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<\/p>\nBaggage is a concern when travelling. Have you got trousers for every occasion and eventuality without tipping over the weight limit? Are all potential leaks pre-emptively double-bagged? And, of course, the question only the gods can answer: will it all turn up at the same airport as you?<\/p>\n
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But there is a different kind of baggage we carry at all times. Yes, you guessed it: emotional baggage. (See what I really obviously did there?)<\/p>\n
These cases are stuffed with old relationships, embarrassing moments, past mistakes, childhood anxieties, social faux pas, self-doubt, bad habits, badly-taken jokes, badly-judged tweets, and that inappropriate celebration you performed when you won the laser quest on the company away day.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the kind of thing that can weigh us down, hold us back. Forgiveness is not very on-trend these days, and for the more emotionally aware or sensitive among us, the mere thought of being judged on our pasts \u2013 whether we actually are or not \u2013 can stifle us.<\/p>\n
It can prevent us from being who we want to be, because it constantly reminds us who we once were or are now: like having a parent following you everywhere with a humiliating collection of photos and anecdotes.<\/p>\n
However, there is one time when we get to ditch that baggage and, ironically, it\u2019s when we travel alone.<\/p>\n
The new you<\/strong><\/p>\n Solo travel gives us the chance to reinvent ourselves; be someone we aren\u2019t (or rarely are) at home.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re thinking, \u201cHe\u2019s talking about kinky sex stuff or identity theft,\u201d that says more about you than it does about me. This isn\u2019t a case for outright lying (although I did once spend an entire evening, when I was 15, pretending to be French to an American who, like me at the time, spoke no French); you can reinvent yourself without telling porkies.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve travelled alone, or with strangers, a lot. Sometimes for work, sometimes for leisure. I\u2019m a huge fan.<\/p>\n From the time alone at an airport, or the even greater time alone on a flight with only a good book and vast selection of brain-resting blockbusters for company, to a long, lonesome drive and a night or six in your own hotel room, solo travel is a rare chance to have a good old think about things without any external noise. Assuming you have the will to ignore your phone, for a few hours or days, you can leave much of your life behind.<\/p>\n You also find yourself in a situation where everyone you interact with knows little or nothing about you.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s a work trip, they might know your name and what you do for a living \u2013 in my case, they might have read my work \u2013 but that\u2019s pretty much as far as it ever goes. To everyone you meet when you travel alone, you are making a first impression. This is your big chance, because, as we all know from adages, first impressions count \u2013 and last.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s time to ask: who do you want to be? Because that\u2019s the only person these people will know.<\/p>\n Do you want to be the funny one? Do you want to be the sensitive one? Do you want to be the paaaartaaaay animal? The mysterious one? The strong, silent one? The philosophical one? The sophisticated one? The politically-passionate one? The gutsy one? The one with a penchant for neon clothing? Maybe a combination of the above.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t pretend there aren\u2019t risks involved in what you choose. To be the funny one, it helps if you\u2019re not offensively unfunny. People don\u2019t really want their chilled-out escape to the Prosecco hills of Northern Italy<\/a> sprayed with information on how Brexit is going to make their favourite fizz practically illegal in the UK.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not useful to be silent and mysterious if you fall off your raft into the rapids of Chile\u2019s Petrohue river<\/a>. But if there is one very important box ticked, then these are risks worth taking. That box: that they are not an act.<\/p>\n The true you<\/strong><\/p>\n It did me no good to make that American kid believe I was French. Okay, not strictly true: I found it extremely funny at the time.<\/p>\n BUT I GREW UP.<\/p>\n And now, when I travel alone, I don\u2019t masquerade as a Frenchman, or a travelling dog-hypnotist, or pretend that I\u2019ve been exiled from my own country because of my extreme views on pizza toppings. What I do is allow myself the freedom to ditch the baggage.<\/p>\n I look at my life, my personality; I then pick the good bits (wife, job, etc), ditch the less good (classified information), and that is who I am on this trip. It\u2019s called learning or evolving or something.<\/p>\n Because I\u2019m with strangers, I don\u2019t need to worry about people\u2019s preconceptions or someone going, \u201cBut didn\u2019t you used to\u2026\u201d I present the very best of me.<\/p>\n And this is crucial: like I say, it\u2019s not an act. C\u2019est moi, as I probably said to the American.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t fake it, because the cracks will show. You can\u2019t pretend to be charming when you\u2019re an arse, you can\u2019t pretend to be brave when you\u2019re a coward, you can\u2019t pretend to be shy when, at the first chimes of a disco track, you\u2019re going to be writhing semi-naked on a Sydney dance floor<\/a>.<\/p>\n The joy is, you can do this anywhere.<\/p>\n In a shop, you do it fleetingly. In a restaurant, a little longer. But bars are the best place. Just strike up a conversation<\/a>, be it with locals or fellow travellers, and be your best self. Because you\u2019re being honest, natural, it\u2019s easy. There\u2019s no mask to slip, even if you\u2019re leathered.<\/p>\n Taking you home<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019re probably thinking: okay, Mr. Know-it-all, that\u2019s all fine and dandy while you\u2019re away from home. Bravo on leaving a good impression on an Andean street food-vendor, but what about the 48 weeks of the year when I\u2019m not swanning around the world having the greatest time ever with my new pals<\/a>? Hmm? Do I just slip that baggage back on my shoulders?<\/p>\n Well, maybe, but it\u2019ll be lighter.<\/p>\n A couple of weeks of being the \u2018best you\u2019 will feel so good, so bloody comfortable, that you\u2019ll want to be that person more often.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll feel more confident in your own skin when you come home. Then, the next time you go away by yourself, you\u2019ll come back to even lighter baggage. And lighter still the next time.<\/p>\n Eventually it\u2019ll fit in the overhead locker, then under your seat. Soon you\u2019ll just have one of those awful document satchels, or maybe a stylish bumbag. Then everything will fit in your pockets. Then, finally, you\u2019ll be devoid of all baggage, completely naked.<\/p>\n Then you\u2019ll get arrested and removed from the flight.<\/p>\n But you\u2019ll be happy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/vaida-tamosauskaite-85608-unsplash-1024x658.jpg\")
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