn’t a completely loss. But it took over six months to get.

Is travel insurance worth its claim?

Depends on the case and your specific losses. In many cases, having gotten back something feels better than just experiencing a trip’s loss.

Any tips or recommendations for travel insurance?

By the time I got to Cambodia, after having visiting much of Southeast Asia, I found there really wasn’t many Fear Factor Foods I haven’t seen.

 ’Same Same’… but not too different.

Still, it excites me to explore cultural differences, even if it makes me squirm a bit.

Here’s a few interesting foods as well as, a couple of players I haven’t yet seen…

Khmer Food’s Prize Players

1. Eating Deep Fried Tarantula

Around 1975-1979, during the period of the  Khmer Rouge, Cambodia underwent a food shortage. A-ping (or fried tarantula) are one of the Khmer  foods, which evolved as a result of sheer survival.  Today, a-ping is a popular snack with the Khmer and according to locals eating a-ping is said to increase one’s beauty. Dealers buy the tarantulas from hunters at about 12 cents a piece and sell them for 25 cents.

According to Travel Channel‘s Andrew Zimmern, the taste is said to be like soft-shell crab. I’ll have to take his word for it.

if you’re unable to see the slideshow, click here    

What Fear Factor Foods have you seen on your travels or maybe even tried?

 STDs.

You see them advertised everywhere in India. They’re posted on banners outside shops, lining highway roadsides, in towns and in busy cities.

To travelers, the abbreviations are misleading. They’re not what we know them as in the U.S.

In India STD is short for Subscriber Trunk Diallng or when you dial any number within India, without operator assistance.  ISD is International Subscriber Dialing and is meant for dialing internationally, outside of India.

The abbreviations are advertised at shops, where you can place phone calls at cheap rates,… not contract “Sexually. Transmitted. Diseases“. If you don’t have a phone, you can make a call from these shops and it can be cheap. How cheap? Sometimes, it’s as low as a rupee per minute to a number outside the area or free if you’re calling a local landline number! 

Why do I know this?

It’s hard not having a phone in India, especially when you need to want to meet up with friends or call guesthouses to book reservations.  I was forced to hit the streets in search of  an STD shop (aka calling shops), because my Vodaphone SIM at the time, sucked.

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Dhobi Ghats, Mumbai, India

 Mumbai is an unrelenting and persevering city. 

It drives hard to catch up to the city’s honking horns, foot traffic and bustle. However, as much as it powers through on old railway cars, this international city never seems to catch up to the modern age (read my post here). In many ways, I’m glad it hasn’t caught up. It preserves the kind of rigors and traditional jobs, which make you respect India’s workforce all the more.

Thus, this post gets filed in my ‘Interesting People’ category. Why?

Of all the interesting people and places Mumbai, I didn’t find the most impressive site to be a temple.

… Or the Elephanta Caves,

… Or seeing Shahrukh Khan’s house (okay, I didn’t really see it, but I didn’t strive as hard to find it).

The most awe-inspiring the most was the Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghats.

What is a dhobi?

 Tourists flock to reap amazement at this 140 year old open air laundering compound and its community of dhobis in action. In some senses, it’s like a visit to a Moroccan tannery, but on a mind-blowing scale.

In 2010 the Bollywood movie Dhobi Ghat (aka Mumbai Dreams ) the dhobi ghats and its dhobi community was featured in a story following the
complicated struggle of four strained Mumbai lives. What made the film an interesting and unique gem was its masala of characters; one of them being a dhobi trying to break out and follow his dream of becoming an actor.
 

A dhobi (derived after ‘dhona’ which means ‘to wash’)  is a distinct caste, whose trade occupation of washing clothes was down generation after generation. Just think of them as India’s dry cleaners. They handle much of the household dirty linens and soiled uniforms of Mumbais hotels and hospitals.  

The dhobis go from house to house to collect dirty laundry, then bring them to the washing ghats or wash basins ,where they flog, scrub, swoosh, wring, dry and iron dirty laundry for paying clients. As backwards as this service may seem, it’s remarkably efficient. Gross amounts of linens are handled daily and items are rarely lost. Each dhobi marks the items of the household with a symbol or character in indelible ink. Return service can be anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days and many prefer their service to dry cleaners, because it’s much cheaper and just as good.

Leave it to India’s workforce of simple laborers to tackle super-human feats. In fact, they are its technology!

