One of the braver things I’ve done for myself is to travel alone, and I’ve done it badly in many ways. A bag without wheels on a trip from Amsterdam to Paris to Switzerland, the most unreliable maps of The Hague and Montmartre, no sense of public transport in Singapore.
And then there’s the fact that traveling with someone wreaks havoc on my sense of direction, the downside to being dependent on two friends who knew their way around Malaysia, a boy who lived in Japan, another who knew Paris like the back of his hand, a traveling classroom that brought me from one end of Thailand to another.
But on a recent trip to Singapore, I found myself ready to take on the challenge of going off on my own, learning the ropes of just finding my way. For once, and maybe finally, it felt like it was time to take singlehood to the level of courageously and expectedly getting lost, and fearlessly finding my way back to where it becomes familiar again.
Backpacking was too much for newbie me, my excuse being the first part of this trip involved official writing business, which required more than just walking around in shorts and Chuck Taylors and meant lugging around a laptop. And then there’s this too: I cannot compromise on clean and safe for accommodations, which pretty much cancels out those cheap and mixed (i.e. co-ed) rooms in backpacker’s inns.
Thus was my introduction to the flashier version of carrying around a backpack: flashpacking. Here was a way of traveling I could navigate, one that’s between roughing it and doing it like a jetsetter, the compromise I needed as independent-girl-traveler, middle-class-earner, chick who wants to travel in dresses.
Here’s a rundown of things learned on flashpacker trip number one.
Find accommodations.
Crucial to the flashpacker is her choice of where to stay, and seeing as things are a wee bit expensive in Singapore, hostels were the immediate alternative to hotels. Researchwas crucial: I was picking among accommodations listed in Hostel World knowing that it was entirely possible that guest reviews were rigged. But when I finally settled on Wink Hostel, it was because:
(1) they’re new (my security card was number 000006!)
(2) they had an all-girls dorm room
(3) they had unlimited wifi and free breakfast
(4) they promised hi-tech security for rooms and lockers
(5) they had pods instead of bunkbeds, which means more privacy
For this trip though, I also needed space and quiet to write, at the same time that I needed a place that could easily get me elsewhere the moment I needed a timeout. That it was easily accessible from the train station, was in the middle of bustling Chinatown’s cheap hawkers’ stalls, and was run by a family that was caring but not stifling, friendly but let me do my writing, made Wink Hostel my heaven on Singapore earth.
Pick a bag well.
Bring only what you can carry yourself, regardless of whether it’s a huge hiker’s backpack or the smallest luggage with wheels. Hostels will usually require you to go up a floor or two, so take that into consideration when testing the weight of your bag. Other important considerations include the size of a hostel’s locker, and the baggage weight allowance allowed by your airline.
Choose clothes well.
Count the days you’ll be away, plan your itinerary, and pack your wardrobe based on your schedule. While it’s a challenge to plan ahead and pack it all in one bag, you can also see this as the most liberating thing: limited space means choosing what’s important to bring for a given trip.
A standard set of clothes I found important to my flashpacker self included: (1) a pair of jeans, a scarf, a cardigan, a black pair of Chuck Taylors that I traveled to Singapore in, which meant not having to pack it in the bag; (2) a pair of shorts / leggings and t-shirts for sleeping in; (3) the Brag, which keeps the shape of your bras, but can also be filled with the rest of your underwear; (4) dresses – these are articles of clothing that are outfits in themselves; (5) slippers and ballet flats (or fancy sandals) which should be made for walking and stuffed in individual bags for easy packing.
Living in a hostel means common bathrooms and living areas, so bring decent clothes for sleeping or lounging around in; T-shirts and shorts are ideal for this double duty.
Don’t pack the kitchen sink.
Or your dresser for that matter. The only space that’s yours in a hostel is your bed and the locker so keep your toiletries and peripherals to a bare minimum. My major epiphany for this trip: keep them all properly segregated and packed in soft cloth containers (for easier packing) according to type. Pack tech cords and chargers in one pack, accessories that range from reading glasses to an extra pair of contact lenses, earrings and ponytail holders in another. For toiletries, use a ziplock bag and pack your shampoo and conditioner, lotions and moisturizers in smaller bottles or sachets. Liquid soaps are a lot less messy to travel with than bar soaps, and pick a flat round loofah for easy packing. Wet tissues will save you in every way you can imagine.
One last thing: I’ve never regretted packing a tabo for trips, for obvious reasons. But on this flashpacking trip, it also became the container for carrying toiletries from room to bathroom, which made it more a necessity than just a Pinay hygiene quirk.
Brave the cheap food.
Once I had settled in, the first thing I did was to familiarize myself with where I was and find the cheaper eating places. As Wink Hostel was in the middle of Chinatown, I was about a three-minute walk away from Smith Street, famous for its street food and riddled with Chinese restaurants and local bakeries. I also found the nearest grocery and got myself cartons of juice and snacks – the cheaper alternative wherever you are in the world, especially since the hostel allows for the use of kitchen amenities.
