Traveling alone is not cool, it’s hard. When I went on exchange from the United States to the Netherlands, I actually had the idea from the beginning that I would find an opportunity to travel around Europe. I love traveling, but I don’t like to travel with people I don’t know well just because I’m afraid of being alone. There are too many things that need to be accommodated, from living habits to consumption patterns. I feel that if you have these concerns during the trip, it will be difficult to enjoy yourself to the fullest. .

Actually, I had never traveled alone before. To be honest, I was still a little timid. It was my roommate in the Netherlands who encouraged me. Her name is Xiaonan, a girl from Dalian, studying in Zhuhai. She has been traveling alone since college. She once took a train from Beijing to Russia, and then traveled west to Europe.

She was also stolen and robbed. When she came back from using the toilet at the station in the middle of the night, she found that the bus she had taken had driven away and she had nothing on her. She was "going back to Madrid begging for food." When she encounters an exhibitionist and lewd man on the street, she can stare him back without fear. All in all, she is a cool and brave girl.

With her encouragement, I finally decided to hit the road alone. I booked air tickets, train tickets, a youth hostel, a backpack and a SLR, and set off. Traveling alone is not entirely easy. First of all, your nerves are always in a state of high tension. You must always be keenly aware of the movements around you and be vigilant, especially in the chaotic Southern Europe. ?

When I was in Europe, I didn’t change my mobile phone card, so my mobile phone had no signal. Many times I leave the youth hostel in the morning and return in the evening. During this period, I am completely cut off from the outside world. Just a pair of eyes, a camera, and a map.

But precisely because of this, I feel that I am calmer than ever before. I have a lot of time to carefully observe the world, talk to myself, and be filled with countless thoughts and ideas. Observation and thinking cycle, non-stop. At the end of the journey, it felt like I had gone through an ascetic journey like a monk.