Why my girlfriend won’t travel alone

By naren | Activities and Events, Explore, Uncategorized

Why my girlfriend won't travel alone.

'It's not safe, why don't you ask Lily to go along with you?'

No thanks, Mum. That should be your answer. Solo travel is here and now. So why shouldn’t women around the world embrace this life-changing experience of misadventure and sheer folly?

It has become a dying fact that women need to travel in numbers. The modern female should throw caution to the wind and buy that plane ticket without thinking twice.

So let’s explore the screaming factors to consider when ‘thinking once’.

Safety.

One of the main points my girlfriend would bring up on the idea of travelling alone is about safety. It doesn’t help that headlines in the papers now and then report stories of female travellers being caught in less than desirable situations in foreign countries.

If you come to think of it, safety overseas transcends gender. No matter who you are or where you go, you should always be practising general safe travelling habits.

Stick to the paths often travelled.

If you are truly apprehensive about heading abroad alone, then I’d suggest staying away from the ‘roads less travelled’. Leave that to a time when you have a healthy support group to travel with.

First solo trip? Keep it vanilla.

Only carry what you need

Heading out? Only bring out what cash you need to spend that day. Never bring out a full wad of money just in case. Instead, what you should do is prep an extra 50 if you ever need to catch a cab back to your serviced apartment.

Try to avoid the night outings.

This one is kind of a given. There are safe night timings and less-than-safe timings. If you would like to check out the on-goings of the nightlife scene in a country, try to stick between the 7pm and midnight shifts.

I know what you’re thinking, ‘Hey! I’m no lame 60 year old!’ Whodini sang it true when they belted out ‘the freaks come out at night’. So heed their advice, if not mine, and play it 60 year old style.

Navigation.

1. Forget the stereotypes. More often than not, if you keep hearing the jokes and bits about women not being good navigators or having a bad sense of direction, you’re going to believe it to be true.

If you’re being hosted in a serviced apartment, contact your host/hosting company. Get some readily available guides and request for a map. A quick read through and marking of notable landmarks will help you immensely with orientation.

2. Get a navigation app. Or a e-map even. Google maps is a free and easy solution to this. GPS in general is going to help you out greatly over here. You don’t even need to wait till you start your trip.

Whip out your phone now and have a look through the map of the city you intend on visiting. Mark down journey paths, distances and places on interest. It’ll give you more confidence when travelling.

3. Join a tour group on your first day. It might not be the most glamorous of stories you would want to include on your first solo trip but short and quick tours on your first day in a new country are a smart way of learning your way to through the immediate part of town.

Getting lonely.

1. One main issue many travellers face is the feeling of being lonely. Travelling solo for many days or weeks can leave one longing for the connection and companionship back home.

During downtime, take some time to sit in your serviced apartment, open up your laptop and use applications like Skype and WhatApp to say hello to those back home. Just 5 mins will keep your mind healthy.

2. Make friends. Sounds pretty simple but when travellers go solo, there seems to be this notion that you have to be with yourself as much as possible. The whole idea of solo travel is to step outside your comfort zone. Meeting new and exciting people fits that bill.

Unwanted eyes.

1. I can’t really help much with this one. No matter where you go in the world, tourist will always attract eyes from all around. What’s worse is the less than flattering gaze offered upon women travellers.

You’ve got to mentally prepare yourself to be ogled by almost everyone. More often than not, these people are just curious.

But to keep the staring at bay, make sure you leave the valuable accessories at home, skip the all too revealing clothes and never deal large amounts of cash out in the open.

Hotel? Try again.

By naren | Explore, Housing, Long Term Rentals, Serviced Apartments

Hotel? Try again.

Move over hotels, serviced apartments are the way to go when selecting accommodation options for your employees coming from overseas.

When it comes to picking the right lodging for them, factors like price, location and suitability must be considered. Here’s why serviced apartments check those boxes.

Keep a healthy state of mind

Imagine your colleague doing her work in a room. She eats in her room, sleeps and watches TV in this 325 square feet shoe box. Now imagine her having the same routine for 3 months in the same room.

When you take someone away from home and put them within 4 walls to work, you restrict the mind from being able to draw clear distinctions between daily activities. In serviced apartments, you can work and play as it should be.

Serviced apartments not only offer the space for comfortable daily living, but residential style units often come with windows that you can actually open. Fresh air and warm sunlight are essential for good living. But serviced apartments are healthy for the mind too.

Bedrooms for rest, kitchens for cooking and living rooms for living. Your boss/employee will appreciate the care taken to provide them with a space where they can be comfortable. You aren’t just looking for a space they can work from. They need a space to live in.

