How I fought with my fear and uncertainties, and went for my first solo trip

I never felt confident to travel solo. My main fear was — if I go alone, who will I talk to or with who will I explore the city. The trips I have enjoyed the most, have been with a group of friends. The thought of going around a city alone, having food alone was scary for me.

During my first job, I had to travel abroad for at least 2–3 months duration. And mostly these trips were alone. I barely used to go out exploring the city or food.

I love traveling but I always go with a group of friends. And when I don’t find a group, I just drop the plan. My close friends, who know me well, kept telling me to try a solo trip. But, I was apprehensive.

While my friends were giving me ideas, I met a girl at work who has been to quite a few solo trips to Europe, UK, and Thailand. She works hard, saves money and travels. She has friends in god knows how many countries. Travel seems to have added so much confidence and charm in her which is impressive.

I asked her — doesn’t it get boring to not have anyone to share experiences with someone? She grinned and said — “You meet people, talk to them and explore places with them. You just need to step out of your comfort zone and go with the flow.”

Since then, I had the itch to try solo tripping.

Last month I put down papers in the previous organisation and set sail on my first solo trip.

How I planned the trip —

1. Since this was my first solo trip, I decided to keep it short to 2 weeks. The 2 towns I was visiting—McLeodganj (Himachal Pradesh) and Pushkar (Rajasthan).

The Trip Route

2. While booking my travel or hostel accommodation, I ensured safety aspect the most. I decided to stay in hostels so that I get to meet and interact with people. But before booking a place on Booking.com or HostelWorld, I spoke to the hostel reception to get a sense of how friendly and helping they are.

3. Travel light was not an option, it was the only option. While packing, I asked myself twice — Do I really need this? I always had the habit of carrying extra clothes and also the cosmetics that I can live without. This time, I removed them. The hostels have laundry services if needed, so I carried just enough.

4. I carried 2 books so that I have a company, always.

The fun of a solo trip is, you can choose to be alone or with a group, whenever you want.

Me, me and me :)

During these 2 weeks, I did a lot of things that I had never done before —

1. Stayed in a hostel ‘mixed’ dormitory — Coming out of the comfort of staying in hotels, I chose to share a dorm with strangers. This felt both liberating and uneasy at the ripe age of 34. Most of the women at my age, are in a well-settled state of life and barely attempt to leave their comfort zone. But I was very clear, that to meet the like-minded people, I have to stay in backpackers hostels. Also, I took a chance to stay in a 6 bed mixed dormitory, which means I shared the room with 5 boys (unfortunately, no girls). That did require guts on the first trip! By happy chance, I became good friends with 3 of them and had a nice and safe stay.
2. Hitchhiked from Ajmer to Pushkar, with a travel group—This is what most travelers do to cut down their travel expenses. But, this is not something that’s very safe, especially for a woman solo traveler, in India. I luckily met a group on the train, on my way to Ajmer. I asked the group leader, how they plan to go to Pushkar from Ajmer and he offered me a free ride on their super comfortable bus. Passing through Ajmer-Pushkar highway, the group leader told me about how he moved to tourism, leaving a desktop job.

3. Skipped a planned train journey at last minute, for a road trip — Never, ever in my life I deliberately missed a train. Thanks to the 3 young fellas, traveling from Pushkar to Jaipur. I just asked them to drop me on the way at Ajmer railway station to catch the train to Jaipur. But then, after I started talking to them on our way, I did not feel like taking the train and stuck to the car ride. Glad that I did so since I had a wonderful evening with the 3 newly formed friends in Jaipur.

4. Enjoyed an evening alone — Not always the case when you will have someone to accompany you. I took a step out anyway and for entire evening I was roaming around the streets of Pushkar. I sat on the bank of the holy river and enjoyed evening prayer ceremony. Then I attended the famous Holi celebration which was a memorable experience. I spoke to strangers on the street, including a policeman, a local band player, a guy trying to manage mob at the celebration. Aah, it was indeed a great evening.

This trip filled with me a different sort of happiness that I can’t explain in words.

What I bring back with me are memories and experiences. Here is a glimpse —

Thanks to all the friends I made on the way, you guys made it special for me.

1. I met a wide range of people from across the world — India, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Poland. Working in tech and staying in the metro cities, I was mostly surrounded by the similar set of people. Solo travel gave a chance to interact with them and I learned how people challenge the traditional ways of living to choose what they like to do.
2. I am a great conversationalist (well…mostly), but only when someone else takes the initiative. I always had this inhibition of going up to people, introducing myself and start talking. During my trip, I knew I had no choice but to break that boundary.
3. Stories, stories, stories — listened and told. A girl told me stories of her treks where she survived -20 degrees. A guy told an adventurous story of his bike trip when he had to sleep at a petrol pump, in a cold night since he ran out of fuel and did not have a place to go. Story of a German guy, about how he set up a small profitable online business of collectibles. And many more…These stories make me feel like exploring untravelled paths of life and challenge myself to go beyond my comfort zone.
4. I always knew that I didn’t want to be trapped in a job that I don’t enjoy. But I was afraid leaving my job and not having a constant source of income. I am NOT afraid anymore. I met few interesting folks who are living a minimalist life for their love of travel. And they have come up with interesting ways to make earnings. (I don’t mean to say I am going to be one of them, but it certainly unclogs my thought process).
5. Just before starting my trip to McLeodganj, I met an injury and bruised my palms, knees and left elbow. The bruises on palms were really bad and I wasn’t sure if I will be able to lift my bags and travel alone in that condition. Thought of canceling the trip made me feel bad, and hence I decided to stick to my plan. I feel proud that I stuck to the plan and even did a trek with bandages on my hand.
6. In spite of taking precautions while booking, when I arrived at my hostel in McLeodganj, I did not quite like it and had to hunt for a better option. With the wounded hand, I managed to go around and look for another option (Traveling light helped here). While the start of my trip had so many hiccups, for some reason I was very calm and ready to look for solutions.
7. We can not separate bad people from good ones, they all are in the same society. I too had 1 bad guy who just won’t leave chasing me around in the hostel and striking an unpleasant conversation. It certainly gave me a flavour of how to avoid the unwanted ones in life.

Now when the trip is over, I still can close my eyes and cherish the moments of joy I had in past 2 weeks. I am certainly going to continue doing this more.

My message to all the aspiring solo travelers would be, to keep these 3 rules in mind —

1. Accept people, place and last minute plan changes
2. Be accommodating and help others
3. Have fun, but be aware of your surroundings

So, let’s go out and enjoy that fearlessness and create awesome memories in the next solo trip.

PS: Do share a couple of claps if you connected with my feelings of solo trip. :)