I started this blog ten months ago as a way to document my life-changing experience of traveling through Europe solo. I didn't get the chance to do a study-abroad in college {I was busy with four marketing internships} and had hoped to take a year off between graduation and starting a full-time job to travel. However, I received a great job-offer, and that coupled with the fact that the recession had severely affected the job market {many of my friends were either jobless or had to take low-paying, thinkless jobs since they were not able to find anything in their field} pushed me to jump into the working world right after graduation.
Slowly but surely the travel bug began to consume me, and I became filled with regret that I didn't get the opportunity to spend time abroad as a student. I am a firm believer that it is better to have tried and failed than to live with regret, so I decided to follow my dreams and travel through Europe alone.
Now for those of you who don't know me, this decision was quite out of character. I have always been very timid, and honestly didn't think I was brave enough to travel in a foreign country alone. I remember laying in bed at night thinking, "You can't do this. You will be miserable. You won't meet anyone. You will be homesick. You will miss Ryan too much to be able to enjoy yourself." Those nights continued, but over the next few weeks my thoughts started to change. One night I was in bed and thought to myself "Why can't I do this?" And that was that. I had made up my mind, and the next day bought a round-trip flight from Cincinnati, Ohio to Paris.
My parents and Ryan were both extremely supportive and excited about my decision, however I would be lying if I didn't tell you they weren't incredibly nervous for me. They worried that I would be lonely. That I would be homesick. And mostly, they worried about my safety. I would also be lying if I said that I too wasn't concerned about my safety. Movies like "Taken" {thank you Hollywood!} lurked in the back of my mind, and I worried about walking home late at night on unknown streets, getting lost, getting my beloved camera stolen, and worse. To appease my fears I purchased a few safety supplies such as a personal alarm which I kept in my hand at all times while walking alone at night {I didn't have to use it, thank goodness!} It may or may not have made me safer, but it did make me feel more confident which I think is half the battle.
The day Ryan took me to the airport I cried. I wished that he was able to come with me. I worried about eating dinners alone. I worried again about my safety. I worried that this was a huge mistake and I would be lonely and miserable. We kissed goodbye and I was off. Honestly, having to say goodbye to Ryan was the hardest part of the entire journey. But from there, it was all uphill. I couldn't believe I was about to spend two weeks in my favorite city in the world - Paris - then travel to countries I had never seen before. A quick nine-hour plane ride later and I was in the City of Light, and well, the rest is history!
Looking back, I know this was a huge turning point in my life. The experience was absolutely wonderful, but even more than that, I feel like doing it has made me a stronger, more empowered, and courageous woman. I wanted to travel, but didn't have anyone to do it with me. So instead of pushing that dream aside and always looking back and wondering "what if...?" I made it happen. And that itself was a life-lesson that was worth every penny I spent on the trip.
I will leave you with a favorite quote, which has been a huge inspiration for my life. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
Care to see more? Detailed posts from my trip are below:
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