Wrapping up 2022 and my honeymoon

2022 was both an amazing and horrible one. I celebrated some amazing personal things in my life which included my wedding. But I also went through the most difficult year of work in my professional career. I don’t really have much else to say or write about 2022 but that we’ll call it a wash year and I’m ready for 2023.

After a great couple of weeks in Asia, I made it back home yesterday and went back to the office for the first time in a month. I had thought I wanted to write more during my trip, but I quickly realized that I just wanted to be as far away from my laptop as possible. It was a much needed detox from work. Instead I’ve decided to take the next few posts to recap my trip and write down things that happened. I’ll start today with the first leg of my trip.

My trip to Asia got off to a rocky start as Sophia had to meet me in Hanoi a few days late. I ended up spending the weekend in Hanoi by myself and made the best of the situation. It wasn’t ideal but it was this weekend when I rediscovered the beauty solo travel.

I spent Christmas Eve in Hanoi exploring the city, relaxing and reading at multiple cafes, and stopping at every restaurant that looked good. I’ve seen most of Hanoi so I wanted to spend some time in West Lake where the expats hang out and seeing parts of the city I had yet to explore.

I walked from the Old Quarter all the way to Westlake and then rented an awful kids bike to bike around Westlake. The immediate lake area was filled with various cafes and restaurant. I stopped at a few at various points for a coffee or beer break. Overall it was a good activity, but I got bored a bit quickly as a small coffee shop on a lake only gets so special.

After a long morning and early afternoon, I ended up at a sports bar by my hotel where I met an English guy named Timmy who was also traveling in Hanoi solo. We shared a love for sprots and got a long quickly. It was a serendipitous situation as I think we both came back to the bar to hopefully meet others. We ended up drinking together for the next 5 hours and then met the next day for drinks again.

Meeting Timmy reminded me of the good ole days of backpacking SE Asia. Some of my best memories from traveling was meeting strangers from all over the world. Candidly, it was a bit of a relief that I was able to meet friends traveling solo. I had thought that part of my life was potentially over once I gave up backpacking and staying in hostels.

It was a great feeling that I found the magic of travel on day 2 of my trip.