I Ditched My Friends To Travel Alone And This Is What I Discovered

The likes of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' 'Under the Tuscan Sun' and 'Call of the Wild' have left viewers enamoured with the concept of solo travel for a long time. The protagonist of each of these films seem to be fighting an inner turmoil forcing them to leave their lives behind to discover themselves. I would like to dispel this facade. You needn¡¯t suffer from the loss of a relationship or the death of a loved one to pack your bags and travel alone. One can simply embark on this journey with a pinch of wanderlust sprinkled over their silhouette.

I still remember my first solo trip from several years ago. The rims of my cycle were spinning furiously on the broken road that led to my college. Beautiful trees bloomed in contrast to the pale blue sky and the chirping of birds lingered in the distance.

A semester had just come to an end and everyone had plans on taking a trip to rejuvenate themselves. I was just looking forward to a midterm of blissful sleep and procrastination. Upon reaching college, in a crowd of audible murmurs, I discovered I scored well in my examinations. There was a sudden urge to celebrate, but how?

Joining a few friends on an ¡®adventure¡¯ didn¡¯t feel adventurous enough.

I wasn¡¯t feeling like becoming the designated photographer, driver or mother hen to a noisy bunch. Much deliberation later, I found myself weaving fantasies of packing my bags and catching a bus to a far off location. Simply by myself for myself.

Travelling solo is often looked at as a double-edged sword. There are immense pros and cons to it but people have largely returned changed for the better. One learns how to live life outside the concrete boxes we reside in. You adapt to your surroundings, especially if you¡¯re travelling through the picturesque locales of Europe or some other country.

The culture shock can be good for many; it helps open the mind and there's no hand-holding in this process.

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Adapting to the many situations that present themselves can mean those many milestones in your development. I distinctly remember travelling in a sleeper bus that had cockroaches crawling all over, when I asked the conductor about it, he assured me, ¡®AC on, cockroach gone.¡¯

I spent the entire night on the same berth because getting off in the middle of nowhere wasn¡¯t an option.

When we travel alone without family and friends, our senses are heightened. You become aware of your surroundings because you know you have only one responsibility and that¡¯s towards yourself. There is no ¡®extra baggage¡¯ travelling with you than intended. A stress-free trip that doesn¡¯t mar itself with arguments of any kind.

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After having experienced a few solo trips, I have realised that with each trip you embark on and the more people you meet from different walks of life, one starts to live life with abandonment.

Attachment to a place or a person becomes sacred.

You also start to gain self-confidence, interacting with strangers is easy and it adds a layer of enigma to your persona.

Each lone step taken forward brings you closer to discovering yourself. Solo-trips put you in new situations on a daily basis. Your response to it help you learn something new and mind you, one never stops learning about themselves. It forces you to trust yourself and that is a big win. Decision-making in everyday life become easier because of your new found friend in yourself.

The memories of a solo-trip are for one and that in itself is sacred. If today I am able to sit with friends and recount my sojourns through India or abroad, I can recollect anecdotes and incidents that have left a lasting memory on me. As I write this, a nostalgic smile appears on my face. As an artist and a writer, observing people has only fed my creative juices and that has been possible because I have walked at my own pace.