It was a weekend of things going unplanned- missing buses, getting locked out in the rain for an hour and half, being secluded in the mountains away from literally any civilization except the rooster that lived next door and made it known at 3am every day…
And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
4.27.24
Sometime after 12pm
“This trip has been the definition of ‘everything happens for a reason.’ To be honest, nothing has really gone to plan.
Bout tour? Didn’t work out. Beach club? Not open. Airbnb? Not at all what I was expecting. Bus? A hassle.
But it brought me to places I didn’t ever expect to uncover. Out of all of my solo adventures, this one might be my favorite- which is shocking because in all honestly… it also probably was the most difficult. All of the other places I visited were cities in one way or another. I had the comfort of people nearby and was in the middle of civilization. And I thought that would be the same here…
Until a bus dropped me off on the side of the road two days ago, I had no cell service, and was staring at a one way path up a mountain. I arrived to a locked gate, in the pouring rain, not a person in sight, and the only thing I could hear was the rooster next door.
I made the decision this year I wanted to spend my birthday utterly by myself. Just me, the coast, and adventure. Every year, when it comes time to turn another year old, I feel this sense of closeness to the Mamma Mia movies- is sounds so silly- to be attached to a movie like that. Maybe it’s the good music or overall sense of discovery conveyed in the movie. I just knew when I was a kid, I dreamed of being her someday- a girl who is open to spontaneous adventure and connection. Who doesn’t let anything hold her back and when she got stuck in the rain, she learned to laugh rather than give up.
And this weekend, has been nothing short of being her for the weekend. Whether it was the hiking through the mountains to get from one place to another, having such a kind host family who even offered to bring me cake on my birthday, or the 3am rooster…
I’ll finish later, but for now. I am going to enjoy the view.”
An unfinished thought- but at the same time an excerpt that perfectly sums up my last big European solo adventure and turning 22. Grateful for the moments, memories, and difficulties of this trip and will forever remember that birthday I found peace just in being with myself.
