Just about 12 hours to go before I fly off to my first longish solo travel to the much famous land of smiles. My mind is wandering in all sorts of directions, but the majority opinion of my brain cells is - “What the hell? Don’t go Achyut!”

Honestly, even though this is something that I have dreamt of since I read “Vagabonding” by Rolf Pott, I am shit scared. And my mind is playing the bad cop and giving me reasons not to go. But, nada! Not today.

At first, I thought I was the only one who is going through something like this. Having cold feet about such a big trip, anxious, nervous and scared. But I went on Reddit and read posts of novice and experienced travellers & they all faced the same issue. I guess this is how our human brain functions - not wanting to leave the comfort zone! And when we try to ignore the arguments, our mind builds a much stronger defence against the change - and that is where most of us give up, and let the mind win.

So what are my fears right now?

1. Being an over-excited bastard that I am, I booked a 16-day trip without thinking of what I will do. Thank my parents who made me reduce it from 25 days. And now, I am worried of the fact that what will I do if I get bored.

2. One of the biggest fear - what if I don’t meet people and I get lonely throughout the trip? I am not that good a conversation starter, and being the introvert I am - I don’t know if I will be able to meet people. Though all my accommodations are in hostels, let’s see where and how I land up there.

3. Spending too much - As you start to book things, you discover new expenditures that totally disrupts your original budget. And this makes you feel guilty and you start to save money by not doing things that you really want to. Sad place to be in, but I am sure this is a very common thing among travellers.

4. Getting into trouble - missing flights, losing money, etc etc - You can only pre-empt to a certain limit. But I am surely scared of such things - especially because I am alone. Moreover, money is tricky business. A long post on how I managed my money is on the cards, if I return without any mishap :p

5. Food - This has never been a big question for me because “I eat to live”. Though, let’s see if I get enough vegetarian food there!

I will try to post my experiences every two days. Wish me luck!