Lived in 14 cities in 1 year, (looking back at 2017). Is solo-travel depression an actual thing?
(I just posted this a few minutes ago on a different website, but I don't thing I'll get any advice over there, so figured Reddit would be a much better resource of like minded individuals).
Back in the summer of 2016, I worked up the courage to begin my world travel and actively work on making my lifelong dream a reality. My journey begun on September 30th that same year. I grabbed my friend John to be my travel partner and we took off for Canada, London, and Prague. I started a YouTube channel, thinking it would be a great way to document my travels for myself and allow my family to keep up with me. Sadly, John and I clashed when it came to being in close proximity with one another for too long and he went back to the states, leaving me as a solo traveler.
This journey of mine has led me to some amazing places and I've seen wondrous things. I'll never regret doing this for as long as I live, but things have gone downhill, and I'm not sure how to recover. I did well for a while. Got a lot of dental work done in Varna for about 10% of the price it would have cost me back home. Effectively managed my budget and uploaded videos on a semi regular basis.
That's how it began, now let's look at 2017.
In 2017 alone, I've lived in 14 cities and easily visited 3 times that while just traveling around and being a tourist. What I consider as "lived in" is staying for 4 weeks. I used Airbnb as my main accommodation resource, so it's just less expensive to stay in an apartment/condo for 4 weeks to get that "monthly discount". It also gives me time to settle in, be immersed in the new culture, and enjoy at lot of the non-touristy things the city has to offer. Let's call it, living like a local-ish.
List of places that I've "lived in" during 2017: Plovdiv, Sofia, Malta, Sicily, Rome, Venice, Zagreb, Podstrana, Split, Budapest, Bucharest, Athens, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur
On New Years day, 2017, I broke my foot in Bulgaria, and had to fly my mother out to take care of me. While she was here we did everything from zip lining in Croatia, to drinking ourselves silly in Sicily's vineyards, to being one of the last people to gaze upon the beauty of the Azure Window in Malta before it collapsed. Like all good things though, after several months, she had to go home and I was once again left alone with my thoughts and travels.
Since then, the allure of visiting exotic places has waned. I've lost interest in sharing my travels with the world, and I generally just don't care about anything. I'm really not sure what to do from here. I want 2018 to be filled with more adventure and wonder, but the gusto is gone. I feel like seeing the acropolis in Greece and the temples in Thailand would have held more emotion and meaning for me if I wasn't traveling alone. Looking back, having someone to share the experiences with made them that much wonderful.
I have no intention to go back to America any time soon, but I don't even bother fighting for the window seat in the airplanes any more. I find myself more often than not, glued to my phone while in taxi cabs, instead of forgetting to blink while staring out the window. Has anyone else on here ever dealt with this?
Submitted January 03, 2018 at 08:05AM by Austiclees http://ift.tt/2CvGhVb
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