Why every girl should go solo travelling once in their life

Travelling alone is frightening enough but travelling alone as a female – well you’re doomed from the get go with the stigma and stereotypes attached to the idea. Even when you’re at home travelling home from uni or a long shift at work people get so overly anxious.

So could you imagine travelling across the world alone?

Well I did, and it was the biggest life changing adrenaline rush ever to happen to me. And you can forget going 100 mph down a roller coaster. Travelling alone gave me so much control, I called the shots and made the final decision on everything and there was nobody else’s opinion to take into consideration or to stop me from doing anything. Yes extremely daunting being in the world were you don’t know anyone and things aren’t second nature. It is a big risk full of uncertainty but being able to trust yourself and being at peace with yourself as your own company is one of the biggest rewards that comes from it all.

At home when I was growing up everyone wanted to be something career wise: a doctor, a lawyer, an actor. But I didn’t want to be anything more than just myself and travel the world, learn new life experiences, pick up a second language and see beyond the Google images. Of course friends and family laughed it off as if I was being unrealistic, and slightly thinking way beyond the clouds. The normal reaction was that I couldn’t possibly go anywhere without having people with me to do it, like my group of friends or a male acquaintance. However even though my mum was sick of the thought of me going out there on my own, she always told me never to wait around for anyone else and just go and do it myself. This always gave me that motivation to end all stereotypes of a solo female traveler unable to travel alone due to the risks because were too vulnerable, or too naive and easily taken advantage on.

I had enough. I did my research and planned out the basics, packed up and left. I was towards my final months of being 18 and did want to play the safe card to begin with on my travel adventures and looked for work in the States. I started working at a summer camp for the first three months in Missouri, United States. It was an incredible experience and gave me so much confidence and life perspective to continue after camp – a journey within a solo journey growing beyond the unthinkable mentally and physically.

While I was in Cleveland airport struck down with heavy motion sickness due to all the travelling, I was ready to quit on myself as I was on my own and completely overwhelmed by it all. But you have to remind yourself it’s always mind over matter and keep those positive vibes flowing. The flight had been delayed five hours, the airport was clammy and deserted. A man in his fifties sat next to me, took pity after seeing how fragile I was and brought me some meds and water from a nearby shop. He was friendly and told me about his wife and kids. Later through our wait he treated me to dinner when we arrived in the next location and before I knew it he was gone, bill payed and got the waitress to give me the $100 change. Lets just say the world yes has bad people that you must be careful around but there’s also many really good hearted genuine people.

This was first of many people I had met on my travels, after taking over the states I carried on to the Middle East and lived in Egypt for a while. I have learned beyond what a normal person my age usually knows. I can speak different languages, Russian being my strongest, and trust me, the views are even better than they look on Instagram.