My so called plan

24 1 0
                                    

I did what research I could about traveling and going at it alone. I came across an app called Hostel World that has places to stay and the prices were very reasonable. Most of the places are $12-$25 a night, yet some go all the way to $50-$100 a night. I won't stay in them, because the whole reason to stay in a Hostel is to save money. In theory all you need is a place to sleep and shower.

Knowing that hostels are rooms filled with bunk beds I thought "well it will be like basketball camp"

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

Knowing that hostels are rooms filled with bunk beds I thought "well it will be like basketball camp". On the other hand I also saw the movie Hostel and was praying that it was nothing like that. Murder was not my idea of a good time, but I read so many reviews I was putting all my faith in the people.

The Hostel World app works by allowing you to find hostels via ratings. At that point I knew I was picking 7 stars plus, because anything below that seemed to be a little questionable in regards to cleanliness. Another feature I liked is you could pick a room with men and women or just with women. After messing around with the app I learned that each city had their own guide. When I picked Milan it had everything from food, entertainment, activities, hotels, museums, and anything one would want to see. All you had to do was pick out your favorite places and it pinned it on the map just as it would in Maps or Google maps. I finally picked all the places I wanted to go and pinned them, deciding that I would figure out the hostel thing when I got there. I honestly had no clue where to stay, what anything really looked like, or if it was actually in a safe area. 

On the day of my 10 day trip half my friends were beyond excited for me and the other half were worried hoping I wouldn't die. At this point I began to get irritated by all the Negative Nancy's. I have never seen so many people want to tell you every horror story or believe everything the news told them and take it as fact. 

"Jennifer people are being taken, raped, killed, or sold for prostitution." 

"I mean Jennifer did you watch the movie 'Taken' you need to be really careful."

 Eye roll inserted here, "thank you people if I was normally a scared person I would have been in the fetal position in my closet sucking my thumb refusing to go".

Luckily I am fueled by people who are scared to live. After all I was raised by two strong fathers along with my biological dad. My biological father was handicapped from the waist down left unable to walk since I was two years old; he had a bad motorcycle racing accident, but it never made him handicapped. He wouldn't even park in handicap parking spot saying "that was for people who needed it". I could not be scared to go, because my dad was with me the whole time in my head laughing at my insecurities. Even in death I am pushed beyond my comfort levels by both my dad and step dad. 

There will be parents, friends, and acquaintances that will try to deter you from traveling alone, they will get in your head to make it seem like the worst thing in the world...Ignore them.

How I Learned to Travel AloneWhere stories live. Discover now