Rosxalynd Liu“The early bird catches the worm!”
Most of us know the significance of waking up early, and we practise it in our daily lives, whether voluntarily or not. But come vacation and holiday time, we decide to sleep in. We think: “I’m on holiday, I’m supposed to relax. Time to sleep those 2 hours more! I can start my day later.” As an early-riser when I’m travelling, I daresay all you late risers are missing out on a lot! Here are some perks of waking up early while on a trip that I can think of:
1. First dibs on the hotel’s breakfast buffet spread
Let’s start off easy. Anyone who’s ever stayed in a hotel with accompanying breakfast knows that by a certain time, queues for food can get really long. The favourites are usually all snapped up on others’ plates, and waiting for the next batch of food will be wasting precious time. So you’re stuck eating the usual boring breakfast fare. Every. Single. Day. Of your trip, if you’re staying at the same hotel throughout.
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This is where waking up early comes in. Just waking half an hour earlier than usual allows you to get first dibs on the entire breakfast buffet spread, when all the favourites are still piping hot invitingly from their trays. Be the centre of envy for once, instead of always being the one to stare longingly at others’ laden plates! Plus, if the station chefs are in a good mood and there are few diners around, they might customise your food order.
Image credits: Tripadvisor
From my personal experience, I’ve noticed that the egg station is always popular, no matter which country you’re in. Everyone is waiting for their daily dosage of cheery goodness, and the longest I’ve waited to get my portion was a good half an hour. The shortest? Close to nil. And my omelette arrived with a ketchup smiley, compliments of the station chef. T’was a great start to my early morning!
Image credits: Therealfakebakery
2. Try out the local breakfast food
But, you argue, my hostel has no breakfast anyway. My friend, you’re in another country! Experience life like a local. Try out the local breakfast offerings! In some countries, only certain foods are available during breakfast and after 10am or so, these shops are closed for the day. In others, they have breakfast trucks, which set up shop in front of schools and office buildings, and cook and hawk their food from the back of their vehicles. They also disappear once the breakfast crowd has thinned.
Step into an authentic breakfast shop in Taiwan, for some doughsticks and soy milk.
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Or get a serving of egg pancakes off the back of a breakfast truck and chow down on your way to the train station.
Image credits: Anise
Image credits: Patricia Tee
How about a steaming hot bowl of pho or banh mi in one of Vietnam’s numerous family-run shops?
Image credits: Global Panorama
Or perhaps, munch on a croissant and sip at a café (coffee) from a local patisserie, whilst seeing the Parisians going about their daily lives from your seat along Paris’ pavements?
Image credits: Juan Fernández
3. Beat theme-park queues
Disneyland. Universal Studios. Six Flags. What do they have in common?
Image credits: Themeparkreview
That queue is for one ride.
Snaking queues.
As if it weren’t enough that so many families descend upon the theme parks in droves during the June and December holidays, waking up later means you have to deal with the loooooooooooooong queues for all the rides. Several of my late-riser friends have lamented that they didn’t manage to try out all the rides because of the queues, and they didn’t have much fun in the end. Rightly so, because who wants to spend more time queuing than enjoying the rides? I’m sure you don’t too.
Also read: New Amusement Parks That Will Bring Back The Child In You
So why not beat the queues? By entering the theme parks earlier, especially those travelling with friends, and not young kids, you manage to escape the worst of the crowd. I recommend entering when it’s just opened for the day, and heading straight for the popular rides first, while everyone is still taking pictures with mascots and interesting backdrops. That way, you get those rides out of the way, long before everyone else has got their bearings and starts homing in on them. Then you’re free to take as many photos as you want, and enjoy the street performances to your heart’s content.
Image credits: Loren Javier
Another plus point? Fewer strangers photobombing your photos, since everyone is stuck in the queue. Score one for the win!
Or you could simply find somewhere that conveniently obscures the hordes of tourists.
4. More time for more activities
Independent travellers and itinerary planners always have a perennial problem—too many things, too little time. This is all the truer when you have to accommodate the waking times of your travel companions. The bigger the group, the harder to plan. By the time everyone is ready to go, half the morning is gone, and you have to hurry through every other activity.
But if everyone rolls with an early schedule, you can actually allocate an extra couple of hours to the day’s activities! Save your sleep for the journey to your destinations, you don’t have anything to do on the trains and buses anyway.
