Six weeks into five months of solo travel and not enjoying it. What am I doing wrong?

Hey there,

Six weeks ago I departed from Denmark to Chongqing, China. My plan is the following: seven weeks in China, four weeks in Korea, four weeks in Japan - the rest I haven’t planned out yet, I was thinking along the lines of Bali or parts of Thailand, depending on which is doable in June-July. I am so far doing a minimum of 3 to four nights in each place to avoid going too fast.

Sadly, I am mostly burned out and lonely so far. I don’t really know what I’m doing wrong, so maybe one of you has an idea.

The language barrier is insane, I feel like basic interactions are a struggle even though the people are so nice. In hostel dorms I’m not really able to connect since there are mostly Chinese tourists who don’t speak English, and I sleep like shit. In hotels, which I have had to book since a lot of the smaller towns don’t have hostels, I sleep better but feel lonely and go days without connecting with anyone. I’ve booked tours to have my days filled and in hopes of connecting, but there were only couples not really interested in much socialising.

Except for Hong Kong, I’ve found it incredibly hard to keep up a workout routine - tried running in Dali and Suzhou but found it hard to find routes that weren’t along huge roads, and in Dali I was stared at and filmed.

The lack of routine is getting to me. With meals as well, I am missing food that is more familiar to me.

I am moving on to Korea in a week. Is it better there? Do I need to change something?

I’ve considered going to a Muay Thai or surf camp for the last 6-8 weeks of my trip just to have some routine and connection.