February 25, 2025 • 26 mins
In Episode 29 of The Curvy Girl Dating Podcast, Cristina shares her extensive experiences with solo travel, recounting trips to places like Virginia, Mexico, Nashville, and more. She discusses the personal growth, friendships, and life lessons she's gained throughout her journeys. She offers practical advice on budgeting, safety, overcoming travel anxieties, and exploring new destinations independently. Cristina encourages listeners to step out of their comfort zones, embrace new adventures, and create memorable experiences.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:47 Solo Traveling: An Exciting Journey
02:19 First Solo Travel Experiences
04:19 Nashville Adventure and Becoming a Runner
08:01 Weekend Getaways and Meeting Friends
09:45 Recent Work Trip to Virginia
12:30 Travel Tips for Plus-Size Travelers
15:49 Budgeting and Safety Tips
19:32 Meeting New People and Group Travel
24:37 Starting Small and Building Confidence
25:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Consultation Call: https://calendly.com/cristinacoaches/discovery-session
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cristina (00:10):
Hi, I'm Cristina After 10 years of dating, I was tired
of attracting the wrong type ofguys and thinking I had to lose
weight to find love.
I finally figured out how todate and I found the love I
thought I would never find.
Each week, I'll teach you datingadvice, share dating stories and
help you ditch the dating drama.
My goal is to help you have funand create the life you love.
(00:35):
If you're ready to take yourdating to another level, then
listen up and let's go.
Hello, welcome to The Curvy GirlDating Podcast, Episode 29.
Today we are going to talk aboutsolo traveling.
I'm super excited about thisbecause I love to travel and I
just got back from a trip toVirginia.
(00:58):
It was for work, but I still gotto have a little bit of fun as
well as all the work that I hadto do.
So I have been traveling foryears and years by myself.
I have just enjoyed it so muchbecause I've learned a lot about
myself and I've just got toexperience a lot of different
things in life.
(01:18):
And I think if I hadn't donethat, and I held back, I would
have missed Hi, I'm CristinaAfter 10 years of dating, I was
tired of attracting the wrongtype of guys and thinking I had
to lose weight to find love.
I finally figured out how todate and I found the love I
thought I would never find eachweek.
(01:38):
I'll teach you dating advice,share dating stories and help
you ditch the diet drama andhelp you ditch the dating drama.
My goal is to help you have funand create the life you love.
If you're ready to take yourdating to another level, then
listen up and let's go.
(02:00):
out on a lot of friendships andopportunities to grow and
discover things about myselfthat I know now.
So it's really important to knowa little bit about who you are
or what the goal is of travelingand why you want to go.
I had done a lot of travelingwith my family before, which is
(02:24):
why I think it was a little bitmore comfortable for me to just
get out and try to do it bymyself.
I would definitely say, embracethe idea of stepping out of your
comfort zone.
I had done gone places with myfamily.
I've been to, San Antonio.
I've been to Mexico a lot.
I've done all kinds of differentthings with family and
(02:46):
experienced a lot.
Went to Disney World.
I've been to different places inFlorida.
We've been to Arizona.
So we've had some experiencevacationing, but as far as by
myself, I think my first semi bymyself vacation was going to
Mexico with a friend, Greg.
(03:06):
I was probably about 21 or so.
Yes, I technically did go withsomeone, but it was independent
as in not with my parents.
So it was the first time I hadgone out and experienced
planning and budgeting all bymyself.
So we went to Mexico when Igraduated college.
(03:27):
Oh, I was about 23 or 24 and wejust had such an amazing time
together.
We went to Cancun and Just spenta week at an all inclusive
resort and we met a lot ofpeople.
We met some people from Canadaand some people from South
(03:50):
Africa.
And even to this day, I thinkabout them and, one of them is
still a Facebook friend.
It was nice to be able to meetmy first group of friends going
out and traveling alone.
And it was an internationaltrip, which, I don't know if
I've done any independent,international trips, but it's
(04:12):
definitely on the checklist todo.
So after that, I think I waiteda few years.
I was in a relationship, got outof that relationship, was single
and I had gone on my next solotrip, which was for real solo
trip to Nashville, Tennessee.
