When I tell people I traveled alone to Budapest, I get mixed reactions. Most people look surprised or shocked or confused, and they generally respond with simple statements like, “Wow,” or, “Oh,” or, most commonly, “Why?”
Then there are the people who get really excited about my solo trip and tell me that they’ve always thought about traveling alone, too, but they’ve been to scared to actually do it. To everyone who has ever thought about taking a vacation alone, whether they be a petite young woman like me or a two hundred twenty pound linebacker, I say: just do it. Swallow your fears and anxieties, and go out and explore the world. The experience you get will be completely different from one you could get with other people. I found it incredibly rewarding and personally fulfilling.
To those out there skeptical about my decision to go somewhere alone, I understand your doubts. I like to think I’m a fairly independent person, and I’m generally comfortable doing most activities by myself, but this took things to an entirely new level that was way out of my comfort zone. But, as I like to think, it’s only when you step out of your comfort zone that you gain anything of value, which was a big factor in my decision to study abroad in the first place. So, when I had a free weekend but no one to travel with, I decided not to let my friends’ conflicting schedules hold me back.
I decided on Budapest fairly quickly, but as I had never been to Eastern Europe before, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Would it be safe for me to travel there on my own? I did lots of research before I made any definite plans, all of which calmed my fears: Budapest, according to almost every source I found and much to my surprise, is actually one of the safest cities in Europe for a woman to travel on her own and has virtually no violent crime. Having now successfully traveled there and back by myself, I can say that this is all one hundred percent true. I did not feel unsafe for a single second while I was there. It’s an incredibly safe, friendly, easily navigable city that is vividly beautiful in ways I don’t know how to do justice to in words. I’ll let my pictures do the talking for me.
The feeling I got when I finally purchased my plane tickets (which, despite the amount of time and thought I put into the decision, still felt like one I made on a whim) was an intense mixture of excitement and fear, a feeling that lasted until I reached my hostel in Budapest. Once I woke up the next morning and started exploring, though, I felt completely at ease. My time in Budapest was extremely short—only two full days—but it was one of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited, and I know I’ll remember my adventure fondly for the rest of my life.