Considering Travelling Alone (Very Nervous)

Powerfairy

Hi All,

I am fairly new to Boards.ie so forgive me if I am doing this wrong,

I am a 26 year old female from Co. Louth,

I am currently stuck in a rut, & inside of me there is this little voicetelling me to Travel before it’s too late, as I have just turned 26 so I wantto get the travelling over me before I am 30.

I have been in long relationships all of my young life, and I am for thefirst time in 8 years Single. So quarter life crisis is kicking in & Ireally want to experience living away from Ireland & becoming completely independent.

I think travelling alone may help me to come out of my shell and become amore confident individual. I travelled once before with a boyfriend to Toronto.I lasted a pathetic six weeks and we broke up & I came home.

I have massive regrets that I did not stay over there & make it work onmy lonesome.

Ideally I would like to go back to Toronto, as it is beautiful, & Ithink I could really like it there.

I have a general business degree, & I am a part qualified accountantalso, so finding a job may be a bit of an issue.

I am really just looking for some reassurance that travelling alone to astrange country is not a completely ridiculous thing to do, & has anybodyon this gone to Canada alone, & made it work for them.

I don’t want to be the big loser on my own in a hostel with no friends thatis my biggest fear!

Any info/ feedback would be greatly appreciated,

Sorry I know this may be discussed on many other threads but they all seemto be very dated so some current feedback would be super.

Thanks a million

xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo

mimihops

Hi Powerfairy, I don't have any experience of going to Canada specifically but I just wanted to encourage you to go and follow your travel dreams! You definitely won't be stuck like a loner in a hostel, I think you'll find a lot of people would view going off on your own totally differently anyway in that they would admire that you can go off independently. Hostels are a great place to meet other travelers - lots of people travel on their own now. I did one semi organised solo trip by choice to see how I liked being by myself and loved it and am now planning another completely solo trip. There's loads of travel blogs out there by solo female travellers etc, you could have a google and read some of their travel stories and advice. Best of luck and have fun!!

Powerfairy

Thanks a million mimihops spending the majority of my lunch breaks in my mind numbingly boring job on google researching this but I think I just need to bite the bullet and start saving, & go for it.

All my friends are either engaged, married, or building houses etc, I am the only one in a position to travel & I really really want to do it before its too late, I know I would totally regret it if I don't do it.

I really dont want to let the fear of the unknown stop me

Time to put the pennies away I have an appointment with a fortune teller next week so It will be interesting to see if she picks up on my desire to travel.

Thanks a mill again

itsshowtime

Hi Powerfairy,

I initially logged in to post a thread re my experience in Toronto but when I seen you had beaten me to the punch line, I said I would give you my assessment of travelling alone to Toronto.

like many other young people in this country, I was unfortunate to looses a good job that I had with one of the financial institutions here. I had previously applied for a visa for Canada and was lucky enough to be granted it at the beginning of the year. as Toronto is the financial hub of the country I made a quick decision to go and see where it would lead. I had about two weeks between loosing my job and departing the country.

the first big mistake I made was not telling anyone of my plans. I kept it very secretive, which in hind sight was the wrong thing to do as instead of bringing it out in the open and being able to live with my decision, I instead kept it to myself and over analysed it to the extent that I talked myself out of it on many occasions. when I finally managed to get the balls up to go, I left without telling anyone of my plans. why I done this, I don't know. maybe I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself for it to work out.

I arrived in Toronto Pearson on a Monday at 8pm local time. it took about an hour to get of the plane, go through immigration and collect my bags. the immigration guys over there are pretty blunt. they will ask you a million questions and even insult you, so be prepared for it. I stayed in a hotel not far from the airport for the first night which was fine as it gave me time to get my stuff together and rest.

on the Tuesday morning I was left back at the airport and got the downtown airport express into town. I was dropped off at the wyatt regency hotel on peter street and from there I had to find my way to the canadianna backpackers hostel, where I had planned to stay for a week. if your on your own and you arrive in town, its pretty daunting to find your own way even if you do have a map. after hauling my bag around for an hour I eventually found the place. the place itself was basic, the four man dorm I was staying in was very small and very hot. the bunk was uncomfortable and there was no wifi in the room.

some people say a hostel is a great place to meet people. if your 20 and on a shoe string budget it might be the place for just that. I had the pleasure of a Brazilian, an Italian, a yank, a german and a middle aged street bum stay in the dorm. apart from the universal language of football, you can spend a lot of time without talking. from a personal point of view I hated everything about it and if I were to return I would never go to a hostel.

