Following my high school graduation in 2017, I had the opportunity to visit France, Italy, and Mexico over the summer with my parents. Everything from the long airport security lines to the cobbled streets of Florence to the icy layovers in Iceland (shoutout to WOW airlines) had me in a state of temporary dazzle. Escaping the suburban, LA Valley environment for a few short weeks left me hungry for more ventures come the future.
That's why I made my 2018 New Year's Resolution (you know that thing that everyone makes but 5% keep) to travel more.
Starting Spring Break of April, I hopped on a plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan and flew to South Korea by myself. I won't go into the details of the shenanigans that occurred, partly because my mom reads my posts, and partly because it's an article for another time. However, Korea brought back the excitement I felt from 2017 all over again, and that's around the time I started saving to visit Paris with one of my friends. Post Paris I was left once again unsatisfied and wanted to do something more local, which led to a weekend trip up to San Francisco, a city everyone in my family has seen except for me for some reason.
Below are five things I learned while traveling for the first time without family this year.
1. How precious Metro seats really are
A snapshot from a bus ride to Belgium
Viktorya Saroyan
Despite the number of undiscovered pathogens the reside on public transportation seats, the Metro, the train, the Bart, whatever locals choose to call it, is one of the easiest ways to travel from place to place. When rush hour hits and locals are crammed into the small train cars so tight it's like an EDM festival, you learn to treasure how lucky you are to have arrived before the traffic did.
2. Trying new things
Some underground restaurant in Seoul
Viktorya Saroyan
There is nothing quite like being a soup hater and accidentally stumbling upon an underground soup restaurant in the middle of Seoul and mistaking it for a kbbq spot. Both my friend and I despised warm vegetables and believed we had found a place to get our meat fix place since there was a grill/stove/thing at every table. Turns out they put a hot pot in the middle and we cook our own stew. After getting seated and then receiving the awkward surprise, I left the restaurant 2 hours later an avid soup lover.
3. Living in the moment
View from the Eiffel Tower
Viktorya Saroyan
After walking an average eight to ten miles a day and partially freezing when the weather decided to take a turn for the worst, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep in the tiny twin sized bed of my AirBnB. However, once the raindrops started falling and my friend coincidentally played "Raining In Paris," I found myself dancing in an empty courtyard instead, spinning in circles, getting soaked, and laughing at the six flights of stairs we had yet to climb up.
4. How to live spontaneously
Some pictures from Paris
Viktorya Saroyan
When you're too lazy to put together an entire itinerary for a trip like myself, you're forced to make decisions on a whim. When Mary and I realized that our plans for the Louvre fell through since it would be closed the following day, we bought tickets to visit a small town in Belgium about an hour after talking about visiting Belgium. Similarly, I booked a five-hour solo bus to a faraway castle in the same week just for kicks. It was in these impromptu acts that the best memories were made. Rolling through the French countryside packed in a bus with 40 other strangers all buzzing with excitement or cruising through the French coast were moments consumed by serendipity.
5. How we are more alike than we are different
A fence of locks at Seoul Tower
Viktorya Saroyan
Whether someone is speaking Korean, French, English, Dutch or any of the other 6,000+ languages out there, I learned how every person I met is capable of compassion. Be it the Persian restaurant owner patiently explaining every single meal on the menu in broken English, the lone traveler you meet by chance a seat away from you to Normandy who tells you stories of a valley of flowers in India, or the friendly face of the woman you buy orange juice from every morning at the corner café, there's a strange sort of brief kinship developed with strangers. My favorite part wasn't the sights I was able to see or the food I ate, but the fleeting connections made with individuals abroad.
