There's something so daunting and difficult about flexibility, especially when it comes to travel plans. We have a tendency to want to cram in activities for every single second of our trips, leaving no room for flexible plans, additions, or detours.
My goal for this trip was to break this cycle of over-planning I've grown so accustomed to and instead take my time, finding places and experiences I wanted to have along the way as opposed to having set schedules for my days. And so far it has been nothing short of amazing.
Yesterday I left bustling Bangkok behind for the much quieter and historical city of Ayutthaya, about 40 miles north of Bangkok and an hour and a half train ride from the city center.
I loaded up my bags and said goodbye to my comfortable hostel and boarded the two skytrains to take me to the main train station. My train cost me a grand total of 15 baht (about 45 cents!) and was set to leave at 11:20.
I boarded the train and as people filed onto the train two blokes with backpacks like mine sat adjacent to me. We got to talking and immediately hit it off. One guy was half-Thai and half-Cambodian but born and raised in Paris. The other was a pharmacist from England but loved to travel around and had actually met his travel buddy on a trip to Morocco. Try became great friends and decided to travel to Thailand together at a later date.
They were both insanely positive, good fun, and happy to have me along for the ride. We had the exact same ideas for places we wanted to journey to and so decided to team up for awhile, something I was extremely happy about. It's nice to have the company of other people, takes the edge of loneliness off for a time.
We spent the hour and a half long train ride (sans air conditioning, hoosh!!!!) chatting about places we had been, places we wanted to go, anything and everything.
My goal for this trip was to break this cycle of over-planning I've grown so accustomed to and instead take my time, finding places and experiences I wanted to have along the way as opposed to having set schedules for my days. And so far it has been nothing short of amazing.
Yesterday I left bustling Bangkok behind for the much quieter and historical city of Ayutthaya, about 40 miles north of Bangkok and an hour and a half train ride from the city center.
I loaded up my bags and said goodbye to my comfortable hostel and boarded the two skytrains to take me to the main train station. My train cost me a grand total of 15 baht (about 45 cents!) and was set to leave at 11:20.
I boarded the train and as people filed onto the train two blokes with backpacks like mine sat adjacent to me. We got to talking and immediately hit it off. One guy was half-Thai and half-Cambodian but born and raised in Paris. The other was a pharmacist from England but loved to travel around and had actually met his travel buddy on a trip to Morocco. Try became great friends and decided to travel to Thailand together at a later date.
They were both insanely positive, good fun, and happy to have me along for the ride. We had the exact same ideas for places we wanted to journey to and so decided to team up for awhile, something I was extremely happy about. It's nice to have the company of other people, takes the edge of loneliness off for a time.
We spent the hour and a half long train ride (sans air conditioning, hoosh!!!!) chatting about places we had been, places we wanted to go, anything and everything.
We made it to Ayutthaya around 1:00pm and after taking a tuk tuk to the hostel, dropping our bags, and gearing up our cameras we walked over to Ayutthaya Hostorical Park. And that's where the magic began. It's easy to get lost in the awe-inspiring beauty that encapsulates Ayutthaya and we spent a good few hours exploring each area of the crumbling wats.
The park is truly special and we took or time, letting the power of flexibility lead our way.
The next day was another day filled with incredible adventures. We rented motorbikes and I found myself doing something I never thought I would do and probably wouldn't have had the opportunity TO do if not for the chance encounter with my boys. I rode on the back of a motorbike through a historical town in Southeast Asia. Like, how crazy is that sentence alone?!
We ventured all over Ayutthaya, getting plenty lost along the way but in doing so found ourselves at such places as:
The Floating Market
The next day was another day filled with incredible adventures. We rented motorbikes and I found myself doing something I never thought I would do and probably wouldn't have had the opportunity TO do if not for the chance encounter with my boys. I rode on the back of a motorbike through a historical town in Southeast Asia. Like, how crazy is that sentence alone?!
We ventured all over Ayutthaya, getting plenty lost along the way but in doing so found ourselves at such places as:
The Floating Market
Wat Lokayasutharam (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)
And the Wat Phu Kaho Thong:
We didn't have a definitive plan for our day but rather let ourselves get lost and in turn found incredible things along the way. Allowing ourselves the flexibility to take things as they come and get a little lost resulted in us stumbling on these spectacular sites.
Flexibility is definitely not my strongest suit (Chronic Planner Syndrome is a thing, I assure you!) and yet I purposefully chose to leave my trip open ended. I had one ticket into Bangkok, and one out of Siem Reap and anything that happens along the way is great! It was a little daunting (read: still is VERY daunting) from time to time but it has opened me up to meeting some of the best and most interesting people as well as having experiences I definitely wouldn't have otherwise had!
If this trip has taught me anything (and it has taught me a LOT) it's the power that lies in flexibility. We have grown so accustomed to moving faster, constantly, and tirelessly and while I've been in Southeast Asia I've been able to sit back, relax, and know that I have time. I'm FORCED to slow down- buses don't come, trains are late, and it will always take much longer to get somewhere than you thought it would. Being able to take my time is refreshing and I feel like the world is my oyster!
So my greatest advice to you is to embrace flexibility, in all senses of the word. Because amazing things will happen when you do, I promise. :)
Until next time,
Happy Travels!
-Freckles
Flexibility is definitely not my strongest suit (Chronic Planner Syndrome is a thing, I assure you!) and yet I purposefully chose to leave my trip open ended. I had one ticket into Bangkok, and one out of Siem Reap and anything that happens along the way is great! It was a little daunting (read: still is VERY daunting) from time to time but it has opened me up to meeting some of the best and most interesting people as well as having experiences I definitely wouldn't have otherwise had!
If this trip has taught me anything (and it has taught me a LOT) it's the power that lies in flexibility. We have grown so accustomed to moving faster, constantly, and tirelessly and while I've been in Southeast Asia I've been able to sit back, relax, and know that I have time. I'm FORCED to slow down- buses don't come, trains are late, and it will always take much longer to get somewhere than you thought it would. Being able to take my time is refreshing and I feel like the world is my oyster!
So my greatest advice to you is to embrace flexibility, in all senses of the word. Because amazing things will happen when you do, I promise. :)
Until next time,
Happy Travels!
-Freckles