When I left my rigid 9-to-5 office desk to travel the world, I made a massive mistake on my first big solo backpacking trip. I stuffed a massive, heavy winter coat into my luggage. I was terrified of being cold. Within two weeks of moving between trains and hostels, that giant coat felt like a…
I still remember standing in the middle of my tiny apartment floor a few weeks after quitting my corporate office job. Around me was a sea of clothes. I had heavy winter coats, linen shirts, three pairs of boots, and enough jeans to open a store. I was preparing for a journey that would take…
I still remember my first winter trip after I left my rigid 9-to-5 corporate grind. I was heading to Europe, and my anxiety was through the roof. Coming from New York, I knew how cold winter could get, but packing for a stationary life in a heated apartment is entirely different from packing your life…
I still remember standing on the platform at the Roma Termini train station during my very first solo backpacking trip across Europe. My shoulder straps were digging deep into my skin, my lower back was throbbing, and I was sweating through a heavy cotton shirt. I had packed for every single hypothetical scenario: a rainy…
I still remember the absolute panic I felt when I landed in Bangkok for my very first solo teaching gig. I had just spent months waitressing extra shifts back in New York to save up every dollar I could. I quit my rigid corporate office desk job, packed everything I owned into one giant, heavy…
I still remember the absolute panic I felt standing on a train platform in Paris during my very first solo backpacking trip through Europe. My shoulders were throbbing, my lower back felt like it was on fire, and I was sweating through a heavy polyester shirt. I had packed a massive, rolling suitcase filled with…
There is a specific kind of exhaustion that only a solo traveler knows. It is the feeling of sitting in a crowded transit lounge at three o’clock in the morning, watching the departure board change, with your entire life packed into a single backpack at your feet. Years ago, before I started this blog, I…
There is a specific kind of panic that hits you when you are standing completely alone in a crowded, noisy train station halfway across the world. For me, that moment happened during my first big solo backpacking trip through Europe. I was on a platform in Munich, the air smelled like warm pretzels and diesel…
There is a specific moment that every solo traveler remembers. For me, it happened on a muggy afternoon in Bangkok. I had just stepped off a crowded public bus, my shoulders aching under the weight of a massive, overpacked suitcase that I had to drag over broken pavement and through a maze of street food…