With a small backpack, brown Poncho, big smile, and some bucks I set off to Italy. In my mind, I planned to wander and work on agricultural farms in Tuscany.
At the start, I had some doubts. A sense of loneliness emerged. I was a bit confused. Though, this turned out for the best, serving as a tool for freedom.
I wanted to know more about the Italian culture and people, agricultural work, and discover new things, as many as possible.
Traveling alone is lean. You don't have to mind other people’s desires or needs and hear no other voice than your inner one. That leads to a looser travel style that allows you to take different decisions on the fly.
I shifted my focus to other people. To learn and interact with them. It was easy, simply pushing myself aside and changing my actions accordingly. It might have been less easy with a companion.
With no distraction or bias, you get more input. With an open mind, one can leverage that input and make amazing things out of it.
The absence of another ‘known’ entity guides this roadmap for discovery. These factors helped me develop the experience into an adventure.
I would also dare to say that an adventure is a solo quest. It is because while on an adventure, most lessons learned eventually are applied to one's own life. Or otherwise, one mostly learns about himself. Solo traveling embraces these benefits.
Therefore, some interactions are destined to be different. In other circumstances, I wouldn’t end up in a bar after spending the whole day with this awesome Taiwanese guy I met in a random museum!
Although loneliness isn’t always desirable, it’s processed, chewed along with the adventure, and becomes part of it.