Traveling the world alone to heal after broken engagement

After her engagement was broken off, the American tourist sought to heal herself and decided to take her first solo international trip .

Angela, a female master's student in her 40s, had never traveled alone except for a trip from the US to China to visit her family in 2018. In November 2023, Angela decided to take her first trip to Denmark and Sweden to heal her soul after breaking off her engagement with her fiancé.

Angela takes a photo during a trip to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy in December 2023. Photo: Insider — Angela poses for a photo during a trip to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, December 2023. Photo: *Insider*

Angela was born and raised in Beijing in a traditional Chinese family. Since childhood, her parents taught her that "studying well is the only way to succeed in life", so she spent most of her time studying, not thinking about traveling or the things she liked. In the early 2000s, Angela went to Texas, USA, studied abroad, then moved to San Francisco in 2017 and became a US citizen. To fulfill her parents' wishes, after being successful in her career, Angela started looking for someone to marry and have children.

In 2020, she got engaged and planned to get married, but realized that her fiancé was not the right person for her. She also realized that she had been living up to her parents' expectations, fearing judgment instead of prioritizing herself. "It was one of the most challenging years of my life," Angela said.

After the breakup, she worked hard to heal herself. In 2023, Angela decided to travel internationally alone - something she had never done before. "For the first time, I found myself putting myself and my desires first," Angela said of the decision and began documenting the trip on TikTok and Instagram.

A month after her first trip, Angela continued her journey to eight cities in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Vatican, spending $8,000. This February, she went to Iceland for her birthday.

Angela works at a school and has a student day off. This gives her plenty of free time and her years of hard work have allowed her to save enough money to travel comfortably.

One of her favorite things about traveling alone is meeting people from all walks of life. Angela is an outgoing, sociable person, so she chose to stay in a shared room instead of a private hotel room so she could get to know other travelers from other places. She realized that she could make friends just by starting a conversation and saying hello.

While visiting the Colosseum in Rome, Angela met another solo traveler. After helping each other take photos, they chatted and spent the rest of the day exploring the city, having dinner together. "I met a lot of different people in the same way," she said.

Traveling also helps Angela get out of her comfort zone. "Traveling alone is an empowering experience," she says, because she has full control over what she wants to do, where she wants to go, and when she wants to be alone and when she wants to socialize.

Traveling helps Angela discover and develop herself, enriching her knowledge. She also realizes that there is no need to live in a confined framework because " the world is big and everyone has a way to live a full life".

Anh Minh (According to Insider )

Source link