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And since you reach your destination earlier, you have more leeway to play or take in the sights. You can spend time creating real memories with friends, rather than muddling through all the tourist attractions in record time, though when asked, all you remember is the mad scramble.
Image credits: The Keep Calm-o-matic
You even get more time for shopping! Well, if you’re one of those who prefers to get all the touristy stuff out of the way first, then focus on Singaporeans’ favourite pastime. Start early, end early, then launch straight into the foray of bargains!
5. No rush for the bathroom
While every one of the perks on this list is practical and great, I’ve personally found this to be my greatest motivation to wake up early most of the time. It’s all fine and good if your room has an en-suite bathroom and you’re staying alone, or even with a buddy. Try bunking with 6 other people in one room, and with only 1 bathroom to share.
Image credits: Twak
It’s a statistical and scheduling nightmare. It’s even worse if these people aren’t your friends; you can hardly ask them to sit down and work out a shower/washing up arrangement amongst the few of you, can you?
Also read: Bathe in Glory: 23 Soak-Worthy Hotel Bathtubs in the World
So what I’ve taken to doing is to wake up really early to be the first to use the bathroom. Besides, I get to use a clean and dry bathroom. Call me a cleanliness freak, but no matter how hard everyone tries to be as clean and tidy as possible, one can’t ever imagine the number of cosmetic/skincare/haircare products 7 girls can have on the countertop, not to mention the amount of hair on the floor after 7 showers, until you experience it yourself.
Image credits: The Life of Aaliyah
If I’m with friends, I then wake them up so they can take turns to use it, while I get a little more shut-eye. Each of us gets a little more sleep that way, rather than all of us waking up at the same time and wasting time waiting around.
6. Quiet me-time
Travelling with a group people takes more out of you than you know. This is especially so on a trip with friends, since back home, we don’t have to interact with them once we part ways. However, on a trip, we see and interact with the same group of people 24/7 for a week, and this can sometimes wear us out.
Image credits: Erin Nekervis
Don’t end up like her.
While travelling, we need some time to ourselves to reconnect with our inner self and recalibrate, and when else is a better time than the morning of a brand new day? Taking a couple of minutes out every morning to simply spend time with ourselves makes it easier to take on the world later on, with a big smile.
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And our travel companions won’t become the unsuspecting victims of our lashings-out. Otherwise, we may very well start lashing out at our travel companions, or start to withdraw into ourselves, and end up not enjoying the trip as much as we would have.
In fact, while enjoying some quiet me-time, why not kill two birds with one stone, and…
7. Go for a work-out
Feel your jeans getting tighter on this trip, but don’t want to abstain from the great breakfasts and street food? Then wake up an hour or two earlier for some morning exercise! Make use of the hotel’s gym or swimming pool,
Image credits: PortoBay Hotels and Resorts
Image credits: Bernard Gagnon
or pound the pavements of the foreign city you’re in. You can even take in the sights of the awakening streetscape!
Image credits: Jimmy Baikovicius
Image credits: Patrick Gruban
But please notice where you’re going, I’d hate for anyone to get lost in a foreign country without any means of going back to your accommodation.
Or go for a bare-footed stroll along the sandy beaches of Bali or Phuket, and feel the grains under your feet shifting to the pressures of time.
Image credits: edtribo
After that workout, you’ll feel infinitely more justified and less guilty when eating that extra egg tart, or that extra portion of pad thai!
8. Admire the sunrise in an exotic city
If you, my dear reader, are already a relatively early riser, then why not go one step further, and wake up even earlier? Besides all the above perks, you get to see the big ol’ sun rise up over a different landscape.
Also read: Majestic Bagan from Sunrise to Sunset
Watch the golden rays bounce off the gilded dome of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar.
Image credits: Paul Arps
Or perhaps you might like to watch it off the Alishan Mountain in Taiwan.
Image credits: Quror Lin
And how about the breathtaking experience of seeing the unique rock formations in Bryce Canyon, USA, being washed aglow by the sun’s warm light?
Image credits: Al King
Makes you marvel at Mother Nature’s masterpieces, doesn’t it?
What are your motivations for waking up early? And for all you late risers, I do hope I’ve managed to convince you enough to try waking up early on your next trip! Think of those sinful scrambled eggs glistening invitingly at you…
Carpe Diem!
