Have you ever travelled, alone, not for business, or family, or pleasure, but for the purpose of making new connections, exploring and learning about new cultures, and for personal growth?
The last time I was able to do that was back in 1999 when I travelled to Barcelona, Spain, purely for my love of Spanish and wanting to further improve it as well as going to a new place to learn about its people and culture and making new friends.
As a stay-at-home mom and now a work-from-home mom, I don’t get a lot of time to myself, let alone travel by myself.
Sure, I have travelled with my family to many parts of the world.
They are different from when you are making arrangements for flights, hotels, other modes of transportation, Entry requirements, tours and visits for one.
Me.
My 2nd “Soul-o” trip took place recently when I went to A-Fest in Jordan.
Before I could even make the trip, some things needed to align first.
First of all, I had to submit my application for approval to attend A-Fest.
Secondly, I had to coordinate with my husband so he could work from home and drive our kids to their respective schools as well as activities during my time away.
Lastly, I had to rearrange some of the calls with my clients or cancel them for the week I was away.
I’m grateful everything went off without a hitch and my clients were all very accommodating.
My family was also in full support of my solo trip.
A few small challenges still arose during the planning process.
I could not access some of the local websites (not sure if it’s because of firewalls or anything to ‘protect’ us in North America).
I could not book my excursion, nor could I book my taxi ride from the airport to the hotel or access the attendees’ guide provided by the event organizers.
I sought help from my new friends that I met online while I was going through my certification programs and Mindvalley quests.
My girlfriend, Hicleia, who is from Brazil originally, lives in Kuwait. She not only helped to book for my taxi ride, but also paid for it.
She wanted to protect my credit card information.
My new girlfriend, Esther, who lives in Toronto and with whom I only connected days prior to the trip, booked the Petra excursion for me on her credit card. I e-transferred her the money after.
My overall Jordan experience would not be complete if it weren’t for their help during my planning stage.
I also had to change my original itinerary by adding an extra day to my flight and hotel stay, because this new excursion was added later by the A-Fest organizers.
I had to call the hotel to extend my stay at the ‘right’ time because of the time difference, as I didn’t want to do back-and-forth email exchanges and wanted to be sure it was done.
I was not sure about staying the extra day initially, but my travel agent, Patricia, encouraged me to do it as Petra is one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
Thanks to her, I was able to get a similar flight schedule for a day later.
I’m definitely happy with my decision to go to Petra.
Visitors to Jordan had to file personal information to get the QR code to enter the country.
I also needed to have my vaccine proof ready to present to the Jordanian authority, as well as the paid receipts for my taxi ride and the Petra trip, just in case.
They seemed like small things but one needed to plan and organize them ahead of time.
This was my 2nd purely-for-me trip in 23 years, and I was going to a country and region that I had never been.
I am grateful for all the love, help, and support that I received even before my trip.
When I travel alone, without any business or family attachments, I feel that I am more open to new experiences and able to make new and authentic connections.
I had a chance to look at some of the A-Fest attendee profiles during my flight.
Because of that, I recognized a new speaker to A-Fest who was on the same flight as me from Istanbul to Amman.
I stroke up a conversation with her. Our flight was delayed for nearly 2 hours in a crowded terminal, but I wasn’t bothered by any of that.
The conversation just flowed.
The speaker was Florencia Andres.
She and her mom are authors, educators, coaches, and motivational speakers.
They were the first non-artists to sign on with Sony and toured all around South America.
She was coming to A-Fest to do her first official talk in English. Her English was perfect!
I was in awe of someone, who had accomplished so much, being so easy-going, grounded, and sitting next to me to chat.
We share similar concerns for our kids and families. She didn’t mind that I practiced Spanish with her either. Thank you for bearing with me with my more-practice-needed Spanish, Florencia!
I recognized another Speaker who was also on the same flight and is the author of a Mindvalley program called Feng Shui for Life.
She was at a Mindvalley call that I recently attended.
Who was she? Marie Diamond.
For those who don’t know her, well, she is a globally renowned Transformational Teacher, Leader, Speaker and International Best-Selling Author, Creator of Diamond Feng Shui, Diamond Dowsing and Inner Diamond Meditation Programs.
Honestly, I was a little starstruck, but I really wanted to say hi and expressed to her how much I enjoyed her talks.
So, I did.
She was not at all distant and was very warm and down-to-earth.
I got to learn more about her personal life and where she lives now.
At the end of our conversation, she asked, “Do you want a selfie with me?” I was like “OMG. Of course. I do!”
How did I forget something like that?
I am so grateful that she asked because it is one of the photos that I will cherish from my Jordan trip, for years to come, especially to remember the session that she did with us on Forgiveness during A-Fest.
She remembered my name throughout the event as well whenever she saw me.
That would make anyone feel good right?
Because of our flight delay, we were all nervous about missing our drivers to the hotel and kind of planned to try to catch a cab together if needed.
As soon as I walked out, I could see a sea of name signs being held up. I had to check every single one for my name.
Just when I thought my driver had left, I saw this gentleman holding my name around the corner.
I was so happy and relieved.
He waited for 2 hours at the airport for me, a total stranger.
His name is Abdullah.
Thinking back, it cemented my view of the Jordanian people right then. They are some of the warmest, kindest, and friendliest people I’ve met.
When we walked out of the airport to the parking lot, there were drums playing, people singing in groups. I asked Abdullah if it was for me.
Just kidding of course.
He said they were kids graduating from universities celebrating end of school. That was very interesting to see.
On the hour-long ride to the hotel at 1 am in the morning, he answered a lot of my questions about Jordan and told me about the places that I should go and visit.
I was only there for A-Fest at Dead Sea and Petra.
However, it is a place I would like to return with my family one day.
I arrived at the hotel at the same time as another Speaker whose Mindvalley quest I had completed recently.
That was Jade Shaw, my Astral Projection teacher.
It was literally only the 2 of us checking in at the reception.
I didn’t want to talk for too long as it was nearly 2:30 am and she was probably ready to get to her hotel bed.
She was also very nice and friendly and full of smiles at 2:30 am.
She was happy to learn that I had done her quest.
I didn’t get to speak to her much during the event though.
We recognized each other throughout A-Fest afterwards. She also agreed to a photo with me at our “Wear Your Crown” closing party.
Thank you, Jade.
Well, the story is just beginning.
Stay tuned for part II of my solo trip. 😊
It’s super inspirational, even for a man, single but with the same love for new experience.
You write amazing
Grazie, Damiano. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I love your way of documenting your new experiences! 🙂