It is so exciting travelling around the world. Did I ever tell you travel is one of my main hobbies? Did I ever tell you about my visit to Mainland China? (I have had two trips to Hong Kong.)
Being brave, adventurous and incredibly stupid I decided to go on a holiday to China, in winter, speaking no Chinese, with no tour, no contacts at all, no plan, no itinery and alone. I did have my copy of Lonely Planet, a credit card and a couple of hundred dollars of traveller's checques for emergencies and about $200 of cash.
It went well at the start. I took public transport from the airport to the youth hostel where I planned to stay (bus, train, train and a long walk all with no Chinese) so I was feeling very proud. Checked into a private room in the Hostel and all was good. Went to an ATM the next morning to withdraw money...uh oh. Card destroyed by evil Chinese ATM.
Now I was alone in China with very little money. Turned out to be one of my best holidays ever. Sure I had to eat a lot of two-minute noodles, walk a lot, stay in dorms in youth Hostels, try to get places by local transport when I couldn't read any signs (I would hop on a bus heading in the right direction, if it turned I would get off, walk back to the corner and take the next bus continuing the right way) and eat a lot of things I would never have normally tried. But I had a ton of amazing experiences, I touched a giant Panda, visited the Shaolin Monastery, ran along the Great Wall (I was told there wouldn't be time to reach the top so I ran and had heaps of time), saw the Forbidden palace, walked on the frozen lake at the Summer Palace, saw the Terracotta Warriors and stacks of other things.
I hope you remember to be adventurous, the Chinese are very helpful and there is so much to see and do.