Traveling alone is both a blessing and a curse. It’s nice to plan the day by myself, because I get to decide what I am doing, where I am going and what I am eating. It’s also a bit lonely not to share the experiences with friends. Yet, I make new friends, and most of the time, I get time to contemplate things. Case in point, I decided to take a bus to a floating market. I finally met and spoke with a few foreigners; either traveling alone but many traveling as couples.

I find it strange that I have not met any fellow Americans. I saw one girl with a “Texas” tattoo on her foot, but didn’t say hello because her behavior can only be described as some sort of scary Kate Gosselin and Amy Winehouse hybrid. Yes, she was extremely annoying.

Back to the floating market! It was an awesome experience. I loved watching the small canals full with a bunch of small flat boats paddled by mature ladies carrying more Thai delicacies than I could eat in the small amount of time I was there. Yes, it’s a tourist trap with the overpriced goods, but all the food was fresh and delicious.

I befriended and had lunch with another solo traveler, named Simon. He is from Switzerland, has recently finished school, and is taking a 6 month hiatus to travel the world. He agreed to take my photo with my camera if I could do the same for him. (This is the kind of agreement I make with other foreigners several times a day!)

So my new friend, Simon, and I are eating fruit and watching the ladies in the paddle boats when we are sharing our thoughts with each other. I share with him that sometimes I am overwhelmed by the amount of choices I have in my life, and how the amount of life decisions I have to make are exhausting. And, he was quick to say that he has the same thoughts! How great that someone so far away has the same sort of thoughts as me!

But then Simon brought up a great point. Are we not blessed to have all these choices? Yes. Would it better to be one of these Thai paddle boat ladies with limited to no choices? No. I watched the ladies work, very hard, sitting very uncomfortably in their boats. Simon is right. I am, and I imagine you are too, very blessed to have so many choices.