I wasn't some stoic, brave solo traveler with a bag on my shoulder and an eye for adventure. I was more like a shaking dog with its tail between its legs, doing something huge for the first time in my life with no clue what the outcome would be.
Since it's my goal to be as transparent in these diaries as possible, I figured it was necessary to give you a bit of background before I jump into my trip blogs.
The 23-day trip to Japan wasn't originally supposed to be a solo trip; my ex and I had been planning this trip together before we broke up. He did help me pay for my plane ticket and for half the hotels when we were together and I paid for my own Japan Rail pass, my food, and part of the hotels. So if I said that I paid for this whole trip by myself, I'd be lying.
After we broke up, I waffled back and forth between trying to get a friend to come with me on this trip and not going at all. I was devastated and conflicted, I loved Japan so much and I just couldn't have imagined giving up such an amazing trip.
Then (after the two weeks of being a mess), I started to get over the fear of traveling alone and decided that I was going to puff up my chest, raise my chin...and go to Japan by myself.
*And if you're wondering why I was the one to go alone and not my ex, it's because he didn't feel comfortable going on the trip alone and told me that I was more than welcome to take the ticket so that the money didn't go to waste.
And thus, with only 2 days before the trip, I re-planned my whole itinerary and changed all my hotels into hostels.
So no, I wasn't some stoic, brave solo traveler with a bag on my shoulder and an eye for adventure. I was more like a shaking dog with its tail between its legs, doing something huge for the first time in its life with no clue what the outcome would be.
...And that's where the story begins.
If you got to the end of this post, thank you so much for taking the time to visit my page!<3
If any of this information helped you, or if you have advice of your own, feel free to give this post a like, comment, or share!
See you soon!
~Hannah
