Going it Solo

My first trip overseas was born out of a quiet weariness. It was 2012, and I had been making plans with a work friend for a trip to Bali, but one day, she just seemed to lose interest. My then-partner, Cam, and I had talked about trips to New York and Singapore to visit expat friends, but eventually he decided they would be too expensive. I grew tired of waiting for other people to travel with, so I decided to go on my own.

With the help of an enthusiastic and patient travel agent, I plotted my first overseas adventure: I would visit my expat friends in Singapore, spend four days in Paris, and take a two–week group tour of Britain and Ireland.

I didn’t sleep the night before departure. My mind was buzzing: had I remembered everything? What would it be like going through customs and immigration? Had I packed the right things in my checked luggage and carry–on bags? Would my phone work? Would I get sick? Had I saved enough spending money? Would I unknowingly break the law? Would it be like the TV shows, where I would be escorted away, interrogated and trapped in a foreign country far from my family?

Cam had witnessed my increasing anxieties, and I sensed this solo adventure of mine was causing him stress, too. Of course, in hindsight, these anxieties were all perfectly normal.

Cam and I had been in a relationship for two years, and I had travelled without him in that time, within Australia and always a few hours’ flight from home. Now I was headed halfway across the world. I didn’t break down in tears, but my eyes were wet. Hugging him, my head burrowed against his chest, I didn’t want to let him go. He ordered me to have an amazing time and assured me that the next trip would be one we took together.

As the Scoot Airlines flight lifted off the runway, I gazed out the window, excited, unsettled, unsure. I was leaving Brisbane on a plane, something I had done multiple times before. This time, I was leaving my own country, home for all my 23 years. I was alone and vulnerable, propelled out into the big wide world. But I wouldn’t be alone for long, as my friends would be meeting me in Singapore that night.

I spent three days in Singapore with Louise and Gerard. We dined out in Chinatown and Arab Street, where I experienced authentic Chinese and Middle Eastern cuisine, intense flavours like nothing I had ever tasted in Australia. We discovered our inner children at Universal Studios, held snakes and fed bananas to orangutans at Singapore Zoo, and sipped mojitos at a beach club on Sentosa Island, looking out to cargo ships and Indonesia on the horizon.

Arriving in London, I had expected to be met with cold, wet weather. The city was in the grip of a heatwave, with temperatures hitting 30 degrees Celsius. It was a nice transition from Australia and Singapore. While locals complained, I was grateful for the familiarity.

After three days in London, it was time to start the Britain and Ireland Topdeck Tour. I spent my birthday discovering Oxford, Stratford–upon–Avon, and York. Over the next two weeks, we covered major highlights in Britain and Ireland, including Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff, and the Scottish Highlands.

After another few days in London, I set off on my own to Paris for four days before flying home to Australia.

I was so proud of myself; I would have never imagined that the timid little girl I was at school, who was too shy to even talk to anyone or ask for help, would be brave enough to travel across the world alone. From Brisbane to Singapore and onto London, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. I had survived a culture shock in Paris and found my way with limited language skills. I arrived home in Brisbane bursting with inspiration, ready to start planning my next international adventure.