According to the Asian Pacific Business News, there are anywhere from 5,000- 10,000 dhobi wallahs working and living with their families in the 10 acre ghat compound. They slave for 14-16 hours in the broiling sun everyday, except the holiday of Holi. They work as father-son teams, sifting through hundreds of clothes to make anywhere from 500- 1000 rupees ($10-20) a day, per takil (aka cement stall) station, of which they rent and share with others.

As with India and much of its trades, you’ll only see men working here.

Dhobi castes are found throughout India. They are clan-like communities, a kind of family workman’s union. The dhobis in this community of Maharastra are not allowed to marry within their own clan.

 Below is a very short video of the Dhobi Ghats in action.

What site has impressed you the most?

Getting to the Dhobi Ghats:

Located next to Mahalaxmi railway station on the Western Railway‘s Saat Rasta roundabout.
It can be easily seen from flyover bridge of Mahalaxmi station.

 A while back, I wrote a post about cafes and Koreans and the subject of breakfast. This is a followup on some of the cafes…

There’s nothing half-hearted about Korea.

When Koreans stage things like festivals, theme parks and museums… they do it enthusiastically and with full explosion! 

You can add cute cafes to that list too. 

Koreans and the ‘cute factor’.

Seoul’s Hongdae district is teeming with funky cafes and we’re not talking just Starbucks.  No. The hip and popular mecca of collegiate bars and restaurants, also houses ‘theme’ cafes from cute to off-beat. Maybe its because Koreans rewards ‘innocence’ and ‘virtue’ (over ‘adult’ and ‘sexy’) , that their culture strives towards all-things-cute.  From pet cafes, where you can sip on a latte as your cat or dog does their social romp to a Charlie Brown Cafe with Peanuts images drizzled on desserts, Hongdae’s  nooks offers some adorable ways to stay caffeinated.

Well Hello Kitty, you’ve got your own cafe!

When my mom was visiting me over the Christmas holidays, she vigilantly wrote emails to my family back home. I’m posting a short excerpt of her café day, so I can take a break from writing:

“After lunch, we went exploring in Hongdae.  Chris bought me another thing for my hands, saying it was longer so it could go a little ways up above my wrists.

|  …it’s called “arm warmers”, Mom.

Even though Hongdae is known mostly for its social and night life than shopping, they have enough hair salons, street sellers  and clothes boutiques to distract you from your destination.  |

We found a place called Hello Kitty Cafe and went in to look around and take pictures. “

In Korea, why are you given two spoons if you’re ordering a dish for yourself?

“We ended up sharing a dessert.

In Korea, they always assume you’re sharing with someone and always give two spoons. Korea is kinda funny that way.

|  When ordering dessert, you’re always given two spoons. Even when you’re alone.  Why is that?

Korea is a ‘sharing’ culture, placing the idea of ‘community’ over the ‘individual’. From eating street food at a hawker stand and sharing a communal dipping sauce with strangers to friends dipping their spoons into the same soup bowl at dinner . Koreans share everything, to the point where if they had only one cookie, they’d break it in half and share it with you.  |

So we got this dessert – a waffle with a Dairy Queen type lump of yogurt.   Anyway, it had a drizzle of strawberry syrup on it.  On the plate, in one corner, was a picture of Hello Kitty made with chocolate powder, so you could eat it!

We enjoyed our dessert.  Chris says there is a lot ‘o this waffle and ice cream things in Korea (read here).

To find cool cafes in Hongdae, you must explore

“Leaving Hello Kitty café, we walked to a place that she said was the café for the K-drama show “Coffee Prince”. It was really small and somehow didn’t look like the café on the show, but they advertise it as the place.  Maybe it just looked bigger in the movie. 

We found a place called Cats Living, a cat café (a blog review here).  Went to look.  Lots of cats of all kinds and people having drinks while the cats roam all over the place.  The man wanted to charge us 8,000 won entrance fee, so we left.”

|    There are many gems tucked away in Hongdae. If you only  keep to the main streets or your focus locked solely on street-level, you’ll miss a lot.   There are many off-shoot alleyways and joints resting on second to third floors of buildings. 

For instance,  pet cafes like the Bau House (Dogmattica‘s map here), Tom Cat’s Cafe ( once a traveler‘s review here) or Cats Living (Korean website here) are discovered through looking up at the store signs, which climb along a building. My mom was right about the Coffee Prince cafe not looking like the original café of the show.  I did some research and found that ‘Tirimisu Cafe‘ is part of the franchised version that MBC built later. The real C.P. café is much larger and surrounded by trees (read arncyn’s Squidoo post).     |

Tiramisu Cafe , its newer, franchised sister is located near the Hello Kitty Cafe.

