How Solo Travel Changed My Life

I am so pleased to welcome Robin (@mymelange) as a guest writer on Solo Traveler. Robin has a passion for travel and an undying love for Italy and France. On her blog, My Melange, she shares her European experiences, recipes, pictures, travel tips, ways to travel on a budget… everything you need to be in the know. Her passion has grown into a multi-faceted business which includes freelance writing, travel consulting, itinerary planning, photography, and of course, blogging.

The Seine and view of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

I have always been a pretty independent gal, though I had never been one to want to travel on my own. But, a few years ago, something inside me yearned to take a huge leap and travel solo.

Not only did I decide to go on vacation by myself – I decided to go for ten days. To a foreign country. Where I didn’t really speak the language. I couldn’t  think of a better place for a girl to take her first ever solo trip than Paris.

A little nervous about my first solo travel adventure.
Sitting alone in the airport waiting to board my flight I started to panic and wasn’t sure I had made the right choice. Deboarding at Charles de Gaulle, I was still a bundle of excited nerves. But the moment I stepped from the underground Metro station and stared at the Seine and the glorious architecture, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. That nervous energy melted away and was replaced with a feeling of belonging. Of being in the right place at the right time. I knew in my heart I had made the right decision.

Solo travel changed me.
Those ten magical days changed me, for the better. I really think I found my soul there, though at the time I didn’t know it was lost. I did what I wanted every day. I learned to be comfortable in my own skin and with eating alone in restaurants, which is something up to that point I had never achieved. I struck up conversations, made friends with strangers, bar owners, shop keepers and my delightful Parisian housekeeper. And instead of fearing the French language, I put myself out there, tried my best, listened and learned along the way.

I spent countless hours listening to and observing things I would never have seen if I had had a traveling companion.  My senses were heightened — every croissant tasted better, every color more vibrant, every word more melodic and the scenery more beautiful. Why? Because I was alone and was able to live in and savor the moment.

The other thing I found?  My writing voice. I took along my journal and spent countless, joyful hours just sitting on a park bench or at a café writing about all of my experiences.  Whether it’s true or not, I’m convinced that my solo trip to Paris inspired me to be the writer I am today.

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