Who is your travel partner

First solo trip was addictive for me and since then, I only travel by my own plan. I started changing as a person and I was becoming more and more independent. My partner joined me on new trips. A company of four friends even came together for one of the trips.

Then came a moment when me and my partner broke up. It was one of the hardest times of my life as I’ve lost my partner and two other people who were very dear to me. It was a breaking point for me and I had to make a decision on how to go on.

Do I stop travelling and do other things in life or do I get back on my feet and think: what can I do? I was a quiet and shy girl who didn’t make friends easily. I didn’t imagine to go on a trip by myself.

I was a little lucky in that year. My friend was in New York, staying with her brother. I knew both of them since they were little and they invited me to visit them. Two months after I broke up with my boyfriend, I was sitting on the plane, flying towards new adventures. The plan was to discover New York with my friend. The idea quickly changed, because she started working on a project and she didn’t have time to travel. First, I started wandering by myself and saw everything I wanted, but the strive for adventures kept growing. I decided to go to Niagara falls by myself. I quickly met some other travellers and we spent some time together. The biggest surprise was that I met a boy who was leaving for New York on the same day. Me by train, him on his motorcycle. After a couple of hours of conversation, I made a decision. You only live once, I want to travel 600 kilometres on a motorcycle. It was great, interesting, adventurous and a kick in the butt that I needed. I was exploring a brand new way to travel – travelling with a stranger.

After coming home, I got a spark in my eyes back and I knew that I was a traveller and an adventurer. I will find my way and travelling will always be an important part of my life.

Next year I decided to explore if I can go on a trip without knowing anyone who would go with me. I have some friends who also travel but are attracted to different trips or they travel with their partners. One of them told me that he went on a trip with a perfect stranger. First I thought it was a completely crazy, impossible idea, which is definitely not for me. This just isn’t my style. Then I remembered my motorcycle adventure and started searching the internet to find someone like-minded.

I found this on STA forum and thought that I’d give it a shot. If I had a bad feeling, I just wouldn’t go on a trip. So I met two people. I didn’t connect with the first one. But the second one was a really nice girl. After having one drink, we knew that this is it and we decided to take a trip together.
We went to Sumatra for three weeks. It was one of the best trips I have ever taken, the girl was great, we were perfect match. We still keep in touch.

Travelling with strangers? Yes or no? I think definitely YES. I travel this way for quite some time, let that be short or long trips and I also took a solo trip in between. Why do I take every trip with a different person? Because some of them had partners and there was only one opportunity and some only want to take short trips... and you get to meet interesting people that way. I met a lot of wonderful people and I’m still in contact with some of them, and I am even good friends with some. But they are definitely people with the desire to travel and to take adventures.

Before I decided to search for a travelling partner that way, I talked with my friends about it. I was negatively surprised how they looked at the thing and that I didn’t get any encouragement. They only brought up doubts – what now? But I decided to not talk about it anymore and do it anyway.

It was a whole other story when we were explaining to other travellers how we met. They were surprised and impressed by our way of travelling. They even wondered where these forums exist so they’d try it some day.

Today I know that this kind of travelling is great and that everyone should think about it if they don’t have anyone to travel with. Maybe my story gives them a bit of courage to take this step. You can find similar people on forums, travelling dates on Facebook...

It changed me. I became more confident, direct, stronger and I enjoy my life.