(04:34):
So I went to Nashville, I was ina weight loss group So anybody
who's a NoBS person, I am stillcurrently in NoBS as well, but
this is way back in the day in2019.
I went on a NoBS trip toNashville and didn't know
(04:54):
anybody at all.
I knew that there was gonna bepeople in my group that were
gonna go.
But they were like strangers,right?
And I had no idea who I wasgoing to go with and who I was
going to meet and how it wasgoing to go.
I planned my plane trip.
I planned my hotel and saved upmoney and just crossed my
(05:15):
fingers and said a littleprayer.
And went out of town to meet awhole bunch of women that I've
never met before in my life.
And, again, that was, a nicetransition on learning how to go
out and vacation by myselfbecause in the end I did have
people to meet, but more andmore that I had practiced going
(05:38):
and traveling independently,like getting to the place
independently and then meetingup with people that were
internet strangers.
but meeting up with people thatI felt safe, meeting and being
around and then coming home bymyself was really the beginning
of my solo trips.
And then I started to do alittle more advanced things, and
(05:59):
just going by myself and goingto a destination where I still
didn't know anybody and I wasjust going to have a great time
and wing it and see how it goes.
So back to Nashville, I went andagain, it was a group event.
We were doing, Don't StopBelieving.
It was a 5k, 10k and a halfmarathon that you could choose
(06:21):
to do.
And I did my very first 10Kthere and I had been, getting
ready for it and training for itfor a first time.
And I, that's how I became a,runner.
I don't know if I would callmyself an experienced or great
runner, but I moved my legsforward in the direction in a
running pace.
That was my first experiencedoing a 10K and traveling solo.
(06:44):
So we get there and we have thisFacebook group and so I checked
into my hotel and I just took adeep breath and I wrote on the
Facebook group,"Hey, my name isCristina.
I'm wearing this.
I'm going to go downstairs andif anybody wants to hang out,
come and meet me." Luckily, Imet Rosie and I tagged along
(07:09):
with her and her family thewhole time and we had a great
time, but I also met a lot ofother friends as well, but she
was the first person whoresponded to my message and
reached out.
And it was her first time in aNoBS event as well.
So we met up and got to becomefriends and we're still friends
today.
So it was pretty awesome andamazing.
(07:32):
And I really appreciated thatexperience and meeting her as
well as meeting all the otherwomen that were in my group.
I met Julie as well, there's somany different people.
Cara, it's just, I had such agreat time meeting just so many
different people.
Too many to list.
So anyways, I did my 10k.
(07:54):
It was an awesome weekend.
I learned a whole lot.
I came back home and I waspumped and ready to do my next
trip already.
So I didn't do anything asadventurous by flying, but I had
done some weekend getaways and,went out of town to different
cities around Texas.
(08:14):
So I had gone to San Antonio.
I had some friends there.
So I would drive to San Antonio.
I went to Austin by myself.
Didn't know anybody, justdifferent little towns around
Houston that were, three hoursmax away and got a hotel room
and went and just had a goodtime.
Sometimes I met up friends.
(08:35):
Sometimes I met up my internetfriends that I've been friends
with for a long time and theywere total strangers, but it was
awesome.
And then some of my bestfriends, T and Shanna, I met
them in Galveston for the firsttime.
My aunt had a beach house and wewere doing a first of the year,
girls weekend there.
(08:56):
And we just had a good timedoing vision boards.
And it was the first time we hadmet each other.
We had been friends online forseveral years, probably about
one or two years.
and we still meet weekly fiveyears later.
Every Saturday morning we meetand get together and talk about
our businesses and we pump eachother up and talk about what's
(09:18):
going on.
And we're just my best friendsand we talk every single day and
chat with each other.
So I had created thisrelationship with them and we
decided to meet up in Galvestonand go on this vacation
together.
And we just created like thisawesome.
Girls Weekend, and I still havemy vision board right here on my
(09:39):
wall from that weekend.
And it's just very special and Ilove that I have it still.
So anyways, the last trip that Ijust went on, I just came back
from it last week.
