the universally agreed upon hardest part of travel

saying hello and goodbye

You land in a new country and suddenly it hits you like a train- “ Oh my God, I did it. I left my home and my comfort and have just landed in a brand new place I’ve never been before.”

You don’t speak the language and your knowledge of public transport is limited to Google searches and prayer. Somehow you make it to your hostel. A quick peek at your passport and $7 a night, you are shown to your bunkbed. Blessed by the angels you have a bottom bunk and curtains on all three sides. The aircon is blasting and no one is in your room yet. Take a deep breath. You did it.

The first day is spent wandering as all first days in a new country go. You’ve put an arbitrary address to a random café you saw on Instagram and start the trek.

The city is loud, there’s so many modes of transportation with no apparent road rules and yet it flows. Honking, yelling, beeping, you don’t understand most of it. Everything written in the language, you can’t understand. And yet you feel giddy. Because you did it, you got yourself halfway across the world. You see carts of street food, excited to try them all. Fruit stands, coffee, shops, traditional clothing stores. You wander for hours, snacking, thinking, digesting at all.

Finally, you head back to the hostel and there’s a girl in your room. You introduce yourself, the usual questions roll off your tongue automatically.

“where are you from?”

“how long are you traveling?”

“what other countries have you been too?”

“where are you headed next?”

She mentions she’s hungry and coincidentally, so are you. Together, bonded by excitement and a bit of trepidation you head to the common area. You mention you’re grabbing dinner and two new friends decide to join. Unbeknownst to any of you within the next three days you’ll become inseparable.

You’ll share meals, taxi rides and secrets. You’ll learn more about them faster than any of your home friends. Solo travel cultivate a sense of safety amongst your peers. Sharing circumstances makes you share your true self, fast and truthful. There will almost certainly be drinking and dancing involved, shared public transport to a hidden location some local told you about. You’ll laugh harder than you have in years and probably cry too. Talents and wishes and dreams discussed over local beers. Maybe you’ll go on a boat party or pub crawl or hike to a waterfall. 72 hours spent as a perfect quad like parts of a puzzle. You can hardly remember what life was like before you met them, your people.

And then you separate. You each have a different plane or ferry or bus to catch to a totally different city or country. A preplanned route you made before you met them. So you share your WhatsApp, follow each other on Instagram, make a rough plan to meet up again in your country or theirs.

And then-the universally agreed upon the hardest part of travel- you say goodbye.