Life Lessons Gained By Traveling Solo

by Beate
(New Zealand)

How taveling solo influenced life lessons that remained, empowered, and transformed life.

Traveling, was an always present wish. Shy and lacking confidence setting off on my own was beyond imagination. Life was stuck, when a friend suggested taking off for a month?s travel to England. Gratefully I adopted the idea and joined the plan. Bravely I even hoped to extend this journey to six months to polish my language skills. In order to make the six months happen working somewhere for a while had to be considered.

The edge of the first step was taken by the reaffirming thought to start out with a companion. Some days before the departure date news surfaced that we would meet one week later in London. The idea of arriving alone left a hollow feeling in my stomach area. In review it was a blessing. On my own it would have taken a lot longer to accomplish this first step.

The first week in London was an emotional roller coaster, between waiting and managing even simple tasks in this unfamiliar place. Nonetheless each day survived returned an ounce more confidence to get out, even enjoy sightseeing, plays, buskers, and wandering around London streets on my own. By the end of the first week I even had made some friends. The news to remain by myself upheld a first set back but finally set a leap forward into motion.

Focusing on moving forward London was left behind. The goal was set to stay at least six months, get as much language practice as possible, and discover England. Assurance of the travel guide that hitch hiking would be pretty safe in England this became the chosen main means of transport. Considering that there was no prior experience this was quite a step. Edinburgh sounded comforting, so this was the direction to take. The journey to Edinburgh took me five weeks. Five exciting weeks, filled with good experiences by taking the chance to follow tips and recommendations given by locals that kindly offered a ride and even often took care for the proceeding one, thanks to CB radio.

After six weeks of traveling solo with enormously strengthened confidence and ready to face new challenges the bus from Glasgow arrived in the early morning hours in Edinburgh. There I lived, worked, and stretched my wings for the next months. The spirit of adventure, faith, and growth was put on a hold in order to keep the promise of being back in Germany after six months.

The life lessons taken of my first traveling solo experience:

• If you seek growth and change, limiting yourself with promises, may restrict what could have been possible.


• Trust, confidence in yourself and attention towards others and situations keeps you safe on all paths.


• Kind assertiveness gives power and sets sometimes necessary boundaries towards others.


• The company of fellow travelers is inspiring and always a good source for temporary companionship and exchange of experiences.

More than fifteen years later gained courage, experience and language skills formed the foundation to stay strong when the time came for a drastic change of direction. Today we happily settled and live in New Zealand.

Still DREAMING about taking that first big trip?
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