Travelogue: Maldives (part 4)

Between May-June 2014, I spent 6 weeks in the Maldives. During my time there I blogged all about my adventures on a sister blog I created to pen down my travel adventures. It wasn't a big success, so after a lot of procrastinating, I finally decided to revive my original blog and so here is a re-blog of what I had typed up in real time back then along with,previously not included, pictures.  I really had to resist the urge to make edits, so this is a no- edits to the content re-post. Once I have re-posted everything here, I will delete the other blog. 

my two paisa On Solo Traveling

I spoke of solo travelling in my earlier posts but didn't quite get into the details. Solo travelling unlike family and large group of friend expeditions is quite a holiday adventure. This can be quite exciting and sad sounding at the same time.

Solo traveling allows you to be a lot more flexible and free in comparison to group travel. For instance there is no need to take democratic decisions about where to go, what to eat, when to eat, how long to spend where and you know what I mean. You can take spontaneous decision and just go with it. Also you have nobody but yourself to look out of. I had great fun buying a gigantic bar of chocolate all for myself and just taking spur of the moment decisions about what I feel like doing tonight.

On the not so sunny side it takes copious amounts of mental strength to embark on such a journey. You need the mental strength to fight homesickness and feelings of loneliness. If you are like me and dream of travel all the time homesickness is an easy battle. The other two you need to be your greatest supporter; me, myself and I need to help you stay upbeat and fight the urge to be a big baby and cry or some such emotional exercise.

So if you are the kind who gets bogged down easily, needs to be taken care of and are very demanding..um..you need to rethink some things. I found that all this is good in theory but once I crossed the security check into the airport and said goodbye to familiar people it hit me like cold air conditioning.

I spent hours with no one to talk to and found it difficult to stay jumpy all the time. I was so relieved when my friend came to pick me up. So you see normally when you make trips you have like family, family or even just friend but I didn't. Okay I did but geographically no (she is on another island and me on another). So I am living in a new environment with new people, new experiences and working in a new industry. It's all very new and novel for me and also a teeny tiny bit daunting.

This is why I speak of mental strength to hold on to and bank upon. Not only does it make you stronger and more independent but helps you define yourself better. For instance when someone asks you 'tell me something about yourself' and you are mentally going through some archives frantically to say something sensible. When you solo travel, everything becomes significant - how you like your coffee, what is the first thing you do in the morning, how do you conduct yourself, what you need at a certain point and so on. This is because no one but you can and will make these decisions. The more often you make them, especially in unfamiliar environments (which mean it's less influenced by the people around you), the more comfortable you become with who you are.

An analogy for you: Imagine that feeling when you scale a cliff and you are standing atop looking at the sea below. Now at first you may worry about what if I fall and will it be the end. Slowly you will smile as you remind yourself you can swim and you can see a spot where you can get on land and find your way back.

That is solo travelling. That journey, that reassurance and knowledge that everything will be okay because you can handle it. Once you have conquered that in a fraction of a few seconds you will start to enjoy the view of standing atop this cliff. It will began to seep into you, the beauty and magic of the moment. 

--x--

Link to: Travelogue Maldives (part 3)