You can drink water from the faucet in Singapore, though this might really be dependent on the kind of stomach you have, so test it and be wary of restaurant water still. If going for the cheap: have your fill of that free breakfast, no matter what it is. For Wink it was a happy spread of bread and cereals, tea and coffee and juice, enough for someone like me who’s happy with a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and coffee for breakfast.
Take public transportation.
Flashpacking shouldn’t mean taking cabs, and seriously, those are expensive in Singapore. So I slowly but surely figured out the train system, even as I decided to brave the streets with the most reliable map I could find. On this trip with no real itinerary, I just walked, ready and willing to get lost, discovering where I was only when I’d stop to rest for a cup of coffee or to take photographs. Singapore was perfect for this kind of aimlessness, as the streets are generally safe and the local people are used to tourists.
Live well in the hostel.
The thing with a hostel like Wink is that it felt like a real home in the middle of Singapore, pretty much blocking the noise and activity of Chinatown. I found myself a corner to write in and kept to that space most of my stay there, which is not to say that I didn’t make friends. Here is the upside of the hostel: it allows for interaction among guests because of the common rooms you share. Of course you need to be careful regardless, at the same time realize that these are kindred spirits to some extent, who are also just passing through, and there isn’t a lot of time to be comfortable with each other anyway.
Conversations are light, small talk can easily be escaped by a polite “excuse me" from the dining table. And if you don’t want to be bothered, plug in your earphones and you’re allowed to disappear into your own world.
One last word on flashpacking trip number one: I realized that much of communal living in a hostel hinges on your own sense of cleanliness and silence. Clean up after yourself and be aware of the space you take up. Care about how loud you get, and take care not to get into conversations that can get out of hand and turn into arguments. When in doubt, keep your thoughts to yourself.
And always, within the hostel and out on unfamiliar streets, bravery doesn’t mean being foolishly naïve about where you are and how it must look that you’re traveling alone, the girl in her dresses and flipflops, typing furiously on her laptop or engrossed in a book, having a cup of coffee in an out-of-the-way café. The rule, I realize, is to go with your gut: it actually tells you when it’s time to walk a little faster than usual, or which hostel guest might not be the one to go out on a harmless random lunch with.
In the end flashpacking trip number one, in this wonderful hostel in a generally safe country, proves to be ultimately refreshing: I was allowed to only be the self I was willing for people to see, and there was no need to talk about my history and context any more than I wanted. It wasn’t so much a reinvention as it was just a reconfigured version of self that is pushed to the fore, because as it turns out, sometimes it’s all that’s important. That this is true for you still when you finally come home, is exactly the point.
And then there’s the fact that traveling with someone wreaks havoc on my sense of direction, the downside to being dependent on two friends who knew their way around Malaysia, a boy who lived in Japan, another who knew Paris like the back of his hand, a traveling classroom that brought me from one end of Thailand to another.
But on a recent trip to Singapore, I found myself ready to take on the challenge of going off on my own, learning the ropes of just finding my way. For once, and maybe finally, it felt like it was time to take singlehood to the level of courageously and expectedly getting lost, and fearlessly finding my way back to where it becomes familiar again.
Backpacking was too much for newbie me, my excuse being the first part of this trip involved official writing business, which required more than just walking around in shorts and Chuck Taylors and meant lugging around a laptop. And then there’s this too: I cannot compromise on clean and safe for accommodations, which pretty much cancels out those cheap and mixed (i.e. co-ed) rooms in backpacker’s inns.
Thus was my introduction to the flashier version of carrying around a backpack: flashpacking. Here was a way of traveling I could navigate, one that’s between roughing it and doing it like a jetsetter, the compromise I needed as independent-girl-traveler, middle-class-earner, chick who wants to travel in dresses.
Here’s a rundown of things learned on flashpacker trip number one.
Find accommodations.
Crucial to the flashpacker is her choice of where to stay, and seeing as things are a wee bit expensive in Singapore, hostels were the immediate alternative to hotels. Researchwas crucial: I was picking among accommodations listed in Hostel World knowing that it was entirely possible that guest reviews were rigged. But when I finally settled on Wink Hostel, it was because:
(1) they’re new (my security card was number 000006!)
(2) they had an all-girls dorm room
(3) they had unlimited wifi and free breakfast
(4) they promised hi-tech security for rooms and lockers
(5) they had pods instead of bunkbeds, which means more privacy
For this trip though, I also needed space and quiet to write, at the same time that I needed a place that could easily get me elsewhere the moment I needed a timeout. That it was easily accessible from the train station, was in the middle of bustling Chinatown’s cheap hawkers’ stalls, and was run by a family that was caring but not stifling, friendly but let me do my writing, made Wink Hostel my heaven on Singapore earth.
Pick a bag well.
Bring only what you can carry yourself, regardless of whether it’s a huge hiker’s backpack or the smallest luggage with wheels. Hostels will usually require you to go up a floor or two, so take that into consideration when testing the weight of your bag. Other important considerations include the size of a hostel’s locker, and the baggage weight allowance allowed by your airline.
Choose clothes well.