I found the time in Toronto to be very long and was doing my best to stay out of the hostel. I would get up pretty early, wash in a communal bathroom (which wasn't ideal) and get out on the streets and walk around for most of the day. the first few days it was a pretty hard place to navigate. I had a map in hand but was still managing to get lost and find it difficult to get my way back. after a few days of doing this you will become comfortable with the area and start to find your way more easily. if you do get lost most of the people are cool and will give you good directions. after doing the same thing for a few days I was starting to get bored as I was running out of things to do to keep myself entertained.

the biggest piece of the puzzle for anyone planning on moving over to Toronto alone is finding accommodation. there are endless amount of rooms to be shared but figuring out which area are good or bad can be challenging. there are so many different areas in the city and for me they were just names. you have to figure out where the area is, how to get there, what is the transportation like in the area, am I close to the amenities etc etc. I went to see a few places that I seen advertised on craigslist and they were dumpy with high rents. if your looking at renting downtown, the average rents are between $600 to $850pm. a lot of the rooms will be very basic but the rent is steep. best thing to do would be to get out of the city and head for the suburbs. the rents are more reasonable and you get more value for your money.

another problem that I encountered was that some of the atm machines wouldn't accept my visa debit card. I remember one evening I wanted to get some cash out and had a real job trying to find an atm that worked. make sure you have plenty of cash with you that will get you by until you have time to suss out the banks and find one that is best for you.

when you get over there the first thing I recommend you do is get a Canadian phone. I brought my smart phone with me but the roaming cost over there are astronomical. there is no Vodafone, meteor or 02 out there and your on Canadian networks. if your going to be applying for accommodation you will need a contact number that you can call or be reached at and secondly its your lifeline for contacting the people back home. most of the providers will give you a pay as you go option and if you tell them your from overseas you can get an option for international calls where it wont cost you much to ring home. the option I had covered me to take calls from home for free which was cool.

when your going for a job over there its all about networking. unlike here where you send your resume into an employer and wait for a call, over there they prefer you to turn up, introduce yourself, tell them what your looking for and give them your resume there and then. as a guy said to me "you have to shake a lot of hands in this town to get a job". the torontarians are spoilt when it comes to jobs and if you can hang in there and buy yourself time, you will definitely get the job your looking for. don't be afraid to take a job in a deli or pub as its better to have money coming in to cover your expenses whilst your waiting for the big paying job.

I only lasted a week in Toronto and I came home. the main reason for this was the place I chose to stay. because I hated it and couldn't relax, I was hating everything else about Toronto. when things started to go wrong I started to panic. when you don't have someone with you to confide in or to point you in the right direction, its hard to make rational decisions. after having had some time to think about it I can see where it went wrong and I wont let the same mistakes happen again.

I am going to share this bit of advise with you as its the advise that I give myself after the event.

if your going on your own:

1.tell your family/friends what your planning on doing as it makes it easier not to be carring that pressure with you
2.stay out of the hostels, sharing a dorm with a bunch of strangers is uncomfortable. if your at the stage in life where your nearer to 30 than 20 you need to be in a place where you can go in the evening, close the door and its yours. to enjoy travel you need to be able to relax and have some comfort.
3. treat it like a holiday, don't pressurise yourself to getting accommodation sorted or lining up a job.
4. get yourself a phone and stay in touch with the people your closest with. it makes the days feel less long and makes you feel a wee bit closer to home
5. bring enough cash with you that will get you by until you have time to suss out the banks.
6. if your considering accomodaion, get out of the city as there more value for money
7. once you find a nice place to stay and your happy. give yourself time to get the job.
8. if you can get even one friend over there it will make for a better experience.
9. don't give up and make it work.
10. if it doesn't work, draw a line under it and move on with your life.

that's about it in a nutshell. don't be afraid of it, just do it. if there is anything else I can help you with, drop me a line.

good luck and god speed.

itsshowtime.

Powerfairy

Thanks a million itsshowtime I'm really sorry that u had an awful experience by the sounds of it are u planning on going back

lc180

I don't have time to give you proper reply.

But DO IT DO IT DO IT!

I think solo travel is the most rewarding challenge you can face. You learn a lot about yourself good and bad.

Powerfairy

Thanks so much for all the feedback it is very much appreciated you have all made me feel a lot more positive about this, on the whole hostel front I can't see myself doing that I'm a bit of a girly girl and wouldn't like roughing it too much but I'm willing to do it if it means I can meet new people house share is defo something I would need to do also, I also wanted to ask if u have been to Canada on a 1 year visa and return early will I have an issue getting another one in 2014? Thanks a m

zenno

I think you should save up as much as you can and go for it don't hesitate just go for it.

