I will never find the courage to solo travel.

I could NEVER travel alone. What if something goes wrong and I’m alone?

You deal with it!

***

Over 10 years ago I went on my first ever solo trip to France. My first scary thought was having to navigate in an airport of a country where their first language is not greek or english.

Of course, there are so many travel related incidents that are much scarier than that, but for some reason that’s the thought that made my blood pressure spike

At the time, I had never heard of the term “solo travel”. Yet, the idea of having full responsibility of planning a trip and staying safe was exciting!

I need to clarify that this was never my dream and I don’t remember having friends that did this. Actually, everyone that I knew was either on a trip with family, friends or a spouse.

To sum the plan up, on this specific trip I got on a plane all alone destined to land in Paris. I would later head east towards a tiny industrial town 5 hours away from Paris to meet up with a friend who was there on a business trip for a few weeks. This was a 2-3 week trip.

Knowing that at some point I would meet up with an acquaintance was reassuring. But would I manage to get there safely? And what happens when they’re not with me? These are questions that I never asked myself.

Instead I would ask myself: what if they want to do boring things? Or what if they don’t want to go see anything? 😂

***

I used to try to convince people that travelling alone is misunderstood and that it’s actually the most liberating, empowering and confidence building activity IN THE UNIVERSE!

Soon, I began realising that each person is on their own journey and that pushing my beliefs down people’s throat was not what they needed to hear.

The truth is, if you believe that you cannot do something, you absolutely cannot and will not do it! No matter what I tell you, it all comes down to the mindset that you are choosing.

For example, what if after falling down 500 times, babies believed that it’s impossible to walk? They have 500 falls under their belt proving that they can’t!
No one would ever walk!

Instead, they observe their close family. They mimic their behaviour and they are encouraged to try again and again and again, no matter how much the last fall hurt. Please keep in mind that a fall feels like the end of the world to a baby.
To put that into perspective for adults, it’s like losing your phone. 😱

So, when an adult tells me that they could never solo travel, I don’t try to convince them otherwise because they’re right.

Nowadays, I just smile politely.

Keep exploring and evolving!
Nicole x

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