Remember I mentioned in my Gold Coast graduation trip travelogue that travelling makes or breaks your friendship? I shared my worries with Chelsea before we departed, but we were fairly certain that we'd do fine since we shared the same interest and were the same kind of travellers (i.e. damn kiasu, everything also must try HAHA).

By the end of our Hong Kong travels, I was so glad I brought her along because travelling together defined Chelsea and my friendship and we've been closer than ever since our grad trip... two years ago. I can't believe I'm so behind my backlogs I'm only writing about my Hong Kong trip now when I already look very different from the photos taken then :')

I actually wrote this post in 2017 but never got down to publishing it for god knows what reason. Our travel dates were 7 March 2016 to 11 March 2016 for reference, so you know how much I procrastinated. I also lost the psd file to my cover photo so only the prelude post will have a cover photo hahhahaha.





This Hong Kong travel was significant for me because it was my first time taking a flight alone! There's a long story behind why Chelsea and I flew separately despite heading to the same destination — this epic story, which most of my ex-colleagues were familiar with, was probably my friends' favourite story in 2016 because I was filled with so much salt I possibly had higher salinity level than the Dead Sea.

You have time? Good. Grab some popcorn, it's story time.





A long time ago, my ex and I decided to celebrate his ORD and my graduation by travelling to Hong Kong. I was soooo excited because I've always wanted to visit Hong Kong and go overseas with my significant other. Two things on my bucket list checked, yay.

I excitedly booked a pair of tickets to Hong Kong using my card. Against my better judgement, we had accommodation settled using my card as well because we figured it's easier to settle the money later on. He claimed he'll return me half of his share when he got his pay. I'm sure you know where this is going but I was young. And naive. And I wasn't smart with my money.

Life works in a strange way and we broke up two months before our travel date. (Side note: I realised that every couple I know breaks up in/before Hong Kong, so yeah don't travel to Hong Kong with your significant other.) I was devastated but we agreed to still travel as friends.

I slowly picked myself up after the break up. To this day, I don't know which part of me letting go AFTER our break up pissed him off but he decided to not travel together anymore after reading that post. Spoiler: He didn't pay me back, and didn't have the courtesy to inform me of his decision.


It's hard to not sound accusatory when I paid for everything, including the hotel. I was only a student back then, surviving on part-time jobs. Money is one thing, but his actions almost caused me to miss seeing someone for the last time — a situation he was completely apathetic to. In hindsight, it was his cruelty that allowed me to move on quickly.

It's been long since I shared such a personal story on my blog, but I hope this serves as a lesson to everyone. There's no such thing as friendship / kinship / relationship when it comes to money. Be wise about who you trust. 谈钱伤感情。




All of my friends couldn't travel with me since it was the grad trip period and everyone was travelling. I initially thought I wasn't travelling to Hong Kong because everyone was trying to talk me out of travelling solo — that was circa January 2016 (trip was in March) when I've only been to Malaysia and stuck closely to my mom each time.

Thank god everything worked out perfectly, the stars aligned, and Chelsea's parents allowed her to go overseas! *throws confetti* Despite that, I was unable to change the names on the purchased tickets so we flew separately.

On a side note, it's funny how things have changed since then. Our holiday was in March 2016 when we couldn't even be on our own when we travel yet two years later, we're both constantly overseas. We truly grew up together :')


I think I might have looked a little too much like a kid back then because someone actually checked if I was an unaccompanied minor O.O I was fortunate enough to have a kind lady in her thirties to forties sitting beside me. She was very worried about me travelling alone, constantly checking if I was cold on board and if I had everything I needed T_T










She also lovingly reminded me about the upcoming cold temperature in Hong Kong and asked if I packed for the weather. The week before I left for Hong Kong, the weather forecast showed 19°C, which was totally bearable for me, so I packed mostly dresses and skorts. Little did I know the weather forecast changed a week later to show 9°C on our coldest day there.

I obviously didn't pack enough and I underestimated Hong Kong's low temperatures coupled with its windy season. The lady was horrified and hastily told me a few places I can get warmer clothes in Hong Kong.





Attempted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunk 4 and The Good Dinosaur, which obviously didn't help me look more matured.

Funny story: I fall asleep watching Alvin and the Chipmunk 4 and coincidentally woke up when the movie's captain was announcing an emergency landing. I forgot I was watching a movie, so I obviously panicked. Took me a while to realise the sound was coming from my headphones and not my flight's captain.

Breakfast!

My first time flying solo was daunting, but thank god my first experience was with Singapore Airlines. The Chief Steward, Leading Stewardess and Flight Stewardesses on my flight were sooooo amazing.

I ended up being the last passenger to leave because I was chatting with a Flight Stewardess and she laughed and told me, "You better leave before they lock the aircraft and you'll have to fly back to Singapore with us!" Sigh, Hong Kong turns :')

I was so friendly with the crew that they gave me a bunch of goodies from SQ :')

Ahh, I'll never forget my first solo flight. These warm-hearted people made me look forward to my next solo flight, and this experience kick-started my desire to travel solo one day — which I eventually did when I turned 21.