Count the days you’ll be away, plan your itinerary, and pack your wardrobe based on your schedule. While it’s a challenge to plan ahead and pack it all in one bag, you can also see this as the most liberating thing: limited space means choosing what’s important to bring for a given trip.
A standard set of clothes I found important to my flashpacker self included: (1) a pair of jeans, a scarf, a cardigan, a black pair of Chuck Taylors that I traveled to Singapore in, which meant not having to pack it in the bag; (2) a pair of shorts / leggings and t-shirts for sleeping in; (3) the Brag, which keeps the shape of your bras, but can also be filled with the rest of your underwear; (4) dresses – these are articles of clothing that are outfits in themselves; (5) slippers and ballet flats (or fancy sandals) which should be made for walking and stuffed in individual bags for easy packing.
Space considerations. Your bed and your locker are the only individual spaces you pay for in a hostel so pack wisely no matter how flashy.
Don’t pack the kitchen sink.
Or your dresser for that matter. The only space that’s yours in a hostel is your bed and the locker so keep your toiletries and peripherals to a bare minimum. My major epiphany for this trip: keep them all properly segregated and packed in soft cloth containers (for easier packing) according to type. Pack tech cords and chargers in one pack, accessories that range from reading glasses to an extra pair of contact lenses, earrings and ponytail holders in another. For toiletries, use a ziplock bag and pack your shampoo and conditioner, lotions and moisturizers in smaller bottles or sachets. Liquid soaps are a lot less messy to travel with than bar soaps, and pick a flat round loofah for easy packing. Wet tissues will save you in every way you can imagine.
One last thing: I’ve never regretted packing a tabo for trips, for obvious reasons. But on this flashpacking trip, it also became the container for carrying toiletries from room to bathroom, which made it more a necessity than just a Pinay hygiene quirk.
Brave the cheap food.
Once I had settled in, the first thing I did was to familiarize myself with where I was and find the cheaper eating places. As Wink Hostel was in the middle of Chinatown, I was about a three-minute walk away from Smith Street, famous for its street food and riddled with Chinese restaurants and local bakeries. I also found the nearest grocery and got myself cartons of juice and snacks – the cheaper alternative wherever you are in the world, especially since the hostel allows for the use of kitchen amenities.
Find cheap food. A $4 hainanese chicken rice meal on Smith Street in Chinatown.
You can drink water from the faucet in Singapore, though this might really be dependent on the kind of stomach you have, so test it and be wary of restaurant water still. If going for the cheap: have your fill of that free breakfast, no matter what it is. For Wink it was a happy spread of bread and cereals, tea and coffee and juice, enough for someone like me who’s happy with a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and coffee for breakfast.
Take public transportation.
Flashpacking shouldn’t mean taking cabs, and seriously, those are expensive in Singapore. So I slowly but surely figured out the train system, even as I decided to brave the streets with the most reliable map I could find. On this trip with no real itinerary, I just walked, ready and willing to get lost, discovering where I was only when I’d stop to rest for a cup of coffee or to take photographs. Singapore was perfect for this kind of aimlessness, as the streets are generally safe and the local people are used to tourists.
Walk aimlessly. Into the Deepavali Festival at Little India.
Live well in the hostel.
The thing with a hostel like Wink is that it felt like a real home in the middle of Singapore, pretty much blocking the noise and activity of Chinatown. I found myself a corner to write in and kept to that space most of my stay there, which is not to say that I didn’t make friends. Here is the upside of the hostel: it allows for interaction among guests because of the common rooms you share. Of course you need to be careful regardless, at the same time realize that these are kindred spirits to some extent, who are also just passing through, and there isn’t a lot of time to be comfortable with each other anyway.
Conversations are light, small talk can easily be escaped by a polite “excuse me" from the dining table. And if you don’t want to be bothered, plug in your earphones and you’re allowed to disappear into your own world.
Hostel living. Use common areas properly and well, which is to say clean up after yourself.
One last word on flashpacking trip number one: I realized that much of communal living in a hostel hinges on your own sense of cleanliness and silence. Clean up after yourself and be aware of the space you take up. Care about how loud you get, and take care not to get into conversations that can get out of hand and turn into arguments. When in doubt, keep your thoughts to yourself.
And always, within the hostel and out on unfamiliar streets, bravery doesn’t mean being foolishly naïve about where you are and how it must look that you’re traveling alone, the girl in her dresses and flipflops, typing furiously on her laptop or engrossed in a book, having a cup of coffee in an out-of-the-way café. The rule, I realize, is to go with your gut: it actually tells you when it’s time to walk a little faster than usual, or which hostel guest might not be the one to go out on a harmless random lunch with.
In the end flashpacking trip number one, in this wonderful hostel in a generally safe country, proves to be ultimately refreshing: I was allowed to only be the self I was willing for people to see, and there was no need to talk about my history and context any more than I wanted. It wasn’t so much a reinvention as it was just a reconfigured version of self that is pushed to the fore, because as it turns out, sometimes it’s all that’s important. That this is true for you still when you finally come home, is exactly the point.
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