* In the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger* I’m back!

I know I’ve not been blogging for awhile, it’s been half a year since I last wrote!

If you miss my ramblings, rest assured, there are some epic things in store coming really soon!

That being said, I’ve written a few guest posts for several of sites, you can check all of them out here:

5 time management tips that will improve productivity and health.

5 reasons sleep can improve your lifestyle 

4 start-ups you shouldn’t try

7 important life lessons from Disney’s Frozen

Shoulder workout for mass.

This blog post will cover my return from my 28 day epic adventure around London & Europe.This was my first time travelling far away from home all by myself. Nevertheless it was an amazing trip and I’ll cover a few aha moments that struck me throughout this trip.

If you’re expecting this to be some form of online travel journal, you’ll be disappointed. If you want to know the details on the best places to eat, party and sightsee feel free to contact me personally and I’ll gladly share them with you.

But this post isn’t for that.

To begin, my trip started in London and ended in London. In between I’ve travelled through Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome which are cities in Italy.

After the Italian job, I did some French loving in Paris & Nice followed by some awesome Spanish Siesta in Barcelona and San Sebastian.

Now on to aha moment 1!

1. Travelling alone can be fun

I’m extroverted, a social butterfly.

 I draw my energy from people and interacting with others makes me extremely happy.

 So I’ve gotten questions like: “Won’t you be bored?” & “You sure you want to travel alone?”

While initially I was a little unsure of travelling alone was the right decision (especially if you’re lost in a foreign land and you can’t speak their language), I’ve found travelling alone pretty awesome.

Travelling alone allowed me to really wander around and absorb the cities. It also allowed me to do whatever I wanted to.

Throughout my journey, I’ve played football (soccer for Americans) with locals in Italy and France, sneakily followed a paid tour and ate 5kg of Mussels.

Pretty sure if I had a travelling a partner who isn’t an exact replica of me ( if you would do those things, we could be travelling buddies!), I wouldn’t be able to do that.

All the things I’ve done alone really made this trip amazing and it’s definitely something I’ll definitely do again.

Safety concerns aside, if you’re worried to travel alone, don’t be!

 And that’s coming from an extrovert who will die from loneliness.

2. Being friendly goes a long way

When you travel alone, interacting with others is almost a must.

Meeting different people and exchanging different cultures while listening to the adventures of others is a great way to enhance your travelling experience.

Throughout my travels, I hunted for restaurants where the locals ate just to make sure I avoided the lousy and expensive tourist traps.

In Rome, I went to a restaurant that was supposedly supposed to close at 9pm (I was there at 8.40pm). Upon reaching I was told to that I needed to wait for 2 hours!

Wow, I’ve never waited so long for food but since I didn’t have anything planned for the night, I decided to wait.

While waiting I spoke to a Middle Eastern guy named Kamal and he had a pair of Google glass and he allowed me to snap a picture with it.

It was pretty darn cool!, thank you Kamal!

I also spoke to an Italian lady that has been living in Rome for 10 years who is also a regular at the restaurant.

When she heard that I needed to wait 2 hours for a seat, she spoke to the restaurant manager and I got a seat 15 minutes later.

Total time waited: 45 minutes instead of 2 hours, pretty awesome if you ask me!

So yes, simply conversations can bring you a long way. Be genuine of course; do not speak to someone to gain something out of it. Honest interactions are one of the most vital things you can do while travelling!

3. What’s your purpose?

There are many types of travellers.

Some prefer parties over museums while to others good scenery will trump the biggest party.

It’s important to know your purpose of the trip before embarking on your journey. If you’re not an art fan, the greatest museum such as the Louvre will fail to impress you.

I’m a huge sucker for picturesque scenery which is why I found San Sebastian so amazing.

I also really appreciate good local food. Most of my meals are spent at places where they serve local dishes instead of the typical western dishes you can find anywhere else in the world.

Even when embarking on my Gelato pilgrimage where I devoured a total of 35 scoops of Gelato in 15 days; I opted for flavors I could not find back home such as Fig and Chocolate Ginger instead of the typical Vanilla and Chocolate.

Before going on your trip, know the type of traveller you are. If you don’t appreciate history or art, don’t bother going to the Louvre no matter how amazing people have told you it is.

Here are some places to visit depending on your personal preferences, it’s no way an exhaustive list but it will give you a nice idea of the places I’ve been to:

Art & History – Vatican museum and the Louvre

Scenery – Palazzo Pitti (Florence), San Sebastian ( Spain)

Chill & Relaxation – Nice( France), San Sebastian ( Spain)

4. Make it unforgettable 

The best part of travelling is that even when your journey ends, the memories will always be there.

Because of that, it’s always nice to do something more than the ordinary. Visiting tourist spots is great but try something others might not have done.

I’m not asking you to do something stupid like shoplift or jump off a cliff.

All I’m saying is, one of the many beauties of travelling is that the possibilities are endless. You’re in a new place which you might or might not return and you practically can do anything legal/illegal?

So in addition to the normal visits to monuments and galleries do something different.

In my journey, I slept at the train station( worst night ever), dine with a stranger I met 5 seconds ago and cycled 300km all around Paris.

It’s probably isn’t what most people would do, but it’s something I will always remember this trip for!

It’s safe to say travelling is probably one of the best experiences you could have. I believe that most people can and should travel.

To those that are saying travelling isn’t your cup of tea but haven’t tried it, please just jump off  a cliff.

Besides the amazing people, awesome views and gastronomical foods you will experience during your travel, you will learn a few life lessons as well.

These are just some of the major lessons travelling has taught me, and with that I’ll end this post with a quote.

“Bad education puts you in a box, good education helps you think outside the box, great education removes the box.” <—– Click To Tweet this!!

P/S: Watch out for the next blog post because I’ll be making an epic announcement!!

What are some of the most amazing places you traveled to? Are there any places currently on your travel list? Leave a comment below so I would know who to share some amazing travel stories with!!

Related Posts