Recently whenever we travel somewhere for a vacation, I am expected to plan the entire thing. It's not really too bad, especially if we're going to a place I'm generally interested in, but this also means if anything doesn't go according to plan, it's all going to be my fault too.

I'm most reluctant to pick a place to stay myself because obviously if you're on a budget, you can't go for the well-known hotels with perfect location. You have to take into account the transportation to and from the airport, and also its location relative to the places you're visiting. Is there subway access? Wifi? Breakfast? Until what time is their front desk open? Do they allow late night check-in? Does the family room in that hostel have a private bathroom? I have to read through reviews and check Google Maps and reread descriptions and lists of amenities over and over, and even then I still can't be 100% confident that what I ended up booking is going to be alright.

If you're lucky and you're traveling with people who don't have a lot of "requirements", you don't need to book a fancy hostel. Since you're out and about for most of the day anyway, all you need is a place to sleep and a clean bathroom. Most places these days have free wifi, so that at least isn't too difficult to look for.

Aside from accommodations, one of my biggest concerns is planning the daily activities. The thing is that I'm always traveling with people who have wildly different interests than mine. They say, "You pick where to go, we'll just follow." But, listen, you've scoffed at my ~childish~ interests before so you know full well that you are not into the same things I am into. You're definitely not going to appreciate Tokyo One Piece Tower or have fun at Toei Kyoto Studio Park. Tell me what you want to do or see and I'll make time in our schedule for it! Let's make this trip enjoyable for all of us, alright?!

When we're out of the country, we don't have roaming service so unless we rent phones or buy sim cards there, we can't contact each other. This is partly why I'm forced to work around everyone's interest--we have to stick together, so if there's somewhere I really want to go to, I have to make sure there's something for everyone else to do or check out as well.

There are a billion things I wasn't able to do in Japan for this reason. One time my brothers and I sent our older companions back to Akihabara while we went somewhere else, and my mom kept sending me messages on Facebook Messenger telling us where they are or where to meet up. I didn't receive any of it until we were back in our hostel in Akihabara with them because I didn't have internet connection and I have no idea why they even thought we did when the only pocket wifi we had was with them.

Anyway, I guess the lesson here is that if you're in a group with very different interests, maybe it's best to just shell out some money to rent a couple of pocket wifi.

Singapore is a little easier to plan for especially if you're traveling with people who haven't been there before. At least, with the people I usually travel with, it's easy to please them with pretty things you can take pictures of and post to Facebook. We're not the shopping kind of people, so riding the cable car and taking pictures with the Merlion are the only things I was explicitly asked for. They're going to have to endure me at S.E.A. Aquarium, but at least we're not going anywhere too geeky that they absolutely cannot relate.

On that note, one of the best feelings is taking someone to a place and seeing them really enjoy it! It can be the aquarium, or a themed cafe, or a specialty shop, or a restaurant you normally wouldn't eat at. Watching someone get excited and be in absolute awe of everything, taking pictures and gushing over the place and the things in it, is a very nice feeling. Even if you're not personally into whatever it is that they're excited about, it's really nice seeing them happy, right? It gives me the illusion that I don't always fuck things up.

So my opinion is that if you tell someone off of being excited because you find it embarrassing, you're kind of a jerk.

I haven't been outright told to not be an embarrassing wreck, but I've been laughed at when I cried during the parade at Hong Kong Disneyland and scoffed at for liking the things I like, and that's pretty much the same thing. I always feel like I have to be a watered down version of myself around people, so I don't want others to feel that way around me! If we're traveling together, I want to see you really enjoy yourself so I can tell myself that the stress of planning everything was worth it. Sometimes I need something to tell me that my continued existence isn't a complete waste, and seeing someone happy with something I've done for them can be all I need for that day.

By the way, the photos on this post are old ones from previous blog entries. I'm expecting to take a lot of new ones soon, so please look forward to future entries!