That's why I didn't have apodcast last week I went to
Virginia for this work trip.
It was fun.
We had a great time.
It was a lot of work, I also meta lot of my peers, my coworkers
(10:02):
for the very first time there aswell.
So I knew, again, this was anevent that I went to traveling
solo, but I knew I was going tomeet people, but I didn't know
anybody.
I didn't know how they weregoing to be, if they're going to
be nice or nerds or, whatever.
I'm a nerd too, but like justpeople that I wasn't going to
get along with, but I got alongwith everyone.
It's such a great group.
(10:23):
We had so many memories andinside jokes afterwards.
And I'm just so glad I got achance to meet all of these
people that I work with everyday.
And I talk to every day and I'venever gotten a chance to meet
them in person.
So it was great to see theirpersonalities in real life
versus just behind a computer.
And so it was a really specialtrip and I'm glad I got to do
(10:46):
that and looking forward to thefuture trips as well.
But we did get a little bit ofplaytime and we went to DC our
very last night there.
We took an Uber from Virginia toDC and we took a bus tour We
hopped around in the bus tour.
We learned a lot about our U.
S.
history and about the D.
C.
area.
(11:07):
And we had the best tour guide,Dion the 13th, by the way.
So if you go look for that tour,because he's amazing.
And Mr.
Sean was our driver, but we wentto this bus tour and I got to
see, all these amazing places.
I got to see these monuments.
(11:28):
I got to see the White House.
I was on the South Lawn.
I got to see, so many things.
I can't even think about itright now because it was so
exciting, but we took so manypictures and it was just a quick
experience.
We were there three hours.
We jumped in, jumped out, and Igot to experience going to DC in
very cold weather at night, butit was a very eventful and
(11:53):
exciting trip to go on and justcheck out for a second.
So had I not said yes to thiswork trip because I was too
scared, I wouldn't have beenable to experience that trip to
DC and I wouldn't have been ableto experience meeting my co
workers and just having a greattime with new friends, right?
(12:13):
I went in meeting co workers andI came home with new friends.
All I'm saying is take the risk,get out of your comfort zone and
say yes to those trips.
It might be a trip to a worktrip, but you have the option.
Say yes, just go.
What do you have to be afraidof?
I know a little bit oftraveling.
There's some discomfort there.
(12:34):
I know that there's a lot ofanxiety, being plus size and
flying.
Having to get a seatbeltextender or having an extra seat
or getting just reallyuncomfortable and just tight in
a space, in an airplane orsomething.
But there's options for you thatyou can do to solve that.
(12:54):
You can fly first class.
but I know if you fly Southwest,they have a customer of size
policy that you can get twoseats and, they'll accommodate
you to have two seats so thatyou can be comfortable in the
flight.
and you can also drive if you'reclose enough to somewhere that
you could go to and go on adriving trip so that you can
(13:17):
take your own car.
I've taken a trip to Dallas on abus.
It was like a luxury bus.
It's called Vaughn Lane.
I really like that.
I live in Houston, so it'll takeyou to Austin or San Antonio or
Dallas, like the bigger cities.
So that's a great option becauseyou're in a nice bus seat, it's
(13:38):
air conditioned, it has free wifi, you can uber when you get
into town to your destination,whatever.
So there's lots of differentoptions that you can have when
you get there if you're choosingto take a Vaughn lane or a bus.
So driving, Vaughn lane, plane,get two seats, customer of size.
(14:00):
Again, seat extenders are anoption, when you get on the
flight.
If that is something that is aconcern for you, they can be
very discreet about it.
It doesn't have to be, and Ican't guarantee you that it's
always discreet.
Sometimes it's not, but youdon't need to be discreet.
Think about it.
it's something that you need foryour safety.
(14:21):
And you deserve it just likeeverybody else deserves to have
a seatbelt for their safety, youdo too.
So if that's going to be therequirement for you to be safe
and be on the trip and havecomfort, then that's what you're
going to need.
And that's going to be theaccommodation that you need.
So there's nothing to be ashamedof if that is something that
you'll need to have to be safeto fly to wherever you're
(14:44):
traveling.
So just keep that in mind.
