When going aboard for vacation, I always prefer to travel in group or at least with a buddy. I never thought of travelling alone. It’s so boring, no one talks to me and dine with me.

Until three years ago, I remembered I got a week unplanned vacation for certain reason. Initially, I just decided to stay at home, reading book, watching TV, etc. But, my “travel” DNA woke me up and told me you shouldn’t stay at your home town. You should travel aboard (yes, I love travel so much).

What’s next? The first thing came off my head was to search for a companion to go with me. But, at that time, all my friends were fully occupied, whether by their work, home business or other gigs. Okay, who else can travel with me? No… then let me travel alone.

It’s a totally different experience after I made this decision. Not just from day 1 of the trip, but from the very start of the trip, I’m on my own. I chose my desired destination and decided the trip plan without any support from my buddies I usually had. But this time, I’m the commander for everything. No discussion and objections!

The final decision was to make a 4-day trip to Bangkok. If I was not forgotful, I was quite upbeat that day when I headed towards the airport to catch the early flight. It’s the very first time I travel alone (hopefully it’s the final one). The excitement didn’t last long until I reached the airline’s check-out counter and handed in my air ticket. And, here was the conversation:

“Excuse me, sir. Are you traveling alone?”, a customer service officer said.

“Yes, I am…”, I responded.

“Sir, your air ticket indicates that you’re traveling with two other passengers.”

“How come I have two other buddies go with me? Where are they?”

“Sorry, sir. There is a restriction for your ticket. You have to check-in with the other two members. So, you better find the other two buddies, otherwise our airline can’t let you check-in.”

“Argh… I bought this ticket from my travel agent. And it’s a single ticket…”

“No, you better go and check with your agent. And wait for your buddies.”

Where are they? How do I know? How can I check with my travel agent. They close on Sunday. I’m just traveling alone with a single ticket. I couldn’t pass the check-in even escalated my case to her manager. It’s still a group ticket, travel in a group of three.

Sigh. Probably my trip would end here… After 15 minutes waiting at the check-in counter, my *buddies* finally showed up. They got the same problem as mine and of course, they didn’t know I was traveling with them. Who are they? Not hot gals, but a young couple (oh! made me feel more lonely).

I didn’t want to disturb the young couple. But another restriction of our flight tickets were we couldn’t change our seats. I was forced to sit next to them. What kind of ticket did my travel agent arrange for me? Wanna complain. Anyways, I could now get on the plane and start my trip…

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Tagged as: backpacking, bangkok, Travel