This past April I packed my bags and headed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I tried out the “digital nomad” lifestyle and worked remotely for 10 days. On my way home I had a 20 hour layover in Bogotá, Colombia, so I got a little taste of Colombia, too. This was my first international solo trip in over two years, and while I thought it would be effortless to dive right back in, it ended up being much more challenging than I expected. Upon returning home and taking a few days to consider my experience, I had some important realizations.
Highlight reel from my solo trip to Brazil and Colombia
Traveling alone can be awesome. It takes bravery, courage, and a relentless sense of adventure. While traveling solo can definitely change your life for the better, it can sometimes be REALLY HARD!
Now that I’ve had a chance to reflect on my trip to Río de Janeiro (and 20 hours in Bogotá), I think my biggest takeaways are that yes, Río de Janeiro is an incredible, vast, fascinating city, but it can also be scary as hell. This trip was hard. Not only because the initial hostel I booked for my 4am arrival in the city was actually located inside a favela (Brazilian slum – oops), or because the subsequent favela tour I took scared the life out of me, or because I accidentally booked this trip during Carnival (oops again!), but also because this was a particularly dangerous destination with immense and overwhelming poverty.
Despite the setbacks, there were some great moments. I met people from Sweden, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Colombia and the USA who I laughed with, partied with, and easily connected with. I hiked through the Tijuca Rainforest, sipped Caipirinhas, and walked for miles along Copacabana Beach.
While every trip I’ve been on has had its highs and lows, my overarching feeling after coming home was that this one was challenging – more challenging than most. But guess what – that is okay. As a traveler, your job is simply to be open to the world, to experience what’s there, to meet the people and get to know a place and its culture. You don’t have to love everything you see or every place you go, and you don’t have to be comfortable in every situation. It’s in those uncomfortable moments, in fact, when you grow the most and become a more worldly, educated and open minded person.
Even though this trip was challenging for me, I don’t regret it one bit. There are valuable lessons to learn from every adventure, and I’ll never stop exploring. For those who are hesitant to travel on your own – honestly, it’s not always easy, but I promise you, it is always worth it.
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Thank you, so glad to hear that!
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