Discover Yourself Through Travel

My parents haven taken my sister and I on family vacations since we were little girls. We would go on trips to see extended family, to spend time together as a family, and to visit new places. Most of our travel was in the United States. We took a couple of cruises to the Caribbean Islands and to Mexico. Those trips were the spark to my interest for travel and learning about different cultures and yes there are different subcultures within the United States.

My first experience traveling internationally as a student was my eighth grade trip to Toronto, Canada. Two buses of rambunctious eighth graders having the times of our lives, so we thought J. It was not until just now that I am realizing that is really when the seed was planted for me to become not just an international traveler but an international student traveler. I had no idea how that seed coupled with the seed of wanting to learn a new language would greatly impact my travel life. I now have four study abroad experiences under my belt in Spain (twice), Mexico and Brazil. While I have learned so much through my study abroad experiences I want to share a time in which I learned so much from a solo travel venture.

Last year I studied abroad in Valencia, Spain for 6 months during my graduate studies. While in Europe it is usually easier and less expensive to travel between countries while there. Thus I decided to do a little traveling on my Spring break. In most of my experiences abroad I usually traveled with at least one person that I knew well. I started planning out my spring break trip by making plans to visit another classmate in the United Kingdom. I bought my plane tickets to London for the trip but plans fell through with visiting my classmate. With encouragement from my roommate I decided to do something I have never done before...

I stepped way outside of my comfort zone and traveled alone to two different countries with no intentions of meeting anyone there that I already knew. I changed my travel plans and spent a couple of days in London, England (during the week of the royal wedding), and a few days in Paris, France. This was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my entire life. I had no one else to rely on. I had no one to confer with. I didn’t even have a cell phone to call anyone. All I had for communication was my iPod touch in which I needed wifi in order to communicate with others. I also stayed in hostels for the first time and no they are not scary like some horror movies depict. At least not the ones I chose to stay in lol. While traveling alone I learned to rely on my intuition and trust my thoughts. I allowed myself to fully open up and experience each place through all of my senses. I met some great people and even became friends with another young woman traveler. We remain friends today. I also got over my apprehensions of being alone. I learned to value my alone time and cherish the quiet moments when one is able to think, reflect and grow. Yes traveling and studying abroad is about seeing the sights, learning about the country and culture, eating the local cuisine, etc. but I learned that traveling abroad can also teach you just as much about yourself as it teaches you about the place and culture in which you are visiting.

KoMiSa’s Take Away Thought:

Take the time to learn about yourself as you are traveling and don’t be afraid to travel alone. Traveling alone can be one of best experiences you have so step out of your comfort zone and discover new things about yourself and the world around you.

P.S this can apply to any traveler whether you are traveling internationally or domestically ;-)

Happy Travels!!!

KoMiSa