Backpackers Guide to saying F**k It
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Dublin > Galway
The 18-year-old heading off to backpack and explore the world is as passé a concept as a woman ordering a small salad on a dinner date. For me, at the age of 18, I was just finding my sea legs in the real world and as much fun as traveling the globe would have been, it just wasn’t feasible. 3 big reasons being:
Financially I didn’t have enough money saved to make such a commitment and working remotely and traveling was not an option back then. I was also at a point where I couldn’t figure out college expenses let alone world travel. I wasn’t what you called a financially responsible adult (still a work in progress).
Maturity was there in many ways, but it wasn’t there when it came to planning the nitty-gritty details of world travel; budgeting, meager accommodations, trains, planes, precautions, one backpack, etc. I also wouldn’t have been able to fully comprehend the enormity of what it was that I was actually creating.
The Real World was only allowing me so much time to “find myself” before the corporate world came a knockin’. That time allowed for travel, but trips that didn’t go past two weeks at a time and didn’t encroach upon my work or wallet.
It just wasn’t in the cards and looking back now, I couldn’t be happier that it wasn’t. At this point in my adult life, I am fully aware of the sacrifices needed to make a trip like this happen. The sheer magnitude of what upending and flipping my world upside down would mean. At 18, I had not dealt with the treasure trove the last 17 years had brought me. Luckily, I’m not just speaking to the drama series that’s still on air, but all of the wonderful moments as well. The growths, the evolutions, the awakenings, …all of which have helped me to arrive in making such a non-lighthearted decision.
Truth be told, everything seemed to be leading up to this moment. This solo trip decision was made on the heels of leaving a stable 9-5 job to start my own business. A decision I had mulled over for years and years but never had the fortitude to really go after. It felt like one complete era needed to end before another one could truly begin.
A, “now or never” bulb went off and I knew something had to change and if it didn’t, I would dissolve into the carpet and never emotionally rise again. I COULD NOT allow that to happen. I owed it to myself. To go after something even if I failed because if the last ten years truly taught me anything, it was how much life could change in the blink of an eye and not always for the better. This time, I had to make it for the better.
Dealing with changes on the fly
COPENHAGEN
The planning for this trip changed, reverted, expanded, reverted and expanded more times than I can count. Even while in Europe, it expanded and changed many times over. For example, getting stuck in Malmö at the exact time the police shot a potential terrorist a few train stops away, leaving transportation to shut down, even though, I needed to get back to Copenhagen (where I was staying). Thus, leaving me to figure out how to get back across country lines. Or, how about the time I sprained my ankle on Day 1 in Rome with my 40lb backpack in 100-degree weather? Or having to learn the very valuable lesson in always needing to overlap Airbnb stays… a story for another article.
Those are just a few examples out of the many I accumulated.
Unexpected travel mishaps happen. It’s part of the journey. It’s part of the experience. It’s part of what makes up our post travel stories.
How did my proposed few months of backpacking turn into a complete rewrite of my next chapter?
Not only was I dealing with the intricacies of planning this trip, but I was also putting into motion a complete life overhaul. My entire existence was about to go into a storage unit, a 40lb backpack and a 15lb mini backpack. There would be no place to call “home” for a while. My Type A personality was forced to take a backseat. Something I technically planned for while I concocted this trip, but something I didn’t fully grasp till weeks before my first flight. This whole transition was meant to shake things up. To take me outside my comfort zone.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. So if you’re feeling uncomfortable right now, know that the change taking place in your life is a beginning, not an ending.”
Amidst all the preparations, I had to ground myself in that understanding. The adventure's novelty is exciting, but the reality can be a lot scarier than one wants to admit.
I had to lean in. Once I did, a freedom of it being my life set in. My 1 month turned into 3, then a hop back home for 6 weeks and then back out for 5 months and then back home due to quarantine with the plan of still going back out once we are safely out of quarantine.
This was never my intention when I first entertained the idea of a backpacking trip. I was fully prepared to come back home, get an apartment and continue growing my business.
But life happens when you are making plans while fulfilling your previous plan.
Did this trip actually change me?
Most definitely! And as cheesy as this may sound, I found myself again.
YOU are creating your own schedule. Whether that circulates around remote work that needs to get done, remote meetings, travel itineraries, etc, you are still structuring your life on your own terms. You begin to understand you more; your habits, your intricacies, your thoughts, your wants, your needs. That doesn’t mean its a slam dunk into being at one with yourself, but it gets you closer to becoming the you, you should see without the influence of others. There were times, my thoughts were definitely not my best friend and sitting with that allowed me to understand that it goes deeper than me being in my hometown environment.
On the flip side, there were times that I was so at peace, I surprised myself. Standing on the Ponte Vecchio bridge at sunset or gazing upon the David in Florence or a simple walk down an alleyway with groceries in tow to make lunch in Vienna…all actions I manifested and implemented. And most were on the fly!
An entire hiking trip to five islands in Cinque Terre was booked less than 24 hours before departure and it was one of the most magnificent experiences of my life. Actually, all of Italy was a last minute booking. And so was a second and third round in Brighton. Same goes for Vienna.
My comfort zones were pushed and I allowed them to be.
Cliffs of Moher
I didn’t plan for my life to take this route, but it did. My line of sight is no longer a hamster wheel existence and as someone who at one time sat as it was, I can say, you do have the inner strength to will it differently if you wish.
I am the first to say how painfully aware I am of turbulent outside forces having the ability to hammer down upon us; leaving us feeling like there is little choice. And sometimes, it’s true; there is little choice. But it’s what you do afterwards. You can bare down, get through, make a plan and exit the gift shop.
You can trust yourself to shift your entire perspective to one you thought only happened in your dreams. It might not necessarily be backpacking in your 30’s and now calling two countries your home, but it is anything you thought was unattainable that really, isn’t.
