When I went my first solo travel at 20 I imagined it be the first of many.
Setting of alone never bothered me until other people balked at the idea. You’d be amazed the amount of people who tell you they couldn’t/wouldn’t. Those words became niggling thoughts that maybe it was strange. But yet I ventured on and enjoyed my time.
Though there were other struggles. I hadn’t quite understood the magnitude of 11 days away on my own in countries where my language wasn’t the main one spoken. It was scary and exhilarating.
So when I came back I thought that it be inevitable that I’d do something again.
And though I haven’t been deprived of adventures since. I’ve been to Lanzarote, New York, Annecy, Prague, Brighton and London 3 times in the space between.
So a month ago when I realised it would be cheaper to see a band I liked in Berlin instead of Manchester I thought why not after a lot of humming and hawing. I had the money, I’d travelled alone before. There seemed to be no true issue with going.
On the back of a lot of issues of the past few years is that I lost a lot of confidence that the 20 year old version of myself had. And in the fight to get the back I find myself in Berlin.
In Berlin, hand luggage only, staying in a hostel. The second and third statements are scarier than they sound.
I am a notorious overpacker. If you don’t have triple the amount of pants you need on a trip then quite frankly your not prepared for the trip has always been my motto. But here I am with a small bag my lovely new Kanken that fits in with Ryan Airs ridiculous limits. A bag that is smaller than the one I have been using for extras now contains everything and I can’t tell you how proud of myself I was when I packed it and realised I could do it.
As for the hostel my other adventures have been Hotel and Air BnB Stays and I don’t bother booking if it’s a shared bathroom. I like my space. I like locking a room and having time and space. The only time I have ever stayed in a hostel is when I went on a 12 mile walk with my work along the last part of the Great Glen Way. But the four girls who went got a room of our own. So though I was sharing with 3 other people I knew them and we were leaving so early that the shared bathroom wasn’t much of an issue.
But as I was trying to keep spend right down I find myself in a hostel. And to be fair for a couple of nights it seems like it will do. It’s a space to sleep and that’s all I need it for.
xoxo