I made this big mistake in my life for not taking off to travel when i was your age and i regret it every day and i'm 44 now on the damn dole. Don't make the same mistake as i have, nerves are natural, but you will meet all kinds of people on your travels that's for sure. Go for it.

I hope you do, and i wish you the best of luck on your travels.

Powerfairy

44 is still young so don't worry thank you for your advice, need to save like a trooper until I can apply again for a visa, that's what I'm going to do, currently doing accountancy exams there quite expensive for revision courses etc so once exams are over in September I will plough my money into this, I know I will regret it at 40 if I don't do this and for once in my life nothing's holding me in Ireland

endacl

Today's hesitation is tomorrow's regret...

HeidiHeidi

$Many many years ago I finished college and myself and a pal planned to head for Munich to brush up our German, and take a break from studying. We had a car crash a few weeks before we were to go, and I assumed that was the end of that.

But my mother (bless her) practically barrelled me out to the airport and put me on the plane, with my one-way ticket, no job, and a few nights on the floor of a brother's friend's apartment lined up, promising that I could come back in two weeks if I really couldn't hack it. She swore I'd regret it if I didn't try it.

Well, that was the best thing she could have ever done for me, and I'm thanking her ever since for it. I met ten times as many people, and did far more stuff, than I would have had I been with my pal. Of course I've no way of knowing how it would have worked out if things were different, but it gave me a real taste for travelling on my own, and I've done plenty of it since.

Go for it! As my mother said, you can always come home if it doesn't work out - but if you give it half a chance, and you sound like you're really keen, then how can it not work out? Just leave yourself open to whatever comes along (within reason, obviously!) and run with it.

Do it, do it, do it

Powerfairy

Wow I wish I had a pushy mother mine wants me to stay at home with them forever

HeidiHeidi

Powerfairy wrote: »

Wow I wish I had a pushy mother mine wants me to stay at home with them forever

I'm sure it wasn't easy for her - but like I say, she did me a HUGE favour, not just then, but for life

Tipperary animal lover

Just go for it, you'll have years of regret if you don't, I'm lucky in my job I can take up to 3 months a year off at one time, my partner and myself just travel travel travel ..... I see a lot of my friends here and there depressed that they never travelled and really stuck in a rut!!!! So just go for it as they say life is an adventure go and enjoy it..... F..k the begrudges

Powerfairy

The time is not right for me now and genuinely that's not an excuse as I need to save and wait until January to apply for the visa again, but u all have inspired me to just do it and see how it goes, it's scary but hopefully between now and January I will have gained abit more confidence in relation to it, also my best friend is getting married next August I am the chief bridesmaid and have hens etc to organise so if I go as soon as I have the visa I can be back in time for all of that crack, in the July, I don't mind if I only last 5 months I just want to experience it once more before I hang up my travelling boots thanks all xx

VinylJunkie

Go, just go, travelling alone is brilliant. I went inter railing last summer on my own an had a brilliant time. I wouldn't hesitate to go alone again.

GO!

Powerfairy

I'm on it like a car bonnet

Going to go for it, Even coming to the decision, is a massive weight off my shoulders, Not going to let friends weddings etc stop me going either, Yet another friend got engaged at the weekend and thats another wedding and hen and possible bridesmaid request, God I am so not ready for that! Were only 25 / 26 its too young. Going to do it saving like a mad thing is the plan gona look for a second job in a pub or something & make it a priority for me.

Yay

THANKS A MILLION EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED ON THIS THREAD WITH SUPER ADVICE XOXO

itsshowtime

hi powerfairy,

I wouldn't let what happened put me off. as bad as I considered it to be, I learned from it. I just alter the game plan a bit and do it again before the summer's out. let me know how your getting on.

itsshowtime

Powerfairy

Good for u :-) best of luck to u

fichillie

Best of luck Powerfairy! I'm 26yo girl and went south america by myself last year, and going to Eastern Europe for some solo travel this year. Life is just too short to let these things pass by. And I wont lie to you, I tend to get a little bit nervous just before I head off, but its always been worth it, having seen some of the most amazing sights and having met some amazing people.

Civilian_Target

Do it - better to have tried and failed then always wondered.

When I was 24, I moved to France alone -and I didn't speak French. The first couple of months were fairly tough, but within a year I'd really found my feet - I had great friends, decent French and I learnt to ski. Going alone you're open to talk to anyone and it will be a massive leap for your social skills and your confidence when you find you can establish your place in a new country just fine.

Do it, and I hope it works out for you!

ella1402

hi there,

u should defo go for it before u hit 30, I am 31 now and working holiday visa is no longer an option for me. trying to get a work permit but it is more complicated then i thought

so i couldn't agree more with endalc ........ Today's hesitation is tomorrow's regret...

best of luck!!!