Going abroad is such a stylized term – you think of perfectly dressed girls in picturesque Tuscan villas raising a glass of wine to the camera in their Snapchat video or swarming your Instagram feed with pictures of them swimming in the deepest of blue waters on the Mediterranean Sea.
But what happens behind the scenes?
As a university student who has spent approximately nine months of the past two years travelling Europe, I can say that for most people, it is nowhere near that glamorous. On social media, we show the best version of ourselves; the stylized version we want others to be jealous of. Although endlessly rewarding, I would not label the majority of student travelling as Instagram-worthy.
Firstly, there is an endless amount of planning. No one thinks about all the ins and outs and technicalities you must maneuver around when travelling to different countries. Visas? Special letters to enter the country? How about every single bus, train, or subway to and from airports and hostels? And then there is the issue of actually finding places – unless you can afford data roaming wherever you go, you need maps and directions. The list goes on.
Everyone sees the vibrant colours of Venice or Prague on their smartphone screens, but no one sees the missed train connection that leaves you stranded in a grungy underground station for four hours, or the profuse sweating that can only happen by sprinting through the airport for your flight, or the scared-anxious feeling when no one around you speaks your language.
What results from these less-than-glamorous experiences however, is something so much better than the perfect Instagram feed: stories. Some of my favourite moments abroad have been the ones that aren’t documented – sitting on the airport floor and playing cards with your travel mates, or laughing about just how awful of a sleep you got last night because the guy in the top bunk snored louder than your friends scream on New Year’s Eve.
Don’t get me wrong, I could marvel at the great landmarks and crystal clear waters of the world forever and still be knocked off my feet. But what the behind the scenes view of travelling teaches you about yourself is just as eye-opening.
Travelling to me would not be half as rewarding if it didn’t put you out of your comfort zone. You learn the most about yourself when you are separated from your family and friends and have only yourself to rely on. One minute, you will feel the most empowered you have ever felt, and the next you are one gust of wind away from booking the first flight home. But when you pull yourself back up and realize how resilient you truly are, you realize how important those mundane behind-the-scenes experiences truly are; and how they are so much more than the perfectly edited photo.