Flying solo... the early years.

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So my travel journey started at home, in my bedroom, in an Essex suburb, in the UK.

Now I've always wanted to travel, ALWAYS. I remember writing a letter to my future self in high school, I wrote that I HAD to travel and if I didn't the younger me would be very disappointed in the older/boring me. 10 years later and that travel bug is still with me and needless to say that 13 year old would be VERY disappointed. Now I'm only 23, I haven't exactly wasted my life, but I have no responsibilities or ties, I'm eternally single, I have a stable financial income and thanks to the generosity of my parents, I still live at home for a very small fee. I had a considerable disposable income but I wasn't actually doing anything with it.

Ideally I wanted to go travelling with someone, but my friends indecisiveness in careers or commitment to boyfriends made me realise that wasn't going to happen any time soon. So one morning at about 2am, I booked a solo trip to NYC on a complete whim. I'm not sure whether it was the delirium that comes with sleep deprivation that actually made me do it, or my resilience to go travelling whether someone wanted to come with me or not (on reflection I think both), but the next day I showed my parents the confirmation email with a big stupid grin across my face and thankfully was met with nothing but encouragement.

Now most people who go travelling, pack a bag and return in a few months/years or so, but when I thought about it, it wasn't really an option for me. For my age, I actually have quite a good job and I personally didn't want to lose my position and take a step back in my career after working so hard, to travel. However, with my stable income and a generous company holiday allowance there was no reason I couldn't do both, right? So that is where what I call my 'sporadic travelling' began; starting with a 2am booking to the big and beautiful New York City, with no clue of what being a traveller really entailed; mainly any information regarding visa's (an unfortunate naive moment of mine which had me frog marched through US security to one of those rooms - but more of that later...)

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Comments

[LaTanya Johnson]

Congratulations on your spontaneous decision.
Life is about living not just existing! Live life with no regrets but with great expectation. My mantra has always been "life is too short for the stupid s*!%"! Live life now because tomorrow is not promised! Again, congratulations!!

[Home and Away]

Welcome to Travelblog!!!
Your spontaneity fits right in with the way many of us travel...balancing job and travel to exotic locations. I hope you enjoy New York City...the capital of the world. I also look forward to your future adventures all over the world.