But yes, get out of your comfortzone and try different things.
Sightseeing, I sightsee bymyself as well.
I just find different thingsthat would accommodate a single
person.
That bus trip totally could havegone by myself and really
(15:06):
enjoyed it.
When I went to Nashville, I dida bus trip.
It was like a jump on and jumpoff trip and you buy your
ticket.
I did that by myself.
That was fun.
You just get your ticket, youget on the bus, they tour you
around, they make a stop.
If you want to stop and go visitthat part, you can go and jump
(15:26):
off and then another bus willpick you back up and you get to
do that all day long.
you get to see a whole bunch ofthings all at once.
And it's, there's no worriesthat you're by yourself or not.
This is hot in here.
I don't even know what to dowith myself.
I'm sweating.
So anyways, there's a lot to doand things that you could do to
accommodate yourself when you'resolo.
(15:46):
So don't let that hold you back.
Budgeting is also somethingthat, is important to do when
you want to travel by yourself,be flexible in your budget, but
also know where to splurge andwhere you can save, right?
Like I, have tried.
I'll just price out differentthings and I'll see, okay, is an
(16:10):
Airbnb a best place to stay?
Is an Airbnb like getting a roomor a little house or an
apartment or a condo.
Or if I'm in a shared space,like which one is the most
affordable and which one's safe.
Hotels, I like to stay athotels.
But I like to stay at ones thathave good reviews, that are
(16:30):
safe, that are walkablepotentially if that's in the
budget.
If they're not walkable, or isUber an option, or public
transportation that's safe anoption?
Do they have like a hotel busthat'll take you to a tourist
area and pick you back up,things like that.
There's just different ways, ifyou're flying somewhere, what is
(16:53):
the expense between Ubering tothe airport and driving your car
to the airport and leaving itthere and then paying for it
every single day?
Those are things to considerwhen you're trying to budget and
where you want to splurge andwhere you want to cut the
budget.
If you want to, make your ownmeals or have snacks and then
have one meal out.
(17:13):
Like I know a lot of times it'suncomfortable to go out and eat
alone.
So if you want to have likesnacks for yourself to keep
yourself, satiated, or you wantto make your own food at your
hotel or your apartment oranything, find which places are
going to accommodate that foryou.
(17:34):
Or if there's a restaurant inthe hotel, and that's a
comfortable place to eat on yourown, that's also a good option.
Just pay attention to thosethings when you're budgeting and
planning.
I think that's, one of the mostimportant things is the safety,
looking for safety and lookingfor the accommodations and which
ones you want to save on, whichones you want to splurge on.
(17:57):
But definitely safety isimportant.
I always tell my parents whathotel I'm staying at, what room
I'm in.
If I need to put my littlelocation tracker, I will if I'm
flying or something.
especially if I'm driving too,so they know if I'm stuck or in
a car accident or something,they can track a location to see
that I'm not getting to thedestination.
(18:19):
But I always keep somebody inmind that I can contact and have
that too.
When I'm in the hotel or in thespace, I write down emergency
contacts on a piece of paper andI leave it by the remote or I
leave it somewhere that ifsomething happens, somebody can
see, who I am and who mycontacts are and how they can
(18:41):
reach people that know me, stufflike that.
You just never know and it'salways better to be safe and
have that available than to not.
Again, reading about whereyou're staying, having any kind
of safety apps, keeping yourfriends in the loop.
Knowing a little bit about youraccommodations, those are the
most important ways to stay safein my opinion.
(19:04):
Sometimes if I'm in a place, Imight talk to, the front desk
person and just ask questionsabout, what's a good time to be
home.
just ask them about the localenvironment and see if there's
any where I should stay awayfrom and where, is a good place
to go.
Where are tourists andtravelers?
(19:25):
Are the locals friendly?
Are they not?
There's a lot of differentinformation that you can obtain
to make the best of your trip.
So that would be also somethingelse that I would recommend, but
take the time to meet new peoplewhile you're out there.
Again, there's different waysthat you can travel solo.
I many times travel solo and endup meeting people I know or
(19:50):
they're in a group that I was inonline.
