Enjoy the Unplanned in Journeys
Do you prefer to travel with or without plans? I used to join group tours and follow the schedules in the packages. However, after I first tried backpacking, I started to fall in love with the freedom and the surprises in self-guided journeys. Some people might feel nervous and uneasy if they don’t have travel plans with details about where to go next. I agree that it can sometimes be scary to travel without plans when we are in unfamiliar places. However, it is also a chance for us to visit local restaurants, meet interesting people, and explore unpopular places.
I once traveled to Kamakura, Japan with my friends. After paying a visit to the famous Great Buddha, we found ourselves one hour ahead of schedule. Therefore, we decided to visit the temple which we had passed by on our way to the Great Buddha. It turned out to be the most impressive temple I have ever been to. It might be a little disrespectful to say so, but the Jizo statues in the temple are the cutest ones I have ever seen. There was also a cave full of Buddhist statues, which were magnificent. The temple was originally not in our travel plan, but I will definitely visit it again next time I go to Kamakura.
Another surprise I had during my trip happened when I was in London. It was 7:20 in the evening when my friend and I were exhausted and hungry after going shopping at Piccadilly Circus. We were looking for a place to have dinner when we passed the theatre street and ran into a man who was selling his tickets in front of Her Majesty’s Theatre. I have always been a big fan of The Phantom of the Opera, but we didn’t book the tickets earlier and they were all sold out. The man said he bought the tickets for his friends, but they ended up unable to go to the theatre. Therefore, he had no choice but to sell the tickets right before the musical started. I was very excited for the opportunity, but at the same time worried that it was some kind of fraud as he was selling a £43 ticket for only £10. While we were still hesitating, another man bought 1 ticket from the man and went into the theatre successfully. It eliminated our doubts and we decided to go for it although we were so hungry that we could eat a horse. In the end, it turned out to be the best part of my London trip. I was so touched enjoying the musical in person that I even cried at the end.
After this experience, I started to learn to enjoy the unplanned in journeys. Just as the saying goes, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Why not relax and enjoy the surprises and see what life has to offer?
