My friend: Hey Anji, you were planning to go to Sikkim right?
Me; Yes, I was.
My friend: So, have you booked the tickets?
Me: Oh yeah! I've booked my tickets to Srinagar. :)
My friend: Srinagar??? But you said you were going to Sikkim.
Me; Yeah, I was going there, but changed my mind.
Well, this was the best example from my past experience and there are many like this when I have been planning to go to some place but ended up going to some other corner which was nowhere even near to where I was going. And this is the best thing you've when you travel solo. You are free to do things your own way, things which you love to do. Though I know there are mixed ideas from different people when we talk about solo travelling. My best friend doesn't like travelling solo and that's completely fine because that's his own choice. But for me, travelling solo is another experience while travelling.
When I first started travelling on my own as a young girl in the last year of my teenage, naturally many of my friends and my family (and more specifically my mom) expressed her concerns about me travelling alone. Not only for my general safety, but also for what my desire to journey alone indicated. Another thing was that Indian girls are not supposed to travel solo, they feel something will happen to us. On the other side my decision to go to a random destination every time was never based on anything other than my love for exploring new cultures, seeing new places, and, I accept, ongoing introverted tendencies coupled with a deep fondness for my own company and self-love which has been getting stronger since then. I accept I wasn't the same when I entered my university but I was in a sports school and was an NCC cadet and going to tournaments and different camps to different places was always a fun thing which I always enjoyed. Neither I nor my friends or family had this idea that this thing of travelling will ever get into my veins in that way. I had experienced more than one relationship with individuals who, for whatever reason, did not enjoy travelling which hindered my own adventures. When I was on my own there was nothing to stop me. I didn’t think about it long and hard, I just did.
My feelings for wanderlust become stronger than my feeling for anything else. You must be feeling like I have lost my mind but trust me I am saying the truth and those who feel the same would agree to it. There are many people who used to question me that who do I travel with? Is there some guy in the picture? So, I am answering you today that for me "US" has always been defined by me+ new place. My heart is set on a different path, a new future which currently doesn't need the presence of any man to make it beautiful and complete. (Many of you won't understand but those who feel this will)
I get butterflies in my stomach the same way you get when you see your boyfriend or girlfriend when you wake up. But I get them when I wake up to a different view in a new city. I feel a sense of freedom when I step off that plane in an unfamiliar territory. I want to explore new places, meet new people, eat their local food hike the highest mountains and sleep in the beautiful valley talking to the star and looking at the beautiful moon. As I woke up in the new place and look out of my tent to the sun rising over the horizon, I feel that this is what I've been waiting to see. I don’t want the same old story. I want a new story in a new city every time.
Solo travel gives me a freedom to just be who I am. I could engage with small talk if I chose to or hide away in my own thoughts. I can walk a city’s streets for hours till midnight without an unhappy companion complaining. I could hide in galleries all day. I could just spend my day in the mountains I could wake up each morning with the only plan for the day to be to get lost somewhere new with my camera, my dairy and my thoughts. It is not that I'll feel insecure with a guy in a relationship It's just that I feel secure in my relationship with wanderlust. I don’t feel unsure, or doubt myself and the decisions that I am choosing to make. I get to know myself more while travelling. I sense my life changing for the better. I truly feel free. I am becoming the woman that I always wanted to be. No longer seeking anyone's approval.
I hope you don’t think that I am running away from love. It is not that I don’t want to be in love. There'd be someone in my life in the future for sure but it's just that currently my love of life is not a person and I love myself a little bit more and I am sure that this way, it'll never go wrong.
"Stop letting the fear control you. Stop letting the society judge you. Travelling solo is the single best gift you can give yourself, remember that."
