It is not as scary as it seems! In fact, solo travelling is what shaped me into the woman I am today. Sounds cliché but trussssst.

L I B E R A T I N G

E M P O W E R I N G

C H A R A C T E R B U I L D I N G

Solo travelling births you into the world all over again. All of a sudden you have a CHOICE! In a world where we are told what to wear, how to act, what to say, what to eat, then boooom! Little me from the a*sehole of rural Ireland is somewhere completely unknown, where you know nobody… It is pretty ironic because you can literally do whatever you want. It can be pretty uncomfortable to begin with, because when we spend so much time following the crowd and what society expects of us and the life that is “laid” out for us, it is pretty confusing and confronting to realise, waaaaait. I actually don’t know what I am genuinely interested in. My identity had consisted of many many things that really weren’t my vibe and that didn’t ignite my soul. Things I did because, well, what else was there to do! Growing up you do what the people around you do, and you try to be “normal”. There wasn’t space to figure it out for ourselves. BUT! Now dudes its solo travel central, and well, I am gonna figure out who I AM?

There are many things to navigate when solo travelling, of course how to survive and be safe is huge. Can you trust yourself to know when to engage with people and when to be in your own space? I think this “safety” piece is what creates so much fear in people solo travelling. “What if something happens?”. Honestly fear is something I have learned to let go of. We cannot truly embrace the magic if there is doubt or fear in our mind. I don’t engage in conversations that create fear, in fact I will shut down a conversation if someone is projecting their fear or often their friends negative experience onto me. That doesn’t mean I am being irresponsible, but just learning to trust my own judgement.

In fact the reason I love travelling is being spontaneous, engaging in conversation with strangers, not having “the worst case scenario” in my mind every single time, expecting the worst in people. Fear is limiting and blocks so many opportunities to L I V E. I listen and trust my intuition, my gut feeling! If something doesn’t feel good, I will leave. This comes with practice and this is why solo travelling is empowering, confronting and character building. We HAVE to trust ourselves, we HAVE to use our voice, we HAVE to be strong on our boundaries, we HAVE to honour exactly what WE need!!!!!! Your on your own, so be selfish. If I lived and travelled in fear about doing things alone, I would have been miserable and missed out on meeting so many of my dearest friends, the most incredible experiences because I wouldn’t have put myself out there in the world to be seen.

Solo travelling, BUT YOUR NEVER REALLY ALONE.

The way you travel will also evolve and change depending on where you are, maybe sometimes good amounts of research is required, other times it’s just as important to flow and see where you end up. If your new to solo travelling, I would definitely be more on the planning side. Loosely, but you still want to know where is beautiful, wholesome and a SAFE place to stay. It is so important to know where to stay and to know what your body, your soul actually needs in this moment. Being social, being in nature, maybe you need your own space, silence…. there is so much more to solo travelling that we ever expect. Endless opportunities to surround yourself with solo travellers, and honestly, most people travelling are doing it A L O N E rather in groups. So really, we are all siblings on this playground called earth.

When solo travelling, essentially you are getting to know yourself all over again and learning to live in union with your heart, nervous system and all that good stuff. Learning to listen to yourself and then being able to honour that by choosing what you need at the time. This will change from day to day and travelling gives you the freedom to really meet yourself each day and create the day that will energise you. So move slowly, take time to be on your own and please listen to your body.

P E R S P E C T I V E

I meet many travellers that have had weird or uncomfortable experiences and I am honestly grateful I don’t have many stories like this. Honestly, for me, each experience is a lesson. What can I learn here? Even from the smallest thing. Maybe something sh*tty happens and we never have an explanation or understanding for it.

I don’t like to share negative experiences and honestly I hate to hear people sharing some experiences because a lot of things are things that are inevitable when we travel. Does that make it okay? No absolutely not, but I do think to some extent we have to let things go. Different cultures, religions, upbringings. For example, people always ask me, “Ellen he is staring at you or do you not mind everyone staring”, staring is something that puts the fear of god in people, and hey I completely understand, what will the staring possibly result in? but again this is creating fear around something. I don’t get bothered by people staring because of course they will stare. I am a sexy foreigner skipping around often amongst oppressed communities, completely different cultures and so on… Travel, have compassion, see the bigger picture, be LOVE. CMEREEEEE, sh*tty things happen but try not let that form an opinion about people, a country and cloud your future travels.

Who am I and how do I decide where I eat, when I eat? How do I entertain myself? This is tooooo much….. NOT. Wow what a gift is it to be in relationship with your body, and to decide. What foods are going to nourish and support me? What activities and events will I explore? What touristic or nature spot will actually inspire and excite me? Not just a random small statue in a city that is famous for some boring reason you don’t really care about…….. you get me? Will I people please my way around the world and continue doing stuff that doesn’t actually benefit me? eh nooooo, at least not anymore! As I said, character building, struggles and challenges don’t stop because you are somewhere new and beautiful. You are still growing, unraveling and evolving as a human. I would argue at an accelerated rate too. Create good boundaries and be a strong a$$ woman. Most importantly, be kind to yourself.

Solo travelling, is a TRIP. Sometimes the highest of highs and often the lowest of lows. It will challenge and shake you, chew you up and spit you out! But it is the best form journey for self growth and self discovery there is. Will you have all the answers by the end of a trip, will you come home with no money and need to start again? Maybe, but rememeber.

E V E R Y T H I N G H A S A P U R P O S E

Have a bloooodyyyyy ball.

Love you lots