Travel alone somewhere.

“The first time I traveled solo, I sat in a restaurant in Bangkok for 45 minutes eating pad thai and trying not to look like I was eating alone. I was definitely eating alone. Everyone could see I was eating alone. The waiter felt so sorry for me that he brought me an extra spring roll that I hadn’t ordered and didn’t charge for it. I’m not sure if it was a sympathy spring roll or just a service error but either way I ate it and then walked home and felt something I hadn’t expected to feel. Like myself.”

“One of the things I often leave out when telling the story of the empowering, soul-binding experience of solo travel is that I spent an hour at the airport wandering around looking for a train station to the city, not realising that the Melbourne airport did not have one. In hindsight, it seemed foolish to not just ask for help, but prior to this, I was someone who avoided speaking to strangers or service staff at all cost. After walking past the SkyBus booth for the twelfth time in a row, I sheepishly mustered up the courage to approach them, only to realise how easy it was to get help. Throughout the week I was in the city, I had to do that dozens of times more, and each time it got easier.”