Travelling Alone: Feel the Fear, Do it Anyway!
“What are you doing?” Is a phrase my brain has been screaming at me recently.
It was yelling it on my last shift at work, as I bravely smiled at all the ‘good lucks’ and the ‘wish I was going’ type comments. I nodded, I was lucky. Right?
So why was my brain screaming?
“What are you doing?” It questioned me, as I packed up my room, handing in my notice on a house I’d loved for 5 years, with housemates who were like family.
“What are you doing?” It basically chanted as I said goodbye to my family, smiling as they suggested joining me at some point.
“What are you doing?” My exhausted brain pleaded with me as I tossed a ‘love you’ over my shoulder to my mum, and strode - fighting back a few tears - into the airport to catch a flight to Athens.
The question became a constant companion as I mastered the subway in the ancient city, jumped on a ferry to Naxos and found my way down a quiet path to this small beach.
Grotta Beach, Naxos - Photo courtesy of Author
Staring into the Aegean my brain asked me again, “What are you doing?”
Well brain, I’m not sure.
It occurred to me in January that you could wait forever to go travelling with that right person. You know, the one that’s just going to magically appear and be perfect. I’m a writer, and I spend a lot of time writing relationships that do not magically resolve everything because that wouldn't be realistic. Why does my author mind understand this, yet my real brain - the one having a meltdown - still hopes for the best?
So, I took a breath and just did it. Feel the fear and do it anyway - as a friend of mine would say.
I let go of everything that held me to a place and a way of being. I sold my clothes, my furniture and only held on to those things that I really couldn't bear to lose.
I spent time with my family, and then I set off to the land of beautiful sunsets and epic adventures.
Naxos at Sunset - photo courtesy of Author
Travelling alone has never been my preference, and yet I’ve travelled alone more than I have with someone. It means you can do as you please, you can have early nights and live on crisps. You can equally stay up all night and live on mojitos. You don't have to visit every byzantine church in the Cyclades unless of course you really want to.
So far I’ve visited Naxos and Paros - expect some reviews in the next few weeks - and I’m finding you make friends quickly and share great, if brief, times. Working abroad is easy enough, I’m partly funding this trip by being a digital nomad and so far it’s been great.
Most importantly I’ve managed to quieten my brain, it’s no longer panicking. Instead, it’s obsessing over which Smaller Cycladean Island I might want to go to. (The app ferryhopper has been good for this - To anyone wanting to travel the islands around Greece, Italy and Spain I’d highly recommend it.)
And to anyone debating taking that leap and travelling alone I’d say; DO IT!!! Ignore anyone that may talk you out of it, and that goes double for your pesky brain.
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Written By Laura Pick
Narrative Coach | Author | Digital Nomad Extraordinaire
