As we speak I’m writing this at the airport just before hopping on the plane to the Big Apple. Yes, finally one of my biggest dreams is coming true and I almost can’t believe it – can somebody pinch me please. And while you’ll reading this I think I’ll be somewhere high up somewhere between Amsterdam and New York together with the boy. In the meantime I want to share a new post with you guys about traveling and specificly about my previous trip to Jordan. I was invited by the Jordan Tourism Board to explore their country together with a group of photographers and online influencers. This meant I went on a week trip alone together with strangers to a country I’ve never been. In the past this would stress me out and I would become super shy and a loner because it wouldn’t be something I felt comfortable in. But nowadays I see it as something super exciting thing and I saw the perks of traveling alone and with total strangers.
Out of your comfort zone / Normally when you travel with friends, family, fellow students or colleges you always have the advantage of knowing those people and falling back to the standard social interaction. When you’re going to travel alone or with strangers this makes you go out of your comfort zone and interact with people you normally wouldn’t have contact with.
Time for self-reflection / Although you can have super friendly and nice people around you when you traveling alone, but in the end – after gettig back to your room – you mostly don’t have a lot of people to talk with. Of course this doesn’t have to be an issue because it’s the perfect opportunity for self-reflection and go back to the core of your personality.
Embracing a new culture / During my trip to Jordan I got to know the culture even more because I was traveling alone and with people I’ve never met before. We’re all in the same situation which means that this state of mind makes you also more open up to the culture you’re in right now.
Open up more to people / I think, at first I seem to be an open and friendly person but actually I’ve always been quite close and don’t open up to other people quickly. But when you don’t have your familiar faces around you the chances are higher you’ll be opening up more to strangers and interact with them. This can be the perfect occasions for random chats and you never know what can come out of it.
Learn from others / After opening up to each other you’ll get to know each other so much better and finally learn from each other. When you’re traveling in a group of strangers you all have a totally different background which makes it so much easier to learn from each other. We all have different views, knowledge and what’s better to share this with others? Sharing is caring, right?