Have you been to any cute or quirky theme cafes?

Do you like to visit museums when you travel? What’s the  cutest, quirkiest or most bizarre museum you’ve been to?

I was an art major so to some degree, I can take interest in art museums from time-to-time. But what about war museums, a Chocolate Museum, Sex Museums, a Trick Art Museum or a Sound Museum?  Jeju Island has loads of unique museums to pass time with (read my post on things to do on Jeju).  But how about Teddy Bears?

Personally, I never cared for them as a kid, so why would I visit a museum full of ‘em, as an adult?

Why?

At the Teddy Bear Museum on Jeju Island, the teddy bears do more than just sit in glass cases waiting for love. These teddies make art history, play out war enactments,  impersonate famous stars, such as Elvis and Marilyn, depict Korean history and even act out scenes from popular movies, like Titanic.

Imagine the human world replaced by these furry partners. You just entered The Planet of the Teddies.

The Origin of Teddy Bears

If you’ve never followed Teddy Bear history, you might not know the toys originated after an incident, when former 1902 U.S. President Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt went bear hunting. Many hunters had killed an animal, so Roosevelt’s attendants chased down and clubbed a baby Black Bear and tied it to a tree for him to shoot.  The president found this “un-sportsmanlike” and refused to shoot it but ordered that it be shot and put out of its misery. A stuffed animal toy was created not long after and it was given the name ‘Teddy’s Bear’.

Teddy Bear Museums around the World

The first teddy bear museum was built in 1984 in Petersfield, Hampshire, England.

Since then, many teddy bear museums have sprouted up around the world. Korea built its first teddy bear museum in 2001 and now there are three locations: Jeju Island, Namsan Seoul Tower (here), Paju Heyri and they’ve even opened a museum in Hawaii, where they have a Barack Obama bear (article and photos click here ).

Bear Art History

There are many exhibitions in the museum and over a 1,000 different types of bears from bears in mechanized motion, miniatures, life-sized ones, childhood character bears like Paddington, Swarovski crystal studded bears, the list goes on… and it doesn’t get boring.

My favorite part of the museum was the Art History section.  A teddy Mona Lisa, a Warhol and a handful of scenes from famous Renaissance works. It was pretty impressive.

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Popular Korean dramas and the Teddy Bear Museum

But let’s get down to the real reason I sought out the museum. If you’ve ever seen the popular K-drama show, The Palace (or Gung or Princess Diaries), then you’ll know part of the fascination tourists visiting Korea can have with Jeju’s Teddy Bear Museum.

The show features cute opening and closing scenes with teddies re-enacting scenes which took place in the show. Not to mention, an episode is shot at the museum. In a way, the popularity of the television series has helped popularize the museum for tourists like myself, visiting Korea.

My visit to the Teddy Museum was surprisingly fun. It ranks high on the ‘awwww cute’ factor. Inevitably, I ended up buying one of these furry creatures  at the museum store (which is very unlike my personality to get a stuffed animal toy for myself)!

Would I go again? Yes. In fact, I visited it on a trip to Jeju a few months later.

Do you visit museums when you travel? What’s the quirkiest, cutest or most odd museum you’ve been to? Spill it.

Information:

The Teddy Bear Museum
Jungmun Resort Area, Jeju Island.
Hours: 09:00 ~ 19:00 (tickets on sale until 18:00)

Getting there from Jeju City:
- Take a taxi ti Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal(Base fare 1,000 won).
- From Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal, take a bus(Jungmun Express Bus)and get off at  Jungmun Tourist Complex(50 min ride).
- From Jeju International Airport, take an airport limousine bus No. 600 and get off at Jungmun Complex(50 min ride).

Read my post on Top 8 Things to Do on Jeju Island.

