my first solo trip

Spontaneity doesn’t come to me naturally. I plan my day and expenses to the T and a slight change disappoints me if it’s sudden. I went on a solo trip 7 months ago which taught me that things don’t work out the way you want them to. I had motion sickness the minute I stepped out of the airplane and 3/9 things I had planned to visit were shut due to covid-19 restrictions. I had my internship work from 2-6pm and while I was sitting on that call in my hostel room, a guy walked up to me and asked if I’m on vacation. I said yes, he replied “doesn’t look like you are.” (I’m very good friends and still in touch with him). It taught me to work my way around the plan I had made for myself and spend the limited time I had there trying to make the most of my days and not sulk. That’s when I decided to step out, visit museums, take that boat ride, go to Sajjangarh, have that strawberry cooler, spend that time and watch the sunset.

I knew nobody. I had nobody. I used to talk to my mom and my friends daily and ask random strangers to take pictures and videos for me. I thought I was having the best time until I did something extremely foolish- took a normal auto at 9pm in an unknown locality with 12% charge in my phone and halfway through the ride, I realized that my power bank has died too. Luckily, nothing went wrong, but I reached my hotel room and cried because of how stupid that incident was. I was in a new city, I barely knew the locality, it was unsafe. Since that day, I’ve always fully charged my phone and power bank before stepping out in a new city. Learning experiences like these which came out of mistakes taught me that it’s okay to be spontaneous and the worst that can happen is that you would probably not have a good time. which is okay.

A part of me knew that it would only be upwards from there. I took another solo trip, 5 months back, with NOTHING planned apart from the departure and arrival dates. Obviously, since I’m used to having everything planned, I had a rough list of places but I deliberately didn’t look at timings, routes or any other details. I was stressed until I got to my hostel room. I met a girl who was getting ready for a party and asked if I want to come along. I had met her 2 seconds ago so I politely refused. She told me to try German Bakery and so that’s what I did. I had the best pasta, sketched a bit, spoke to the waiter there (he thought I was an architecture student) and had the best time. I spent the next entire day with another friend I made at the hostel, we rented a scooter, went to Parvati, had the best Asian food I’ve ever had and I was so happy that day, I even bought silver earrings for my mum. The next day I explored completely on my own, and knowing the local language was definitely helpful for me. I spoke to an auto rickshaw uncle for the entirety of my journey, even got his number. I fell in love with the city. Went to a cute little cafe at night and had coffee and cupcakes while watching Netflix. unbothered. peaceful. I came back to the hostel every night, video called my mom and friends and finished some parts of my assignment which was due on the day I reached back home. I was having such good days, without planning them, and it was saving me the stress and the expectation of how my day should ideally be. It made me believe in myself and that as long as I had me, I would be okay. My first solo trip was good, but the second one was great. I knew what it was like to be with myself, I knew how to talk to people, I knew what works, what doesn’t, and I chose my accommodations carefully based on the experiences from my previous trip.

Cut to 6 months later, today, I have visited 3 cities solo, 3 more cities (not solo), and have 13+ itineraries with places, stays, cafés, budgets, major attractions ready. Moved out, working my dream job, being able to travel almost once every 30 days, I look back at that 20 year old me walking to take the flight to Udaipur- and say thankyou. Thank you for taking that trip and making me realize that life is far more beautiful than what I was thinking it to be.