SO(u)LO Trip

 I never understood the hype or the joy of a solo trip before, but as they say. you can't love the meat you never tasted.

So this time I had the opportunity to explore and take a solo trip. Well, you may be wondering why it is such a big deal, for a person who has never lived alone in her entire life(1/3 of a presumable lifetime), IT IS!

I was anxious picking the place, overcautious about the weather, and super scared about the rides alone to all the sites I wanted to see. Narrowed down to a comfortable area of parwanoo, a small jumbled up piece next to the Chandigarh and Tricity area. Booked everything on my own from the train tickets, breakfast on the train, hotel(safest ones), activities(which had multiple minor glitches), catching up with old friends in Chandigarh, all down to the greatest details. Fantasizing about the weather, relying on the weather updates(which completely ditched at the last moment with a heat wave), it turned out to be super!

I had never experienced fear, excitement, responsibility, pride, and confidence all at the same time.

Solo trips help you grow at multiple levels. That's what this blog is all about. My experience, my growth and takeaway points from that.

Firstly, when we plan a trip, we figure out what we fear- which mode of transport we hate, which we enjoy, and how the journey is judged as safe for a solo female traveler or not. We have to reconcile with the harsh truth of reality while keeping the excitement alive.

Next in the list would be our likes and dislikes. Its important to first narrow down whether we like mountains, rivers, beaches, animal safari, flowers or orchards before we finalize a place.Its an introspective exercise. Living in the north of mainland, its hard to reach both mountains and beaches, so convinience is no longer a guide.  Its scary to even imagine and dream of exactly what we want. Read that again. 

When we put this in perspective, the next understanding we lay down is far sightedness. That is how we see the events to unfold in our imagination. This is an under rated skill and is hardly developed or talked about. but with a vivid mental imagery and imagination we can avoid a lot of glitches and tend to accumulate exactly what we want for our trip. I don't ask anyone to be a control freak and try to control every minute of it, but planning large chunks, makes you realise whether you like to rest in our trip, find time to write diary, calm your mind or seek thrill adventure, outdoors, pool. It allows you fix a time to wake up, make adequate travel time adjustments and enjoy every minute.

The third thing, i realised is that you have to be your own guardian who is worried about day light, travel safety and quality of food, your own naughty little brother or sister who doesn't want the trip or the fun or the energy to end and you have to be your own planner who wants to see the world with curiosity, buy souveniers, eat delicacies and create beautiful memories. You have to be in your own team. There will be multiple points where you will fail in this entire trip yet you cant give up on your own self. You wont have the luxury to indulge in the negative self talk.

Solo trips are surrogate for life journey where you are never alone yet you are alone. Where you have family to care, yet they wont be with you every minute and may be thats a good thing, because it makes you actually manifest who you are. Where everything is uncertain yet beautiful. Where nothing is under control yet works out eventually for our best.

We prepare for the worst, enjoy in the middle and hope for the best!

It truly is soul enriching and addictive. 

 

You will figure out your favorite drink, favorite book, favorite weather and favorite view. Give your self some time and grace!

Nature has the ability to humble us, may it be a sunset, a sunrise, birds chirping in your balcony or a cup of black coffee with all this. 


You'll truly know yourself,only if you do everything that you dream of, scary or non scary, fun or not fun, good or evil. Don't be afraid to know yourself, take a soul trip! 



Comments

  1. A pediatrician's pensieveMay 29, 2023 at 10:55 AM

    Really liked the part how you compare the solo trip to life journey.. You are at your own yet never alone

    ReplyDelete

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