Indiejennie's Excellent Adventures

I will never forget the day that I became a woman. Every time I think about it I am taken right back to that moment in time. The sounds, the smells, the passion that I felt being a girl experiencing her first time...traveling solo abroad! At twenty years old I set off to London with my passport, a rail pass and a sixty-five pound backpack packed with way too much stuff that I didn't need. The nine hour plane ride would have been miserable if I hadn't been sitting next to a very interesting seventeen year old guy who was traveling with his parents. We exchanged war stories about going to raves before I passed out for the last couple of hours. I got a bit of a rude awakening when the Flight Attendant pushed the up button on my seat while I was still sleeping. "What the heck? Really? You couldn't just wake me up?" I asked her. "I did wake you up." She replies. I just laughed and said "Touche!" Now that my seat and tray were in their up right positions the plane made its descent into London. Here we go. Am I ready for this? Did I do enough research? We shall see. It's go time! As soon as the landing gear hit the ground I quickly say my goodbyes to my new friend, rush through customs and make a b-line for baggage claim where I grab my ginormous backpack and run to an exit. "Ah, fresh air!" I proclaim as I light up a cigarette. After getting my nicotine fix I take an hour long tube ride to the King's Cross station. "The hard part is over" I think to myself as I take out the address and map to the hostel. Boy was I wrong! Nothing on that map made any since and none of the streets had street signs! After about forty-five minutes of wandering around aimlessly I decided to take a break. I grabbed a soda at a market and sat down on a bench. Just as I was about to take my first sip I noticed a couple of girls coming from around the corner wearing backpacks. I yelled out to them asking if they were coming from the Generator Hostel. "Yes! Best Hostel ever!" they shouted back before pointing me in the right direction. I did a little happy dance before checking in. I had finally arrived! Everyone back home thought I was crazy when I told them that I was going to be traveling alone. Hell, at times even I thought I was crazy. But it was at that moment that I knew that this journey was about to drastically alter who I was as a person and the way I viewed the world around me. I had left San Diego a girl and arrived in London a woman!