where on earth is zoé

I’ve been wanting to share with everyone about my first  travelling solo experience and the things I observed and learnt whilst in Cuba. The idea of travelling alone initially worried me. I was always reading blogs of people who talk about their solo trips and thought “gosh, they’re brave” and would do hours of research on where to go, how I’d get around, where to stay, but I never came around to actually doing it. Until February 2015, where I took a whole month off between jobs and without thinking twice, booked tickets to Cuba.

I wanted to stay away from the tourist areas and mingle as much with the locals and one way of doing that was staying at casa particulars which are family run BnBs. I did some research on where other backpackers went and planned out a brief itinerary. My plan was to spend couple of nights in Havana, Viñales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and then to Varadero before heading to the airport.

Every city had its own unique beauty. Havana, busy and bustling, surrounded by old, colourful buildings and classic cars. Viñales is where the Tobacco are grown, fields of nature surrounding the more peaceful town. No tractors or machines on the fields and the farmers were very proud of this. From Cienfuegos, you could start to see more of the French influence in the architecture and maybe the people too. Then there’s Trinidad where I remember spending the best days either relaxing at Playa Ancon, going on a hike to find a hidden waterfall or simply dancing salsa all night.

Things that I observed:

• I would travel to different towns and cities by coach. Driving down motorways, it took me a good hour to realise that there were no advertisements / billboards to be found.
• Everyone I spoke to were well educated and I had some of the most interesting conversations with the local people.
• Didn’t see any homeless people on the streets.
• Didn’t see any violence or crime. As a woman traveling alone, I felt quite safe.

Traveling alone allowed me to meet some great people from all over the world. I became friends with the guy that served me pizza who spoke very good English and would teach me basic Spanish which became helpful throughout my journey, or Joao, the son of the owners of the first casa I stayed at who passionately runs his own cafe in Havana and used to be a ballet professor. Then there were the other backpackers. I was grateful to have met some girls from Holland, we would meet up for dinner, dance salsa, traveled together from Vinales to Trinidad and have made so much fun memories with them. On my way to Varadero from Cienfuegos, I was lucky to meet Clement, Jean-Baptiste and Matthew, all from France who were heading the same way and so we shared a taxi for the four hour drive. I would do things at my own time at my own pace without having to worry about anything else but to enjoy the moment.

If you’re thinking about embarking on your first solo travel, my advice is, just do it. Don’t think too much or try to come up with a perfect plan because one of the beauty of traveling alone is that you can do or make the journey however you wish and plans could change depending on who you meet and what your gut instinct tells you.

Now that I’ve had my first experience, I’m looking forward to the next one in South America 2016!

What about you? Would love to hear about other people’s experiences so please feel free to comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Zoe