Have a get-together

Speaking of needs, the living areas in serviced apartments provide the tenant with the ability to host. A fully equipped kitchen to prepare meals and an area to welcome guests. It’s much easier to greet people with a living space rather than just a room.

Business meetings cum client lunches, you can have them at ‘home’. Keep a healthy social life active and throw small gatherings over at ‘your place’. Being in another country doesn’t mean one has to always rely on others for social outings. Bask in the independence that space provides.

It’s cheaper

A growing reason to have you looking at a serviced apartment rather than a hotel is the point that it is arguably cheaper for long-term stays.

Keeping to a budget can always make or break a decision. Serviced apartments offer more value for money with regards to the space they provide. If you think about it, with hotels, you are paying a fixed rate for the number of guests. Whereas with apartments you’re also paying for the space and facilities provided.

Sometimes sticking to a budget means skimping and doing away with luxury. With serviced apartments, you won’t have to.

Keep your friends close.

Add structure to your life

The flexibility offered by serviced apartments allows for more than one employee. During longer stays, some individuals might be less than willing to share a room with a colleague. Serviced apartments offer the option of separate bedrooms.

The accommodating space you find in serviced apartments also allows for little things that make one feel less away from home. Things like washing machines; allowing you to do your own laundry and kitchens; to prepare your own meals.

It’s easy to forget current human needs when making such decisions but your main aim here is to limit the feeling of displacement as much as possible.

Temporary Home

With serviced apartments, one is essentially getting a space that feels like a home. Working and living from an unfamiliar environment is never easy. So it makes things easier to cope with when you can operate from somewhere you feel comfortable in.

The main aim is always to always care for your employee’s wellbeing by making sure he/she has the right tools and environment to produce efficiently with a healthy state of mind.

So do yourself and everyone else a favour; leave hotels to the tourist and pick that serviced apartment if you mean business.

Troubles of the lonely expat.

By naren | Everyday Living, Work

Troubles of the lonely expat.

Being all alone could sometimes lead down a narrow path to depression. Here’s a warm hug to let you know that you aren’t the only one.

The trip over to a new country is often dressed with exciting opportunities and new challenges. Usually poised as a positive outlook on a new journey, many stray away from the evidently negative issues tagging along.

Not talked about as often as it should be; expats have reported feeling depressed during the first two years of their stay in a new country. Some suffer depression as a result of strain on marital relationships, others on job stability. Most of the time, it’s the displacement that drives the sharp knife in losing one’s self, making them feel all alone.

Being in a completely new environment means change is inevitable. What more a new country. To fit with the new environment, sometimes expats feel the need to change themselves.

New country, new restrictions. New culture, new considerations. Bit by bit, you start losing yourself in the haze of progress. The rush and confusion that follows, pave way for displacement and regret, leaving you longing for a past constant.

New Country, Same Me.

When one goes abroad, it has been argued that there is importance in bringing as much along emotionally as possible. Although it might feel better to ‘start fresh’, what we bring along will help keep a steady mind in the future. Hobbies, connections and the environment of your current abode, be it a rented apartment or a shared home, are factors that can contribute to a healthy state of mind.

As much as you can help it, you should always orientate your serviced apartment or house to suit the comfortability of home (back home). No matter how ephemeral it may be. Where you choose to refocus needs to be a fixed constant in life, a place that you know will always be stable in a volatile world; a place that you can call home.

Another factor people tend to overlook are the activities we once did to past the time. I’m talking about hobbies. Be it football, knitting or even painting, keeping these activities in our calendar is essential in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

We often make the mistake of pushing everything aside when it comes to impressing the workplace. One month becomes two and before you know it, you’ll find yourself saying, ” Wow, I sure haven’t done that in a while.”

So keep to it and engage yourself in hobbies, both new and old! A quick google search could even lead to the discovery of related ongoings around you. You might find a group of like-minded individuals interested in a new friend.

Keep your friends close.

Ah… friends…How you’ve missed them so. Leaving a family to move abroad means having to make new ones. While you’re doing so, it’s an important point to keep in contact with those who mean the most. Displacement happens for many reasons. As social beings, we need a social community to depend upon for emotional and psychological support. Moments are transient, so get on a video call – such as Facebook Messenger or Google Duo, and go talk to your mum! (or whoever your best friend is).

On that note, it’s natural for some of us to instantly long for companionship in any form from the get-go. Perhaps hold off for a bit. Don’t make David a ‘blood-brother’ just because he invited you for a beer. Hold your cool and be yourself. With a positive mindset and calm nature, your energy will take care of fate. So keep that chin up and brush off your shoulders. Help is there to be found. You just have to look for it.