Solo Traveling

If you ask my mom, because she dropped me off at the train station, I was terrified. Scared doesn’t even cover what all I was feeling. My heart was definitely not in my chest anymore from pounding right out of it. My palms were sweaty and my mind was racing at a million miles a second.

What if I can’t find my roomette?

How do I even step on a train?

What will I do if the train falls of the tracks?

Do I even really WANT to go?

Am I going to starve?

Yes those were some of the questions that were running through my mind. This was something totally new and totally unfamiliar. What was I going to do?

I took my very first solo trip this past spring and I couldn’t be happier that I followed through with it. I am grateful that my family and friends pushed and encouraged me to follow my dreams and take a leap of faith. Some days I still can’t imagine that me, little ole me, went on a trip all by myself. That is something I wouldn’t have pictured myself doing in a million years.

I am glad I did it though because it fueled a fire within me so deep and burning red-hot that I can’t wait to go on the next one. Where that will be, who knows, but I know that it will be an adventure of a lifetime.

Some days I wish I had a companion to travel with me to experience the gift of travel, but other days I find it rewarding to do it alone. Is it scary? Yes! You just have to force yourself to do it! Stop hemming and hawing about it. Just book the flight, the train ticket, the bus ticket, rent the car and go! So what if no one wants to go with you! When you go by yourself you learn so much about what you can and can do. (Yes that was on purpose)

I took this trip to prove to myself that there isn’t anything I couldn’t do. I started conversations with strangers, I learned that it’s okay to eat by yourself, I learn that the path least traveled by is the most beautiful. It’s an experience I won’t soon or ever forget. I plan on solo traveling until the day I die. That is a promise I will keep with you, don’t you even let me forget it.

What is holding you back from doing what you have always wanted to do?