Why I’m Backpacking Asia While Writing

As I was sitting in the plane still parked motionless at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, I thought to myself, What I am doing here? What made me think backpacking alone through Asia while writing was a good idea?

I had moved back in with my parents in the Chicagoland area for almost a year up until that moment. Back in college this was probably my worst fear, but it had become a year of safety and comfort.

And now I was leaving that safety and comfort to fly on a layover to Doha, Qatar and then onwards to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It was a one-way flight. All I had in tow with me were two backpacks filled with clothes, notebooks and a laptop.

Waiting for the plane to start moving (which always feels like an eternity), I started second-doubting myself.

It wasn’t until that moment that I started thinking that maybe this wasn’t a good idea. My plan was to travel for several months. But how was I going to do this for so long?

I felt I wasn’t cut out for it. I have terrible anxiety, and yet I was willingly throwing myself into uncertainty and stressful situations. After nearly a year of hiding away in my parents’ house, this was especially terrifying.

I had traveled many times before this trip, and mostly alone. But this was different.

This is the farthest I’ve ever traveled from home, and the first time I was traveling with no end date in sight. It was also the first time I was traveling to the “East,” where no one looked like me and where I knew none of the languages and little of the cultures and customs.

It had been something I dreamed about for as long as I could remember, but when it started becoming real, I realized how terrifying it was. And that didn’t truly hit me until I was on the plane waiting for take-off, when it was too late to back out.

But when the 24-hour journey from Chicago to Kuala Lumpur was finally over, and I stepped on the Asian continent for the first time, I remembered why I thought a long backpacking trip to a foreign place while writing was a good idea.

And many other writers who travel can probably understand why too.

There’s something about traveling, about seeing life in the eyes of different people and different places around the world, that opens up a creative outlet producing a waterfall of words and writing ideas.

For the Inspiration of Travel

I’ve come up with story ideas on a bus in the French Alps, while roaming hilly streets in Lisbon, on a chair lift in the Rocky Mountains and getting lost on purpose in the streets of New Orleans.

I’ve had some of my best writing sessions while in an empty hostel room in the rainy Dutch countryside, while on long plane rides and while cafe hopping in Vienna, scribbling on the backs of receipts and any other paper I could find.

When you take yourself out of the mundane reality of life, you not only see and understand new things about life when you visit new places. You also come back home looking at that old, familiar world with a fresh pair of eyes.

It’s part of the reason why I travel, and it makes all the stress and anxiety travel causes worth it.

For the Life I Want To Live

When I was younger, I craved to see everything the world had to offer. I have always had a hard time staying in one place and wanted to endlessly roam the world. I absolutely detested the expectation society pushes to travel a bit in college to take the edge off wanderlust, but then settle down for a nice job with a comfortable paycheck and only get a few weeks a year (if you’re lucky) to travel.

Although now that I’m older I have grown more accepting to the idea of tucking myself away into one tiny corner of the world, that feeling of needing to see everything still hasn’t left me.

As much as it’s comforting to have stability and safety, I would ache for all the people I would have missed meeting, the places I would have missed exploring, the memories I would have missed making and the life I would have missed living.

I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would work for a life that I would be excited for every day. This is the realization of that promise.

For the Writing I Want To Create

As I travel through Asia for the next few months, I’ll be working on my Sci-Fi book and working on other creative writing projects. This blog is a way to hold myself accountable for actually finishing my book.

My goal is to finish my book on this trip.

And that’s not easy to say to the world. I’ve had the idea for this book since high school, and over the years have doubted whether it would ever get written.

Now I have to finish it. Because I’m currently sitting here on the rooftop of a hostel in Singapore thanks to that crazy, desperate leap I made to travel out here to write. And when I’m done writing this blog post, I’m getting back to writing that book (possibly in the best city in the world to write a Sci-Fi book).

It’s scary to say that I’m writing a book, as anyone in the world can find out about this goal and judge me for not succeeding thanks to the power of the internet. That adds pressure, but I think that’s the only way this book will get finished. It’s like I’m working with carbon (a jumble of thoughts and ideas), trying to transform it into a diamond (a finished book): the process needs pressure.

EDIT: I didn’t finish the book on this trip. And I’m okay with that, and I’m even okay with admitting that. Because the experiences I’ve gained and the person I’ve transformed into have shaped the book into something better than what I had planned to write. I’m currently take a break with this book after finishing my first draft (which I achieved while back home), and when I come back to it after finishing the historical fiction I’m now writing instead, I have full confidence that it will be a book that I will want to share with the world.

For Voyage Scribe <3

But I’ll also be writing articles for this blog to help other writers who want to travel. I’ll be creating tips on traveling as a writer and traveling in general. I’ll also be creating Writer’s Travel Guides, a series highlighting good places to write or get inspiration in places around the world.

I’m also hoping to inspire other writers to pack a backpack (or suitcase) and set out into the world to see what it can tell you to write.

And if you are inspired to take a similar trip, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have about embarking on a long backpacking trip or going on a solo writing retreat somewhere around the world.

I’m more than happy to share my experiences and tips with you! And I’d love to help you plan your own writing travel adventure!

I hope this is the start of an adventure that will never end. Because I’m ready for it.

Want to follow my journey of writing while backpacking through Asia? Follow me on social media:

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And now, I want to know more about you!

Where in the world have you gotten writing inspiration? Did you ever go on a writing retreat somewhere far away from home? Comment below! 🙂

Stuck at home and need help writing about your past travels? Use my travel-inspired writing prompts!