Here’s some other nearby sites might also want to take a look at:

* Teddy Bear Museum (064-738-7600 / 09:00-20:00)* Pacific Land (064-738-2888)
Adult 12,000 won (group 12,000 won) / Youth 10,000 won (group 10,000 won) / Child 8,000 won

Adult 6,000 won (group 5,000 won) / Youth 5,000 won (group 4,000 won) / Child 4,000 won

* Sound Island Museum (064-739-7782 / 09:00-19:00)
Adult 7,000 won (group 6,000 won) / Youth 7,000 won (group 6,000 won) / Child 5,000 won

* Cheonjeyeon Falls (064-738-1529 / 08:00-Sunset)
Adult 2,500 won (group 1,850 won) / Youth 1,370 won (group 750 won) / Child 1,370 won

* Jusangjeolli Cliff (064-738-1532 / 08:00-Sunset)
Adult 2,000 won (group 1,400 won) / Youth 1,000 won (group 500 won) / Child 1,000 won

 So, I’ve promised some of you the inside tip on the best jjimjilbang in Seoul…

Three cool features of Siloam:

1. Saunas and Fomentation

2.  When a bath house is a spa

Let’s get down to the deep scrub! Anything which says it will revive young skin, induce health benefits or rejuvenate me, between my lather, definitely earns a ‘thumbs up’.  Shower stalls and sit-down scrubbing stations are standard decor in any Korean bathhouse joint, as are heated pools and jacuzzis to soak in, accompanied by an ice water pool to shock your skin awake after its shriveled.

With Siloam‘s bathhouse, you get three heated medicinal baths to choose from:

•  a wormwood bath to help aid menstrual pains,

•  a charcoal bath for improved circulation, extracting impurities, and help support the metabolism and anti-aging

•  a jade bath to induce peace and tranquility.

(note: There are potentially more listed on the site, but these three are the only ones I saw.)

The bath houses also house :

•  jacuzzi tub

•  a mist sauna

•  a waterfall shower

Do these mineral bathing pools really work?

Korean spas swear by them.

But personally, depending on the mineral, sometimes you feel a difference in them; sometimes, you don’t.

3.  The best jjimjilbang crashpad in Korea

 Most jjimjilbangs offer only floor space, a blanket and a wooden block pillow for your overnight sleep.  What makes Siloam unique is that it offers sleep rooms with individual beds.

Although j-bangers are welcome to spread out on any floor (read here) or even crash in the saunas, Siloam‘s fifth floor holds the official sleeping rooms. With over 300 individual bunks per room,  the rooms sport air purifiers, humidifiers, thermometers, to make for an awesome night’s sleep!

How awesome was it?

 Perhaps, all the healing properties in the building and the climate/ air-controlled room has something to do with the sleep you experience at Siloam. What I experienced was exceptional for what it was in a dorm-like accommodation. I had a very deep and restful sleep, more than I’ve ever experienced in a hotel.

Rooms for Sleepers vs. Snorers

Here’s the funny but kinda cool part… 

Do you snore? 

The rooms are separated according to three types of sleepers: Women, Men and Snorers. Yes, there’s a “Snorer’s Room”, for when your sleep rattles and shakes others!

The best part of Siloam?

After telling you all of what Siloam offers in overnight accommodation and bathhouse/sauna pampering you’ll probably want to visit. But what will change your walk into a run?

The price.  Ready for it?

13,000 Won (or about $12.60 USD)

Now most j-bangs overnight stays are priced in this range and even Dragon Hill comes in a bit leaner at 12,000 Won. What sets Siloam apart from the rest is really the comfy ‘bunk bed’ accommodations vs the standard wooden floor.

Throw some “fomentation” in there and hey, it’s the best and most rocking j-bang in town!

Have you a favorite bathhouse or jjimjilbang?

 Information:

Siloam Fire Pot Sauna  (Seoul, South Korea)
website: www.siloamsauna.com
Hours: 24 hours
Entrance Fee:
After 5am
   Bath (Adult) : 8,000 won;  Bath+ Sauna (Adult) : 10,000 won
After 8pm
   Bath (Adult) : 9,000 won;  Bath+ Sauna (Adult) : 13,000 won

Directions  (Map here)
By Subway:
Line 1, Line 4, Seoul Station, Exit 1, 5 minutes walk
Line 2, Line 5, Chungjeongro Station, Exit 5, 5 minutes walk

The White Sheets Reviews are Grrrl Traveler recommendations of guesthouses, hostels and hotels I’ve stayed at. Selections are based on their cleanliness (‘white sheets‘), service, hospitality and budget.

Related Korean Bathhouse experiences:

• Naked in a Korean Bathhouse! (Daegu)
• Sleeping at a Jjimjilbang (a Korean bathhouse & sauna) (Busan)
• Finding Youth at Yulpo Green Tea Saltwater Spa (Yulpo)
• Naked in a Mineral Bath (Chocksan Spa, Mt Seoraksan)
• Luxury at Dragon Hill Spa… hip or hype? (Seoul)
• Why Siloam Spa is the best jjimjilbang in Seoul.