Hello ladies! I'm very happy to participate in this weekly contest since, as a world traveler, I think I have a good insight to add to this topic.
First, I want to thank @trangbaby for bringing these two beautiful topics to the table. The one I would like to talk about is the following:
The number of women traveling solo has been on the rise. How do you feel about traveling as a single woman? What are the advantages and challenges?
(Photo made in my solo travels in Tasmania, Australia, 2015)
I would like to share my story of my travels in 2015-2016 when I did both, traveling with friends and traveling solo, so I can tell you my experience and opinion on both ways of traveling.
In 2015 I decided to quit my job and go to experience the Work and Holiday Visa year in Australia. I made this decision by myself and I was ready to go alone. Once I got my visa, I shared my story with a good friend from California that I met while I was studying abroad in Germany. She was in a similar life situation than I was. We graduated from Uni recently, got our first job and realized life was not fun anymore.
So I told her that I applied for this visa and I was getting ready to go there in August 2015. She was inspired by my decision and told me that she would think about doing the same. A few weeks after she texted me and told that she was coming too! I was very happy about it since I haven't seen her in 3 years and we had a special connection.
We booked our flights, I did from Spain and she from California, to arrive the same day. She arrived one day later due to flight delays. Anyways I was very happy to be in Melbourne with one of my best friends, ready to live some new and fun adventures!
We booked a hostel for the first 10 days. Honestly I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't done anything like this before. Also it was the first year that the agreement for the WHV between Australia and Spain was available, so I had no information of anyone who had done a similar thing.
And after my first 2 nights in the hostel, I realized that I planned it wrong. My idea was just moving to Madrid (where I was working) to Melbourne, so I arrived there with a heavy suitcase and a carry on luggage. But then in the hostel I saw the famous "backpackers". People who just had a backpack and rather than staying in a place, they were traveling all around.
When I saw that I remember that I felt that that was what I wanted to do. But, on the other hand, my rational mind was telling me to stick to my plan of finding a home and a job in Melbourne. So I tried this for the first two months. We were super lucky and we found a lovely house with a very good price in an excellent location and with 2 bedrooms that were coming available at the same time. If you have lived in Melbourne you know this is a miracle.
So I was very lucky to find a house but not as lucky to find a job. Coming from Spain when I arrived in Australia I found everything too expensive. I had some savings but with the prices I was afraid they were gonna run out fast and I had to come back home. For me that was the worst case scenario. And if I had to that, at least I wanted to explore and see more of Australia than just Melbourne.
Then I decided to leave this city and start my solo adventures. I said goodbye to my dear friend Lindsey in Melbourne and I decided to buy a backpack and head to one of the most famous places in Australia: Byron Bay.
(As you can see in the picture at the beginning I was packing too much stuff. I was a beginner hahahahah)
I arrived in Byron Bay and I met there some people I have already met in the hostel we were staying in Melbourne. I also met some new people. One of people I met there was telling me that she wanted to go to Tasmania to look for farm work. I hadn't had any success in finding a job as a waitress so I decided to try that experience.
We arrived in Tasmania and just a couple of weeks after we found a job in a farm.
We bought a car together since we needed it to go to work to the farm. It was my first experience and wow! It was exhausting work. So after 3 weeks I decided to quit and celebrate myself for my accomplishment in a electronic festival back in Melbourne with Lindsey and my other roommate.
It was one of the best experience in my life. It wasn't my first festival (I love festivals so at that time I was making sure that every year I was going to at least 2). But it was my first international festival celebrated in the American style: dressing up and making bracelets to do PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.
Before leaving Tasmania I knew for sure that I wanted to come back to discover other areas. So far it was my favourite spot of what I saw in Australia. So after the festival and the day before taking my flight back to Tasmania, I called Suzie, the person who organized the work at the farm, to ask her about another job opportunity in a different area of Tasmania.
The conversation that we had over the phone is something I will never forget. It was like this:
- Hi Suzie!
- Hi Esperanza! I just wanted to talk with you! I had an amazing job opportunity for you. It's in a winery in the East Coast of Tasmania. You have to do the tastings at the cellar door and prepare some coffee now and then. Accommodation is provided.
- Oh really? And when I will start?
- Tomorrow.
I didn't believe at the beginning. It was one of these things of it is too good to be true. I actually have written another article just describing this experience because it has been one of the best experiences in my life.
(This was the cottage that I used to live)
(this is me at work :)
I stayed there for almost 3 months and after that I decided that it was time to travel again. So many adventures and good memories from my time there. I really will be forever grateful about this experience but it was time to move on. I only had a year in Australia I wanted to make most of it.
I went back to Melbourne. Melbourne was like my base there. Also a place that brought me so much love and fun stories. This time I wanted to travel the whole East Coast, until Cairns. So I was just looking for people with a car o van to travel with on my way.
I share this travel with 4 different people. Some of them were very good experiences and others not that good. My home for the months I was traveling in East Coast was a tent.
After that trip I came back once again to Melbourne and decided to reunite with my friend Lindsey in Bali to travel for 2 months together in the East Coast. She also brought another friend she made in her solo travels and there were: the fantastic 3 living some adventures in Asia.
When we arrived in Hanoi I had an internal debate. I fell in love with this place. I wanted to stay longer. But Lindsey and Ester wanted to continue the travel in South East Asia. So there I had to decide:
Do I want to stay here and travel alone or keep my travels with my good friends?
Still sometimes I wonder if I took the right choice but I decided to continue my travels with them instead of staying in Vietnam. I really enjoyed traveling alone but I also really enjoyed traveling with my best friend Lindsey.
That was the point where I reflected for the first time in the advantages and disadvantages of traveling solo:
The advantages of traveling solo is that you are the only one who decide where to be and for how long. I love this freedom. Also you get to meet way more people than when you are traveling with friends. It's not like you are all the time alone (like many people thinks) but the contrary: you are
constantly meeting new people.
The disadvantages are that you have to figure out everything by yourself.
So, for me, I prefer traveling solo. And if I travel with someone it has to be a good match for me. Someone who is also independent and we share the same values, like my best friend Lindsey.
In 2020 when I was in Bali (traveling solo) I met many girlfriend couples who were arguing a lot. Some of them at the end decided to go in separate ways. You can risk a friendship if the person who you decide to travel with is not a good match for you.
So my advice for any lady who wants to travel alone is "You go for it girl!".
I realize this has been longer than I expected. Still I feel I could keep talking about this topic because I love it so much and I love to embrace women to go for solo adventures. And if you are having doubts and would like to speak with me about it, you can find me on Discord by looking Esperanza#1401.
If you have read until here, thank you so much 💓🌟🙏 I hope that it has inspired you and I am looking forward to reading your solo adventures on Hive.
