Going through the motions of my very first solo trip
Today marks exactly one month ago that I came home from my first solo trip ever. Sure, I had traveled alone before, meeting friends or family at my destination. I even stayed alone in Miami for a day, due to my travel buddy having to leave earlier. Which resulted in me spending time with what would become my current boyfriend. So even then, I was not alone. But now it was just me, myself and I. So why this urge to take a trip all by myself? Let’s go back to 2015 to answer that question.
I was living on the tropical island of Curaçao as an intern, together with one of my best friends. At some point we started talking about going on a trip to Surinam, which is only a 2,5 hour flight away from Curaçao. But unfortunately, this didn’t happen because we couldn’t find a suitable date for both of us to take time off from work. So then and there, I had my very first thought of solo travel. Instead of depending on my friend’s schedule, I could just request my own days off and book a flight to Surinam... without knowing anyone there?! The last part freaked me out. I kept telling myself that the flights were too expensive, that I would be bored alone on a jungle tour.. but truth is, is was just too scared to go an adventure like that.
I guess I just wasn’t ready at the time. But the idea of solo travel always lingered on my mind since. So almost five years later, I finally made it happen. I booked a flight in the coldest month of the year to a country that I knew very little about, only to fly back out of another country. Time to answer my most-asked question since here on the blog: “how was it to travel solo?”.
Planning and deciding the trip
The proces of planning the trip was the same as planning a trip together with a buddy. In fact, I think this was even easier because I could just pick whatever flight and hotel I wanted. The hardest part was deciding where to travel to. My travel wishlist is endlessly long, but I imagine most of those places with pleasant, sunny weather. Having the time off from university in January, I knew this was not going to be the case in Europe. Of course, I could opt to visit somewhere warm on another continent. But the chicken inside of me was still scared to go somewhere too far from home all by myself. So where could I go in Europe that the cold wouldn’t bother me too much?
I could go to Southern Europe. I’ve had wonderful trips in winter to Portugal, Spain and Greece, all with blue skies and springlike temperatures. But I also experienced cold days in those places and honestly, I would like to visit a new country too. Then I remembered, hey, aren’t Vienna and Bratislava right next to each other? I could visit two capital cities in one trip, and I had not been to Slovakia before. Yes, it was going to be cold there in January. But I had no expectations either. So that was it, I booked a flight to Bratislava and a return from Vienna!
Solo Trip Part 1: Bratislava
Traveling to Bratislava felt like any other trip. Taking public transportation to the airport - without any train delays this time, it’s a miracle! -, going through security and flying all by myself, I had done it many times before. It wasn’t until I actually landed in Bratislava that I realized “snap, it’s all me now. I have to find the way to the hotel and nobody’s waiting there for me.”. I bought a bus ticket to Hlavná Stanica, the main train station of Bratislava. There, I had to continue my trip with a city bus. Needless to say, I took the wrong bus and then I had to walk a long time to my hotel (getting lost during the walk as well). I arrived at my hotel around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, with only two hours left of daylight in January. At that point all I wanted to do was take a nap.
I woke up realizing that I was alone on a Fridaynight in a strange city. Normally my (boy)friend(s) and I would be getting ready to hit town for some drinks, but obviously I was not going to do that all by myself. So I googled things to do in Bratislava on Fridaynight and I saw that there’s an alternative walking tour in Bratislava on Fridays and Saturdays, called the Spooky Tour. Walking tours are a great way to get an initial hang of the city and I enjoy a good spooky story too. So I joined the tour and, somehow, all the solo travelers kinda clicked together. It was nice to have a chat with people after a long day of traveling alone, and they even invited me to join a pub crawl as well. Traveling alone as a woman, I didn’t feel too sure about this though and I also wanted to wake up early the next day to see as much of Bratislava as possible. So I wished them a nice trip and went back to the hotel. Bought a box of pizza and a two euro bottle of wine on the go, and indulged in them while watching Eurotrip. By the way, Bratislava is NOT how Eurotrip portrays it. But I still think it’s a hilarious movie haha!
