If I Wasn’t a Writer…
…I’d be a Solo Traveller
“I am never happier than when I am alone in a foreign city; it is as if I had become invisible.” — Storm Jameson
When I turned 29, I was dying like a kid to see the sea. I have been born and brought up in Delhi — the city where we lack Vitamin-Sea. It’s densely populated with around two crores of population and people are full of arrogance and show-off.
The place I preferred to make a trip to was Mumbai. It’s around 1400+kms from Delhi and I took a flight of 2 hours. When I reached there, I booked a cab to my friend’s place and it was a journey of 2 hours. I saw the sea on my way, and I was acting like a crazy kid even though the driver understood that it’s my first time in the city (which was not the case). The first time was to view the gigantic sea with nobody else but just water and more water surrounding it.
This trip opened my eyes in 2015 and since then I treated myself as a solo traveler by exploring places within India and the US as well. I would like to share why do I love traveling alone.
1. I Don’t Like People
Yes, you heard it right. When you make plans with others they always come up with their agenda. Some want to stay in an expensive hotel. Some want to loiter around here and there and some want to sleep until the afternoon. I detest such people. I like to be my boss. The only power which makes me bow down is the universal almighty. People don’t make much sense to me.
2. I like to spend time with myself
I am very comfortable in my skin. I get anxious if someone calls me without any reason. I feel like breaking the phone on their head asking about why they are calling me in the first place. The more I get myself, the more they all get scared of me. I can spend an entire lifetime with myself. I don’t think I will ever need someone to crack a senseless conversation.
3. It instilled more confidence and strength in me
I was going through a very rough phase between 2015 to 2017, and I bounced back to life after creating a journal on myself. I learned how to deal with my darkness and overcome my fears all alone. My friends wanted to be a part of it but I didn’t let them be. I don’t think anyone can heal us the way we heal ourselves. There is a reason for everything happening in our life. I took this time to shut myself off from social media focusing my energy on my mind, health, body, and soul. It worked wonders.
4. I love my interactions with strangers more
You know so many people shut themselves in their real-world and find comfort in the virtual world because nobody entertains their thoughts and they feel neglected and depressed. I am just the opposite to it. I open up myself with very few people and even today in my social media life, there are not many people. I prefer quality over quantity. The thing with strangers is they don’t know you, so they don’t get the power to judge you. I love talking to people who leave an imprint on your mind with 2 minutes of conversation than those nerdy souls who want to take 2 hours of your day adding nothing meaningful to your life.
5. Making memories with myself
I remember sitting in one of the cafes at Jaipur in India where I traveled last year in March and started writing my diary again. That was a huge break for me to realize it’s time I must get back to writing and I kept on writing for 1 hour. That still stays as a precious memory to me. I happened to click more pictures of the places than myself because I wanted to experience my soul in those places rather than just being physically present. That made me so calm and patient from within.
Some of the pictures from my solo trips :)
I hope you all rejoice them.
In response to
I further challenge Dipti Pande Kevin Buddaeus Simran Kankas Michael Ritoch Noma Dek Ksenia Sein Carolyn Riker Tim Maudlin John C Davis Tre L. Loadholt Luba Sigaud James Finn Julia E Hubbel George J. Ziogas Salam Khan
Gurpreet Dhariwal is the author of “My Soul Rants: Poems of a Born Spectator.” Her eBook is now available at Google PlayStore, Amazon, and Kindle. Connect with Gurpreet on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Youtube
