If you prefer visual content, click here.
Welcome to the first series of My Travel Experience!
In these series, I will be transparent and personal whilst also sharing with you the highs and lows of travelling (solo).
Upon arriving at Oslo station, I had the idea that I wanted to create a travel vlog, but I doubted my ability to speak on camera as I wanted to capture the ‘moment’ and impress the viewers, rather than actually enjoying my stay in Oslo.
Having felt like things were going horribly wrong, I went to my hostel.
Not having anyone with me in the physical form to comfort me, I shed a tear or two… or I just cried lol. Yeah, I did! 🙃 I missed my mum and thought I would never travel again!
In all honesty, Norway was a spontaneous trip. I really wanted to travel and was not fussed about where I would go.
I just wanted to travel and was not going to wait on anyone!
Having gathered my thoughts, I went back to the streets of Oslo and started living in the moment. I was admiring the views and taking it in, rather than capturing that ‘perfect’ selfie with the caption being, “living my best life” when it would all be a façade. Instead, I let curiosity lead the way and interacted with locals, asking them genuine questions such as the places which locals frequently visited.
2 Unforgettable Experiences
After a very long day, I arrived at my hostel. I was staying with two roommates and met them at different stages during the day. Unfortunately, I do not remember their names. However, one person was from Poland, who had worked in several countries and travelled the world and the other person was from Taiwan, who was very impressed when I introduced myself in Mandarin! 😎
It was getting late and I needed some downtime. Whilst checking my social media and replying to messages, my Taiwanese roommate came alongside my bed with a cup of tea as an act of kindness.
“Aww” right?
I was not used to this level of kindness. In fact, it came to me as a surprise; I was not expecting that and now that small gesture is a memory I will cherish forever!
She isn't reading this, but hands on my heart, thank you!
It was my last day in Oslo and I had one last thing to do, go and see the urban art. VisitOSLO had an interactive map which helped me find some of the best street art and graffiti in Oslo. I was running low on time, so I visited the urban art closest to my hostel first, before seeing the ones which were farther away.
A vendor noticed my confused face as I was figuring out where to go on Google Maps and asked if I needed help, I accepted his help.
What made my day was the vendor who went out of his way to write on a piece of paper how to get to my destination; you do not see that in London hence I was humbled by the kind gesture.
Have you had any positive, negative or humbling travelling experiences? If so, please comment below a travel experience which you remember till this day.
In two weeks, I will be sharing tips for solo travellers.
Until then, if you enjoyed this post, please share this with friends you know are interested or into travelling.
To leave a comment, you will need to login/sign up. To be one of the firsts to read my blog posts, you will need to type your email in the 'Subscribe' section below.
If you have any questions, please do email me via the 'Contact Me' section or comment below. I make it a goal to reply to all my comments via email and DM’s within 24 hours.
Thank you for reading this, it means a lot!
Take care.
Ricardo