While I’ve traveled to places by myself, it was always to meet up with a group of friends, visit family, or for my studies. Solo trips seemed too far fetched as I don't consider myself very outgoing or willing to just walk up to a complete stranger if I need help. However, when I made my decision to move abroad for university I decided it was time to push myself out of my comfort zone as much as I could! So when I lived in London from 2016-2018, that’s exactly what I did! After an intense year and plenty of memorable adventures with my friends, I finally decided to do my solo trip in October 2017. And of course, I spent plenty of time debating it. What if something goes wrong? What if I get lost? What if I get lonely? What if, what if, what if...I came up with a million answers for these questions, but in the end I knew this was something I really wanted to do and it would be a memorable trip no matter what happened.
Once I convinced myself it was happening, I immediately started planning. I easily picked my destination: Granada, Spain. This was a city I dreamed of visiting and was determined to see before heading back to the U.S., so I figured why not make this my solo adventure! I’m a native Spanish speaker so a language barrier wouldn’t be an issue and I would get the chance to explore the city on my own at my own pace. Deciding how long I wanted to be there was the hard part. I went back and forth on whether it should be a couple days, a week, two weeks; in the end I decided let’s make it a short trip and see how it goes. To push myself to not get so caught up in being alone during the trip and give myself the opportunity to meet new people, I chose to stay in a hostel and share a room. While I’ve stayed in hostels before with friends, I knew it would be a whole different experience staying in a room full of strangers. All part of the adventure right? With all the logistics sorted, I was ready to go!
Travel day finally came around and I was so excited, despite the early morning start for the trip. As I dozed on and off on the train to the airport, I noticed that I had a couple emails coming in. It seemed my travels were determined to be off to a rocky start. One of the emails was from the airline with not so good news..the airline had gone bankrupt and effective that exact day all flights were cancelled! I immediately went into panic mode as I continued my train journey to the airport. So many options ran through my mind as I tried to decide what my next step should be. All I knew was that I was making it to Granada no matter what it took. Nothing was going to put a stop to my trip! When I finally made it to the airport I immediately searched for an airline agent to see if there was any way they could help out with my itinerary. That turned out to be a dead end and I was on my own to figure out what to do. With no help from the airline, I started to search to see what flights were still available that day. I got lucky and found flights leaving within the next couple hours so I took the leap and purchased a new itinerary. I was luckily going to be able to get a refund for the original flights so in the end my costs didn’t end up too out of whack for the trip. One flight and a couple bus rides later, I finally made it to Granada! The excitement I felt when I first started the day was still there, despite the bumpy start. First priority was checking in at the hostel and dropping off my stuff so I could freely wander around. When I got up to my room, no one was there but I had the next couple days to get to know my temporary roommates so no worries!
The next few days were a blur of fun, new people, and a time to just reflect on the craziness of the past year. I walked through the city on my own, exploring different streets and committing to memory all of the scenery I came across. I spent half a day tracing the steps of historical figures in the Alhambra, as well as enjoyed a couple walking tours of the city; learning about its history and the street art that could be found throughout it. I got to listen to flamenco as I sat in the Mirador de San Nicolas and took the moment to just soak it all in with the perfect view of the Alhambra. And of course, I took the time to wander through shops and enjoyed plenty of tapas and wine. I managed to make a couple friends and explore the city with them too!
Despite the trip having a rough start, it turned out to be my absolute favorite. By the end, I was wishing I extended it to continue traveling through Andalucia and see where I ended up. As I reflect back on the trip, I would happily do it all over again. A solo trip definitely pushes you out of your comfort zone but it can be just as fun and exciting as a trip with friends or family. If you haven’t done it yet, I say go ahead and give it a try!
Want to see some of the things I was able to capture while on this trip? Check out my photo gallery!
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