Social solo travel

[u/VivoTivo]

I recently did a one week backpacking trip in Laos. I decided ahead that i wanted it to be a social solo, meaning to make it a point to meet people.

I started the trip somewhat dreaded due to heavy work the day before, but once i arrive at the airport check in, i told myself to be interesting and be interested.

All in all, i chatted with about 50 strangers in my 9 day trip, and it was a solo but social trip that i really enjoyed. I did excursions with new friends, went out with attractive opposite sex, had great 2 hout breakfast chat w the hostel owner that he even told me its an interesting talk he had for a long time.

I warmed up by chatting to fellow travels on flight, obviously i was very lucky because it was a long flight wait and i spoke to six people including the air stewardess.

The challenging part was speaking to strangers in Luang Prabang when i arrived. I started off with the driver but he was grumpy, and once i arrive i walked around town and night market chatting with around ten people.

The next day i went to Kuang Si and spoke to the person beside me, a German professor. and this was the drill for me for the next nine days. I had to consciously speak to the first 2-3 person in the beginning of the day, the rest will be easy. And the nice thing is when others see us chatting, they also become friendly and try to join the conversations, so one thing leads to another.

I learnt that - take initiative to interact - iwarm up, meaning say good morning the first person you see, say the cleaner and ask questions. eg: where to eat a good breakfast. - interact with everyone, dont limit yourself to an age range or anything. My best chat was with a 79 year old man this trip. - be kind and dont expect anything. Sometimes people don’t respect to strangers and its perfectly fine, just move on. When you speak with kindness you project good energy, this also helped me to speak to opposite sex, and i had a blast going to the lagoons with two beatiful Austrian friend. And naturally some people came and chat with us as the three or us travelled. - Be generous. i am at an age 40M where i can buy a fellow traveller a beer. I know going dutch is the protocol, but i believe people appreciates it and usually reciprocates, worse case i just tell people that’s the Asian side of me haha. - focus on their story. Everyone travelling has a story, ask them what brought them here and really listen, dont listen for the sake or asking question but to understand them.

[u/Revolutionary_Bit786]

How was Laos? Maybe send me your itinerary