“Traveling, but alone?...not knowing what’s happening in the country you’re visiting? You might face “Asian hate.” Plus, you are a girl, so you should be extra careful.” These are the first things my high school friends said after hearing about my plans for a solo trip to Greece during spring break.

This trip was not meant to be a solo trip. Unfortunately, a few of my friends had to back out due to visa problems. I wanted to travel somewhere where I could experience things that I had never experienced before and take advantage of the exceptional opportunity that I have as a student at NYU Abu Dhabi.

As I scrolled through all the blog posts about Greece, I noticed that nobody traveled by themselves: every single blogger wrote about their experience with their family, friends or partner. Hence, I became skeptical about my decision. I have previously traveled alone to rural regions in South Korea and the Philippines and I have also flown to Japan by myself. However, Greece is geographically distant from the places I call home. The only plus that I could carry with me was the English language.

On March 15, I left Abu Dhabi and flew to Athens for four nights and five days. From visiting popular historical sites such as the Acropolis to hopping on local cafe tours, my travel plan was successful. In other words, I fulfilled my bucket list of traveling to Europe and to a European country that I had always wished to visit. Every second during my trip, I was excited and looking forward to something. Nevertheless, I was also anxious about what would happen to me and I had to come up with small plans to protect myself from all the potential dangers. Every time I called my family and friends, they were extremely worried about me. “Was anyone racist to you today?” “You didn’t get your wallet stolen, right?” “Don’t go outside after 9 p.m… It is too dangerous for you especially when you are a girl.” “Maybe you should just find some other NYUAD students and join their trip because being alone is too unsafe.” I was thankful for all their concerns and because every single one of them warned me, it helped me to physically, mentally and emotionally prepare for this solo trip.

Most importantly, the whole time in Greece, I missed my friends who were originally supposed to come with me and while I walked on the streets alone on cold windy days, I did feel lonely. However, this experience was a very thought-provoking and memorable one for me.

Since I had no one with me, I based the plan on the things that I enjoyed the most. In restaurants, I ordered my favorite food and tried authentic Greek dishes without having to discuss it with anyone. I also went for a morning hike to some hills in Athens to experience nature’s beauty. I wandered across the streets of Athens and observed how the cats in Athens are different from our campus cats. Every night, I ended my day by watching street performances in the city while grabbing snacks.

Here is another intriguing point to note: no one was being racist or sexist towards me.

The media has always taught me about the different types of racism and sexism that people are subjected to. However, despite my expectation of people on the streets discriminating against me, I am thankful to say that I faced no hate. The media is influential in voicing the cases of such hate, but hate does not happen everywhere. It may be that the hate may exist, but it is not shown directly to me. I do not know the truth of these experiences firsthand, but I am simply grateful to not have gone through them myself.

Since I was told about the “hate” countless times, concern has circulated within my brain to make me extremely cautious of my every single action. As a female-identifying student, I was always told how the world is too dangerous for me to do anything alone. However, I want to highlight that the core problem beneath this idea may reflect intersections of qualities ranging from gender to race to age that shape how society pushes me down. While I have not faced significant troubles, I had to be concerned about them because of what my environment has told me about society.

Yes, it is surely not bad to stay aware of all the possible dangers that I may face by myself somewhere away from home. However, those comments should not restrict anyone’s desires, especially on a trip during a cozy break! Regarding this, I want to remind you of a short note for myself and every other student who is worried about being alone while traveling. Anyone, regardless of who they are, is prone to face social restrictions wherever they go because we live in an imperfect and unfair world. However, we should be aware of this and fight against those restrictions to achieve our goals. This is not only limited to traveling but also to any type of activity one does alone. Nothing is wrong with us: we are simply different.

I discovered parts of myself that I had never thought about. I want to be a traveler. While I usually feel unworthy of myself and pause all enthusiasm in life, this trip reignited the passion within me.

I never thought of hiking at 9 a.m. It was funny how I ended up enjoying it despite the fact that I only enroll for afternoon classes in university. I say that I will never eat vegetables and greens because they are not “delicious” when in fact, they are the best food in Greece: yes, even better than meat! While doodling on my small notes and the map of the places I visited in Athens, I firmly decided to resume making art. Until now, I always felt that doing “nothing” was a guilty crime, leading to unproductivity. During the trip, I learned that from “nothing”, I could always find “something” to fill that emptiness. In my case, my plan was filled with everything that I always wanted to do but never got to do. These moments kept motivating me to rethink the positivity in life while shaking off stress.

After coming back to Abu Dhabi, I have reflected on this trip. From uncertainty to realization, what has this solo trip brought me? I cannot ensure that traveling alone will always bring you the “ideally perfect” experience. Intended or not, you may face unexpected troubles during the trip: you may face hatred in places for nothing other than being who you are and how you choose to present yourself. However, I can proudly say that, for me, traveling alone is an opportunity to regain energy. If you need a break from everything — academics, people and life in general — I want you to consider traveling alone. It is a powerful and empowering gift from you to yourself.