How Travelling Changed My Life

The twists and turns that caused a monumental shift in my life

It sounds a bit cliché doesn’t it, ‘I travelled the world and it changed my life’ but I can’t deny that it’s the truth, and I’ve yet to find anyone who disagrees with that statement.

People travel for all kinds of reasons, to see the world, to escape a life they’re not happy with, to find themselves, whatever the reason, everyone’s paths are different.

“Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” — Ibn Battuta

For me, I just wanted something more from life, a change.

It was also one of those things that just knew I wanted to do from a very young age. I was always talking about how I wanted to leave London. Back in the day, the USA used to be my dream.

Yes, I was one of those people who fantasised about living the American dream. Working in the heart of New York for an Anna Wintour type of person and spending the summer soaking up the sun in LA. I basically wanted my life to be a cross between the Devil Wears Prada and The Hills.

Eventually, the American Dream didn’t appeal to me as much anymore, but I still wanted to travel and just have a life abroad. It was one of those things that I just kept saying to everyone, I just kept telling everyone that I was going to go travelling one day.

I almost felt like I was lying to everyone, the way I was telling everyone I was going to do it like it was certain.

When was this ‘one day’ going to happen?

Without realising it, I ended up manifesting my dream and before I knew it I had booked a one-way ticket to Australia and planned to live there for a year initially. And I was going alone.

At that point in my life, I hadn’t ever flown on my own, let alone travelled on my own. Plus I’d never been backpacking or even stayed in a hostel before.

So this whole experience was completely foreign to me in so many ways and I was scared. So. Damn. Scared.

But I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I wanted to go. I needed to go. Live without regret is my life mantra, and if I didn’t travel it would have without a doubt been the biggest regret of my life. I wouldn’t be able to deal with that.

So off I went to fulfil my travelling dream. I had all these ideas in my head of what I thought travelling would be like. But when I arrived in Australia I quickly learnt that it wasn’t how I imagine it to be at all.

In all honesty, I hated it when I first got there. I was new to travelling then, and I was more introverted and less confident. I thought people would just flock to you and you’d become BFFs and start making travel plans together but it just didn’t seem that way.

This was a very naïve belief. Once I started going on tours and travelling down the coast, I found myself falling in love with travelling, but it was still very different to what I had pictured.

I spent an amazing year in Australia and met the most amazing people. After a short stint at home, which honestly didn’t feel like home anymore, I ended up leaving again. This time though, I had booked a one-way ticket to Thailand.

I told myself 2 things before I left the second time. 1) Do not have any expectations and 2) Go with the flow.

Every preconception I’d had about travelling the first time seemed to manifest itself the second time around.

It was exactly what I had originally thought travelling would be like and more. I met amazing people instantly and ended up travelling with them.

We formed travelling groups, went off the beaten track, saw the most incredible things and had the most euphoric times. Good and bad, but I have no regrets.

Looking back at some of the crazy things that happened always makes me smile. Times when I thought ‘what the hell am I doing?’ to all the mishaps, spontaneous plans, and changes of plans.

Don’t they say the craziest times make the best stories?

I went home again and was so nervous about going back. I’d been gone longer this time and things had definitely changed. So much more than the last time I had come home.

This is the thing about travelling; you have another life when you’re away. You’re a different version of yourself. Dare I say a better version? Going home last time felt like it was a ghost of my old life. Just the remnants of something that used to be but wasn’t there anymore.

I feel like I’m a different version of myself at home, and I’m not quite sure I like that version.

I’ve lost friends there, distance does that and so does jealousy. I noticed when I left that I felt a lack of support from some of my friends and I had to accept this was a part of travelling. You filter out the fake and find out who your real friends are.

If there is one thing I have learned from all this is to be comfortable and secure being on my own. Of course, I have had moments where I have felt incredibly lonely and down, but I know how to pick myself up and be the independent woman that made the crazy decision to travel across the world by herself.

Now I have settled in Canada after living in New Zealand and have an abundance of memories that will stay with me for a lifetime. I am so thankful that I bit the bullet and made the decision to go.

And if anyone reading this is thinking of going travelling, what would my advice be?

Do it.

Just do it.

It will be the best decision of your life.

If this is the sign you needed from the Universe or even if you have already made the decision to go, I want you to know it’s the right one.

The life you’re about to embark on is going to be a magical, unpredictable and adventurous one, it will be anything but boring.

So go ahead. Write your own story, I promise it will be worth it.

“We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic to creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed, and that changes everything.” — Jonah Lehrer