Why I decided to travel

“Standing alone doesn’t mean I am alone, it just means I am strong enough to handle things all my myself”

I first felt the desire to travel in the summer of 2009, I went on a short holiday to Barcelona with my then boyfriend Daniel, we went for 4 days, and although we managed to see a couple of the main sites, La Sagrada Familia, the fountains, and Nou Camp..it wasn’t enough for me, I wanted to see more.

As our once perfect relationship slowly crumbled away, I found myself thinking more and more about getting away, that that would be my ticket out of this relationship I could no longer be in. We eventually broke up, we both knew it was the right thing to do despite the heartache it brought, we had been fighting to stay together for a long time, despite our hearts not really being in it anymore. I guess that’s the pull of your first love, it’s hard to let go, to take the leap onto the path you know you should be on.

I had recently started university, and had already set my heart on travelling after graduation, however I had not given it much thought due to the vast amounts of university work. It was there I met a now good friend, who spent 18 months travelling Asia, Australia and New Zealand, I spent hours pouring over her photographs and questioning her about her trip. She is a confident and quick minded girl, the opposite of me at that time I suppose, but she made it seem so simple, finish university, book your flight and go do it. To this day, I don’t know if I would be going had I not met her.

Further into university, I entered another long-term relationship, it was long-distance and quickly became serious. I was upfront about my future travel plans and Simon accepted that, he to had hinted that he wanted to travel. It was perfect, we would travel together! He was a great love, and somebody I truly believed I would travel the world with. As life has taught me, things change, people change and travel plans most definitely change.

So now, four and a half years later after deciding I wanted to travel, I sit in my bedroom writing this as a qualified nurse, 4 days away from beginning my adventure, alone…and I couldn’t be happier. The day I land in Bangkok marks 1 year since my break-up, which I cant help but think is a lovely coincidence. These past 12 months have changed me, I had never given myself the time to be alone, I made a pact with myself to focus on family and friend relationships, graduate university and commit to the gym. All of which I have achieved. I learnt a lot about myself from my previous relationships and what I want from the next one. Although the past few years has brought love, broken hearts and life experience, my desire to travel and live freely has remained the same.

I want to lie on the beautiful beaches, build friendships with people all over the world, jump out of planes, build my confidence and skills, and experience different ways of life. I don’t want to grow old where I grew up.  Throughout my nurse training, I feel I have established a hunger for life, having seen what curveballs it can throw at us unexpectedly, and how it really is so short, I have vowed to make the most of the time I have, and cant think of anything better than to see the world.