The next day I joined another walking tour from the same company, and I met more people there. I stayed with them for dinner, and even clicked so well with one girl, that we made plans to visit Devín Castle together on Sunday. That didn’t go very smoothly though. We had to take a bus to get there, missing our stop and then finding out at the site that Devín Castle was closed that day. Such a bummer, but hey, at least we did a nice walk around the former Iron Curtain. We headed back to Bratislava to see the Slavín Memorial and the UFO Tower, and enjoyed one last dinner together.
Solo Trip Part 2: Vienna
I checked out early on Monday and headed to the Nivy Central Bus Station, where I hopped on a Slovak Lines bus to Vienna. Tried to take a nap inside the bus, but the drive between the two capital cities happened so fast that I barely had time to close my eyes. Just like Bratislava, the bus dropped me off at the main train station and now it was up to me to figure out how to get to my hotel. Except this train station is ten times bigger and also includes tram and metro. And I had to take a tram according to Google maps. So I walked around the train station and looked and looked, but I saw no trams circulating. Won’t bore you with the details but apparently some tram stops in Vienna start underground and this was one of them. Took me about an hour from the moment I arrived in Vienna to start making my way to the hotel.
A tram ride, and a few wrong metro stops later, I finally made it to my hotel. Dropped off my stuff, rested my feet a bit and went back outside to visit the Schönbrunn Palace. I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the fact that the sun hadn’t shined at all yet during my trip, but I really wasn’t feeling it that day. I was sad, lonely and tired. Went to bed early and even overslept a bit the next morning, oops! It was okay though, because it was raining on Tuesday anyway. Spent my afternoon searching for the prettiest indoor spots of Vienna, and joined an evening walking tour to learn more about the city. I kinda also hoped to meet people there like in Bratislava, but the folks at this walking tour weren’t very talkative. So there I was, on the last evening of my solo trip, with no one to talk to. I decided to treat myself to some sushi - I mean, who has time to feel lonely when eating sushi?! -, while debating whether I should go alone to a cocktailbar or not. I hadn’t tried any in Bratislava, and honestly, I was craving a cocktail. So I went. It was pretty awkward though, sitting there all by myself and watch other people have conversations with their friends. I am okay with eating dinner alone but I don’t recommend going to a bar without any company.
My flight on Wednesday didn’t leave until the evening, so I still had one last day to explore Vienna. Luckily, the sun came out and it cheered me up immediately! I photographed my way through the gorgeous architecture of Vienna, while smiling at the thought of seeing my boyfriend and my doggy again that evening. And to top it off, I made it to the airport of Vienna without rushing or getting lost! A smooth ending to a very exciting trip.
What is my opinion of solo travel now and would I do it again?
The clichés about solo travel are true. It is indeed very empowering to rely completely on your own guts, and it feels super badass to see yourself solving issues. The feeling of freedom is amazing as well. You get to decide what you want to see, do and eat, and you can take your sweet time to enjoy your interests. And yes, you (most likely) will meet awesome people and who knows, maybe even start a genuine friendship with them. But there will also be lonely moments. Moments where you feel the need to have a conversation with someone, but all you have is your cellphone and a notebook.
I went through all the motions this trip. I felt happiness for doing what I loved all day. I felt scared when walking alone at night. I felt confident for listening to my intuition more than I’ve ever did before. I felt down when I had nobody to talk to, and it made me realize even more how essentially human the need for companionship is.
I read many stories of other bloggers who now prefer to travel mostly solo, after they experienced the freedom that comes with it. For me personally, I don’t think that freedom beats making new travel memories with loved ones. All my next travel plans are with friends/my boyfriend and have no idea if I’ll ever go on a solo trip again. But would I be open to it? Yes.
Yes, because I think that the lessons from solo travel are very valuable. It forces you to work on the relationship with yourself, and more importantly, solo travel shows you that you have the power to just go for it. Again, I don’t know if there is more solo travel for me in the future. But just the fact that I used my time off to travel without anyone’s approval, that makes me damn proud!
Have you ever gone on a solo trip? Share your experiences below!
Ayo! AR X
