Travelling all by yourself | My own experiences

Hi all!

Like I said in my latest blog post, I would more than likely be posting again this Friday - well here I am!

Now as you've probably guessed by the title, this post is going to be all about my experiences travelling on my own - more specifically, flying.

Travelling anywhere by yourself is a frightening experience when it's the first time you're doing so. I even remember being terrified having to catch the bus 20 minutes down the road into town by myself for the first time, let alone travelling halfway across England and then 2 hours to another country.

Now I personally am not afraid of flying, but no matter how I'm travelling, whether it be by train, bus, whatever, I always get really anxious about missing the next part of my journey. So whenever I travel to and from Samsø - where I not only have to get a flight to somewhere on the mainland of Denmark - but then also have to catch either two trains, then a ferry, or three buses, then a ferry... you can imagine how stressed one might get.

I flew for the first time by myself in January of this year. I mentioned it briefly in my previous blog post that it's because I was flying over to spend a week on Samsø, and let me tell you, I was stressed.

This isn't a journey you can do in just a day, oh no. You need at least 24 hours to get to this tiny little island. So it's not like I can just hop on a train, then a flight and 'it's okay now, I'm here'. Nope. The journey takes forever because you have to time everything just to ensure you can get to either Hou or Kalundborg before the last ferry leaves. This normally means I will have to stay in London, or somewhere on the mainland of Denmark (depending on where I fly to) overnight, because there's no chance of me doing it all in a single day.

This is literally just because of the times the flights leave to Denmark during the day, and the times that the ferry leaves too.

When you're with someone else, doing this journey isn't so bad. By yourself however... yeah, it can drag.

The last time I flew by myself was last month and because of timings of the ferry etc. it meant I had to wait at the airport by myself for 7 hours. It was absolutely dire. Not to mention the extra five hours it takes to get home.

Now, I'm not trying to put you off the experience of flying by yourself. It may sound like I am, but trust me, it's the exact opposite.

Even though some of my own experiences travelling by myself have been stressful and I wouldn't want to go through that again, flying and travelling by myself has given me so much more confidence to tackle things independently.

It can be slightly terrifying doing something without someone there to share your stress with, but there are going to be times where you have to bite the bullet and do it; and travelling by myself has made me so much more confident travelling to, from and in and around Denmark. I've also got to experience so much more of a city called Aarhus and I absolutely love everything about it. So if it's worth anything, it's definitely worth finding a new found love for a completely foreign place.

Now I have flown to and from Denmark by myself for more than one reason: and although nothing became of it, it was an incredible experience that I was so grateful to be a part of.

Back in June I applied for a Channel 4 Trainee Scheme that was offering 12 placements around the U.K, including one close to home for me. I sent in my application not really thinking anything of it - but lo and behold, I got through to the next stage.

Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, I didn't advance to the next part; however, I was more than grateful to get past the first stage.

The part that I advanced to was cut down to 200 applicants out of 2000 who applied - so for me that was an achievement in itself!

As amazing as it would have been to have got through to the next part, I had an incredible day with some fantastic people (one of whom did get through to the next stage, which I was so happy to hear!!) and I'd do it all again if I could.

The way I look at it is that I'm not looking for a career at the moment: I have jumped from GCSE's to A-Levels, to university and have finished as early as I possibly could. So now is a time for me to take a bit of a break (not too much of a break!!) and do as much as I can before jumping into a career where I will be more restricted with what I do and when. So if I did get the trainee-ship it would have been fantastic, but even though I haven't - there's nothing to be disappointed about. I've still got the time now to travel, practice writing, drawing and even gain some more experience through voluntary work back home.

But yeah, that was a very few days! I flew from Denmark one day, went to Channel 4 the next, and traveled back to Denmark the following day just in time for work in the evening! Which was also my first and only shift running the restaurant by myself. So after waking up at 4:00am that same day, to having to serve Danish customers when I only speak English was a very, very stressful day!!

Doing that has been one of the best experiences I've had, and really helped me get over any anxieties I had about travelling. Hopefully it'll help me when my boyfriend and I fly over to America.

Anyways, this has been a very long post but I hope you all enjoyed it!

Cheers. X