I’ve loved traveling for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been dreaming of doing a solo trip for a long time. After putting it off for years, this month, I finally did it. I took a trip to Spain by myself.
A bunch of things were imperfect about this trip. Life got in the way of planning, so besides my flight, I didn’t have logistics settled until the day before I left. Because I was booking so last minute, my options were limited. I almost didn’t get the hostel that I really wanted to stay in and trains were more pricey. And then the morning of my flight out, I got incredibly nervous that I was in way too deep and had no idea what I was doing.
But once I got to Spain, everything seemed to fall into place. I landed in Madrid, and then caught a flight to Sevilla, where I spent two nights. I took the train to Granada, spent another two nights there, before heading to Madrid for four nights. I met a friend there, and spent three days exploring the city with her. After she left, I did a quick day trip to Toledo on the fourth day and then caught my flight back to the US.
I enjoyed the entire trip. I had complete liberty to do what I wanted. I could be incredibly selfish about how I spent my time. There was no pressure about expectations. The only person to make decisions was myself, and the only person to please was myself. It was nice to have the mix of solitude during the day and company when I got back to the hostel. I’ve also been casually working on my Spanish for the last few years, and while I’m far from perfect, it was really cool to be able to use what I’ve learned in real life both this time in Spain, and last month in Mexico.
Some things I would do differently next time — I’d love to travel for a longer period of time, but at a slower pace. During this trip, I visited four cities in eight days, which got a bit tiring. I would look up dining etiquette ahead of time. In Spain, people seat themselves at restaurants. I didn’t know this initially and had quite a few awkward situations before I finally figured things out. I also would do more hostels. I’d booked half hostels and half hotels as a failsafe, since it was my first time trying out shared accommodations. I ended up having a great time and meeting some really cool people, and would definitely do it again.
Overall, this solo trip was such a success, and I’m so glad I was finally able to check this off my bucket list.
