I'm a 35m dark brown introvert from India. I'm also a disabled due to a major electrical workplace accident with visible scars. (This is mostly the reason I keep to myself and try to be under the radar as much as possible).

I'm on my first ever long backpacking trip and i've been traveling around south east asia for over 2 months now and mostly stayed in hostels.

I usually don't start the conversation with anyone except for a few times which mostly goes really well. I'm always interested to know someone's travel history & their further plans.

I always hesitate to talk to someone especially if it's a group. Most of the time I just sit in the hostel lounge looking at my phone and feeling lonely even though the hostel is full & bustling.

I've been part of some group conversations where they completely forgot I'm sitting right there. People will plan outings without even looking at me and of course I'm not included in the plan.

So Lately I've been booking at less crowded hostels. My argument is that If I'm gonna feel lonely in a fully packed hostel then there is no point in staying there. In my last hostel where I stayed for 5 days I spoke to only one other traveller (just saying hello.)

Now I'm torn between on which type of hostel to stay. As much as I like to stay at a less crowded hostel, at the same time I do wanna meet fellow travelers & know their travel stories. But due to my situation I always think people don't want to talk to me. And from my experience it's true most of the time due to my visible scars (from my experience).

I don't like the feeling of being alone when surrounded by people especially when I'm in hostel.

Introvert question Has anyone else faced this problem of feeling alone when surrounded by people while traveling & how to overcome this?

Disability question If do meet you guys somewhere. How can I start a conversation (don't say why I don't I just say hey & where are you from? With this I did had a few wonderful conversations but mostly people just answer that move on)

Sorry for just dumping my frustrations here. Travel is one thing that keeps me going. I don't want to feel lonely when I'm traveling and I believe meeting people is part of traveling.

question #advice

Edit. Thanks everyone for your advice. Being disabled is affecting my confidence. I'll try out different conversation starters rather than asking just where are you from?

I do try to talk to people who I think are closer to my age. so I have few things in common and I also don't expect every person to click with me.

(I included my skin color because burn scars on dark color look worse than a light color person. And I missed out that I have contractures on both my forearms. That's my disability)