Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DCJames]

you look stupid when you're eating alone in the corner at a restaurant while everyone else is a couple or in big groups enjoying their holidays together having a good time.

Everyone knows desperate guys travel alone looking for some native girl to score on.

Gals that travel alone look pathetic.

[ClairQuilty]

I with DCJames on this one.

If you're a guy and traveling alone you better have a wedding ring on and be a eunuch. Chicks must have a cell phone pressed against their ear whenever they are in public (or is it too much for you to just stand close enough to a group so I can pretend you're part of it?)
I'm tired of having one vacation after another completely destroyed when, after having sat down for pleasant local cuisine with my ample company I glance over to see one of you FREAKS hunched over your cheap entree moping to yourself.

[Catt]

Just cause someone likes to travel alone neither makes them a freak nor pathetic. Sometimes it just means that they have the guts to go out alone. I personally enjoy going travelling alone as I don't have to worry about people getting pissy about one thing or another and making life miserable for everyone else. That isn't to say that I haven't had amazing trips with my friends, but every now and then you need to get away from it all,m including your friends and just have some time to enjoy what you want to do and relax. Meeting new people and seeing what there is to see is great. It is actually easier to meet people on your own as you are free to hang out chat and not feel like you are infringing on your friends time.

[Summer Wine]

Have to agree with the above poster. The most fun times I have had were when I was alone. I managed to meet different people, get invited to go to some place because I was alone and they didn't want me to feel lonely. Its easier to hook up with girls as they don't have to worry about a roomie.

Personally I have better things to do then worry about who is by themselves and who isn't when I am on holiday. Also when I was in the philippines, the fact that I was with a woman (who wasn't my girlfriend) meant that guys were hesitant to chat her up because they thought she was my girlfriend.

but if you have never travelled alone, then you arent really able to talk about it being bad as you really dont know if it is or isn't. Plus being by myself got me a free tourist trip which would have cost me 20,000 won if I had been with friends (well actually I would probably have never gone).

So don't have hangups about lone travellers, they are doing their own thing.

[IrishJen]

I think it entirely depends on person and location. I haven't done any hardcore travelling by myself, but I think my toughest trip was Cuba. Being a very white, single girl on her own in Cuba was a test. It wasn't threatening, I never felt unsafe...I just felt...uncomfortable, because of the comments. I can put up with staring, believe me, but 10 days of comments every couple of minutes, with no one to laugh with about it or talk to, was quite tough.

It was hard to meet people there because I was doing an independent trip, whereas most other tourists to Cuba are on a package deal, so stay in their hotel and on the bus. And the country is quite overwhelming, in a lot of ways, so it would have been good to have someone to talk to (I filled a journal with my musings!)

Having said that, since coming to Korea, I've definitely gotten more used to travelling with people (it's that whole community part of Korean life), and consequently, I'm a little apprehensive about my summer vacation! I'm going to Beijing by myself, before joining a group heading into North Korea. Not worried about NK at all - it's the being alone in Beijing! But I'm already planning jam packed days, and I'm sure I'll meet people along the way.

So to all those who are saying that girls travelling along are "pathetic" and "have no friends" - would you say that about any girl you ever saw alone, even if she was in her own country? Because I like to take myself out to lunch or away for the day, whether at home, in Korea, or travelling, and I have lots of friends, thank you very much.

[IrishJen]

Oh, and having a friend with me in Cuba would have been fantastic when I managed to blind myself in one eye and had to stay in my hotel room all day!

[Fishead soup]

[endo]

[Yaya]

I enjoy traveling alone, it's liberating to do whatever you want. Plus it's easier to hook up if you ain't attached. That said, I think that I might've try things I wouldn't otherwise do if I was traveling with others. I have nothing against traveling with others, but matching schedules to do just that is tricky.

I usually end up meeting fun people during my travels anyway.