Solo Travel
Will definitely do this.
But I need to create something when I solo travel. My why: experiencing what it is to be human.
https://amirbolous.com/posts/europe/?curius=1461
I had brief glimpses of solo travel. Each.
Asia Recap From December 18th 2025 - January 8th 2026, I was in Asia. This is definitely the longest I had stayed in Asia. I want to write a recap of my experience traveling.
I was a little nervous. This was the first time I had ever arrived into a country which I could not speak the language on my own. Even though I looked like the people around me (asian), I was not able to speak their language.
On the flight there, I was aggressively learning Korean, hoping to put some basics to use. The previous time, I was in Japan, and had not learned a single line of japanese.
I arrived at the . While I had arrived on the 18th, I had originally planned to meet with my friend Zexi on the 20th, since that was when he was free after finishing his finals. I booked a hostel.
Clubbing in Korea
I arrived late to Seoul, around 10pm from incheon airport. I dropped off my stuff in my shared room of 4.
I booked hostel because I thought it would be cool to meet some other travelers, while Zexi was busy with finals and school.
It turned out that Zexi actually finished exams much earlier. He sent me a text, asking whether I’d be down to go clubbing in Seongsu.
I took the metro, but was confused. I tried asking a girl the directions, but she said no.
The clubbing area was bussing.
To my surprise, Zexi was invited with a group of girls. The dynamic of girls is very interesting, they usually hug each other tightly in a circle, signalling to other dudes that they are not free for talking. Oftentimes, they come with a couple of dudes, who act like bodyguards. That night, Zexi and I were the bodyguards to these ladies.
Seongsu was bussing, and though It was a friday. But so many people were smoking. I was never an avid clubber. The thought of people dancing around aimlessly to music seemed obnoxious and futile to me. I liked being the center of attention. However, I picked up dancing over the summer through salsa, and slowly enjoyed dancing to music more and more. Felt less awkward. a bit more than 2 years ago, I was in San Jose, when there was a night that I felt very lonely on a friday, and went there to pick up girls alone. It was a very interesting and challenging experience. But tonight, the mindset was just to have fun. And not on picking up girls. I think that’s a much healthier mindset and allowed me to enjoy tthe night.
2am: “The night is young”.
We walked to a restaurant. Though I had not eaten the whole day, I did not have the appetite. It was 3am. There I reminded myself how degen this clubbing lifestyle. Was I making good use of my time? Is this what ?
My philosophy when traveling has always been to learn about different cultures, to experience different walks of life. But tonight, it seemed to just have fun.
The girl in front of me said this: “You’re still young, my philosophy is that do as much stupid shit while you’re still young, else you gonna regret it”
I don’t know if I quite agree with that.
Getting a Perm
I got a perm. Learned a lot about hair care. I got a scalp treatment, and then a perm. Probably paid too much for what it was worth
They recommended that I don’t keep using head and shoulders.
Hostel with Strangers
The following day, saturday, i wanted to explore the Hongdae scene.
I had a brief stint going to a thrifting market, but the vibes with those 2 strangers weren’t the greatest.
I met an amazing group of individuals. I really got along with this black girl who grew up in France but now works in England as a vet. she was super chill. Also another american dude as we went to bar and 2 manned a 2 korean girls together. Or justin, a korean guy who lives in NYC. I liked everyone there, they were around my age so it was pretty cool.
I really liked the vibes of the hostel, would definitely come up. zzzip guesthouse
At the club, I got some attention, but it was weird. Like the korean girl saw my KIU jacket that i was wearing, asked for my insta, but then unfollowed right after. Oh well. Anyways, I absolutely hated the amount of smoking in korea clubs. Think i increased my risks of lung cancer by many folds that night.
I think I can still smell the stank.
Zexi
My friend Zexi asked for my help to move early in the morning. Now imagine, I came all the way from canada. This guy had so much stuff. Zexi had a reputation of always having lots of things. But it was lots of gifts.
But I learned a lot from Zexi. He definitely seemed to have matured a lot since I last met him. He carried with himself a poise, a stoicism that is hard to describe.
Some lessons from Zexi:
- Always come prepared (in this case, napkins)
- When we went clubbing the night before, one of the girls we were hanging out with started crying, since it was her last night in Korea, she had a flight early next morning. Zexi pulled out tissues out of his picket, a scene that looked just like a movie
- Think before you talk, do not put down anyone in any situation. Making jokes at the expense of others is almost never good
- Zexi scolded me for putting Zexi down, for example painting him as a playboy in front of the huzz, which I did to make a half-joke. I did not have to do that
- Be nonchalant
- Don’t ask so many questions over the menu when you are in front of a women, makes you look like a child
Skincare and beautification
One of the things I did with Zexi was this skin beautification process.
TODO: insert my skin treatment
i looked into botox and filler at Lienjang myeondong. But i think it’s really overpriced. I want to come back and do like laser treatment to improve my skin.
Coming out of korea, really started having a deep appreciation for skincare. And the most important thing is to apply sunscreen. But now I have a whole skincare routine it’s crazy.
Conclusion
I left Seoul without even having seen the gomboaljds palace nor the Seoul tower, and yet, I didn’t feel like I regretted. It was incredibly fun, and I want to largely thank Zexi for the amazing experience.
I wanted to experience the life of the locals, and I think my trip was pretty representative. I still really need to work on my korean.
All in all, I didn’t really expereince solo traveling beyond the few hours that I spent at the hostel. I was never truly alone, nor hit with the feelings of loneliness, apart from maybe a few minutes on the walk back from clubbing, or when I was doing my perm haircut.
What if I had fully done solo travelling in seoul? I think it would have been really hard. Zexi made it really fun, having a friend to do things that you’re fcomfortalbe with, and laugh together, and do stupid stuff together, was great. It would be completely different expereince alone.
But I got to expereince that for a bit in Hong kong (read below).
Hong Kong
I had more of the hong kong experience.
I arrived and wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, I was hoping my friend would show up so I didn’t need to plan what toi do (like what happend in Seoul when Zexi told me last minute to pullup to clubbing in seongsu), but another part of me wanted the challenge of actually trying solo travel, and living with myself and my feelings. I arrived satruday night, prime time for partying.
Lan kwai fung is themost famous distrinct.
I downloaded various apps, trying to meet people, but it was hard.
Saturday was a failure in many sense.
Sunday was great. Perhaps it’s overshadowed by 1 girl that I got to talk to.
The opening takes a lot.®
The thing with talking to
I had scheduled a meeting with a friend