I will preface this blog entry by saying that the title is actually not true. While in 7 hours I will be traveling and I will be alone, I will have my beloved older sister to greet me on the other side. This will allow me to dip my toes into solo travel, but not be full confronted by it. The truth is that it will not be truly traveling alone until Wednesday night, when I will embark on a flight from Philadelphia to Dublin. Then the real adventure will begin, and I will have ‘gone solo’(I say this so much because I absolutely love Roald Dahl’s book of this name).
I expect Philadelphia to be nice; it’s a city I’ve been to before, I will be staying with my sister in her apartment, and my phone will work there. While I am immensely excited for my trip to Dublin(and later on Manchester), I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive. If I’m being honest, for so long I had looked at this trip like an escape; something to fantasize about in class to make infinite series or the intricacies of Vietnamese independence a bit more manageable. However, over the past month I have seen my motivation levels skyrocket, and my mood improve so much to the point where. . . I no longer need an escape.
Reflecting on this makes me extremely happy. So happy, that I will not even attempt to fluff up these sentences with useless vocabulary. By feeling comfortable with where I am at, at home, I can go into this trip with no worries or weight on my back. All the expectations I had previously had, for it to be a trip that gets me out of my rut, are gone. I am very thankful for that. Now I can simply just experience everything Philadelphia, Dublin, and Manchester have to offer me.
So in summary, I’m a little scared, and very excited. On my thoughts page, I discussed about how recently everything I have been consuming has been centered around a theme of participating(The Perks of Being a Wallflower), making a push for what you want(Push), and on and on. I think my gravitation towards those themes, of adventure, putting yourself out there, and pursuing happiness, were a manifestation of my desire to be my own hero(like the ones I root for in books, movies, TV shows, etc).
So in 7 hours, I will participate, and not be a bystander in my own life.