Jump out of your comfort zone

From travelling together to travel alone

It was 2014, when my life changed and gave me an opportunity to travel alone. My big dream had always been to travel Australia, and now was my time to make plans what I really wanted to do. I started planning a trip with my good friend. We decided to go work as an au pair. Time went by and I got my host family, and at the same time my friend started to be in two minds of traveling so far away and working as an au pair. So, she decided that she’s not going after all. I was alone. I still had a place where to go, but I would be going alone. It didn’t sound so comfortable. I still didn’t want to throw away my plans and stood strong in the back of my dreams.  It was my second time going abroad and I was going alone. I had just graduated from upper secondary school, young and blissfully unaware of everything.

Making plans

All kind of things came, I almost fell in love with a guy, just before my trip. I was already cancelling my tickets. Luckily me, and everyone, even that guy encouraged me not to cancel my trip, my dream, which I had dreamed my whole life. And so I decided to take a leap of faith and travel alone.

Everything was ready, I got a Working Holiday Visa, one-way tickets and lots of butterflies in my stomach. You can read more about Working Holiday Visa from Sonja’s blog post.

I totally didn’t know what was happening, where I was really going, but one thing I knew, that this was my dream coming true.

Welcome homesickness

Oh, but then. I really want to tell this, what I wasn’t really expecting (because I was now living my dream), the first two weeks, I had such a bad homesick and I was almost buying tickets back to home. I felt lonely and shy being alone in the big world. But then something happened, I understood that I needed to accept my homesickness and let the all feelings come through. All the feelings I felt were normal, I had bad jet lag, it was my first time moving away from home, living by myself in a big house (in the next door lived my host family), and travelling alone. What else could you expect?

My tips for how to mentally prepare to travel alone:

• Be brave and proud of yourself
• Let all feelings come through
• Start small, don’t take too big steps right away
• Don’t give up! You can do it!
• Give time for yourself
• Think why you are doing this

You can read more about solo traveling and tips how to start planning your own adventure, by clicking here.

Now when I think of myself almost ten years ago, I can’t even imagine what kind of experiences I got during my adventure. I grew a lot during the trip, and it made me a lot stronger. I really recommend this for everyone, especially when you are young, don’t have kids, as you can do whatever you want.

And what about the money?

The big question I guess many has is the money! Lot’s off people asked me, how much money you need to have to go there, how much you need to save money for it. I actually didn’t have a lot of money in savings. You don’t need to save a lot, if you are planning to work there. I had the money for the tickets back home and a bit of over the odds.

 

I encourage everyone to jump out of your comfort zone and one option could be to travel alone! Don’t be afraid!