Lonesome Traveler

I’ve recently got back from a 3 week holiday in the States. It wasn’t my first time over there but it was the first time I was travelling by myself for such a long period of time and on a different continent. It wasn’t planned like this from the beginning but as we know the world has this funny way of changing your perfect plans and then you have to act accordingly. I love to travel and have spent some time of my life living abroad but it was always with some friends or host family. This time I knew it was all up to me. And of course before going there were some questions that popped into my mind like – What if something would happen? Whom would I call? What if I got robbed or worse ... I can tell you now that none of this thing happened and it was an amazing adventure I would remember forever and I am sure I’d repeat somewhere along the way.

So the idea behind this post is to share with you some thoughts I had about being a single traveler. Maybe there are some people out there who would like to experience a similar adventure but are afraid or need some inspiration. If that’s the case I am here to help!

1 You can do what you want ... always!

Isn’t it the best? You can actually DO WHAT YOU WANT! If you feel like a museum – you go visit one, if you feel like sleeping in one day – you do that. There isn’t anybody hovering over you. There aren’t any fights on where to go, who want to do what. You’re the boss. And I don’t know about you but I like to be one :)

2 Meet new people

I don’t know how about you but usually when I travel in a group, I stick to the group. Of course there are some ‘hi’s’ and ‘where’re you from’s’ along the way, but I never actually MEET the new people. If you’re travelling by yourself it’s part of fun to ACTUALLY meet people. Spend some time with them. Get to know them. It’s fun. Try it!

3.  Discover yourself

In everyday lives we rush to our jobs, our families, after hours hobbies. Always busy, always in a rush. And it’s so nice to actually have some time to spend ... with yourself. You are with your own thoughts, you have some time for realizing what you want and what you would like to do. What makes you laugh, what makes you cry. It’s time to switch of a little. Cut yourself of from Social Media, computer in general and just focus on yourself. You can write a diary or what’s a cool idea I read online and used it during my last trip – write postcards to yourself! From every place you visit – explain why you like it, what you’ve seen/experienced. It would be a great gift waiting for you upon your arrival home. I’m still to go over my postcards but I am waiting for some really grey winter evening when going over postcards from California would feel like the best thing in the world.

I am a travel freak and I am always planning my next one. I’d like to share more of those with you here. I’d love to hear about your travel experiences!

‘Till next time!

M.