Like I have tons of internetfriends all over the country and
I'm sure I could meet them forthe first time and become
friends and enjoy their town ortheir city that they're in, with
or without them.
But at least knowing thatthey're close by and they can
tell me a little bit about.
(20:11):
where they live and theirhometown and giving me some tips
on how to enjoy that vacation,if anything.
So yeah, decide how you want thevacation to go.
Do you want to go and be alone?
I've been to Corpus Christi bymyself and I just went to the
beach and I was just quiet andnobody but my family knew that I
(20:33):
was there.
I just, took a little break fromwork.
went to Corpus Christi forvacation, hung out at the beach.
It was very super chill.
I didn't do a whole lot and itwas a relaxing weekend.
Whereas other times I've goneand I was busy.
I flew into Philly one time tomeet one of my best friends.
(20:55):
She was getting married inDelaware I did meet them there.
We went quick Philly tour, wentto, New York, did a quick New
York tour around, got thehotspots, and then went to the
wedding in Delaware and thencame back.
But.
Just finding out what kind ofexperience do you want?
Do you want it to be alone?
Do you want it to be where youmeet friends?
(21:17):
Do you want to go alone and findnew friends and discover new
friends?
What is the goal of thevacation?
You might want to be adventuroussometimes, and sometimes you
just might want it to be quietand relax a little bit.
Take that time to grow andconnect with yourself, and
really embrace the experience.
the time that you're spendingdoing something independently
(21:38):
and getting that confidence totalk to people and meet new
people and just go out there andenjoy your life and experience
things that you've never been toor seen or experienced before.
So that's a really good way tofigure out who you are and what
you like and what you don'tlike.
It gets you out of your comfortzone and helps you practice
(22:01):
talking to people and gettingthat sense of if you feel safe,
how much do you want to share ornot share, it gives you those,
personal boundaries on how youwant to communicate with people.
And it just gives you thatpractice.
So it helps you share a littlebit more if you happen to be a
little more timid and don't wantto share a lot about you.
(22:24):
But also sometimes I tend toover share, but then I realized,
"Hey, it probably wasn't a goodidea to tell this person what
hotel it was at," or somethingdumb like that.
It really helped me, figure outwhat was okay to share and
whatnot and make betterdecisions in the future.
It's important to practice thosethings.
(22:45):
sometimes you make mistakes andsometimes you don't, but you
learn through it and justoverall choose the safer side
than not, but also experienceyour life.
I've never done it, but I wouldtotally do it.
There's also traveling groups ofsolo people.
You can find different travelinggroups that you can sign up to
(23:06):
go by yourself, but it's reallya group, in the end, you end up
having a group of people, butyou're going by yourself, like
when I went to Nashville.
I knew there were going to bepeople that I, somewhat knew
that they were in the same eventthat I was going to, so there
was gonna be a lot of people, alot of women that were going to
go to the same event and do the5k or the 10k or the half
(23:30):
marathon, that they've beenworking really hard and training
for it and, communicating onlinefor a while, and even though I
knew nobody, I was able to feelright at home the second that I
walked in the door of thathotel.
There was this breath of freshair that I felt like.
This whole entire hotel is fullof women just like me.
And that was a really goodfeeling to have.
(23:51):
So if you go to these travelgroups, they're solo independent
travelers, but they're aroundyour age, they might be all
women, and you might createthese beautiful friendships that
can flourish and that you guyscan go independently to see each
other at each other's towns.
So it's a really good way tomeet people as well, but yet
(24:13):
you're still in a group settingthat you get to feel a little
bit more safe than if you wereto completely go by yourself.
Because at least if you're inthese groups, they know where
you are and you can havesomebody, keep tabs of you as
well, like the program, right?
So I would definitely recommenddoing that if it was too
(24:35):
intimidating to just go out.
Start small.
You don't have to go to theother side of the world on your
first travel trip.
Just if it's a staycation andyou just want to go to a hotel
in your town, like again, I livein Houston.
It's a big town.
If I want to stay downtown andget a hotel, which I have done
(24:57):
plenty of times just to get awayfrom my own space and just make
myself feel special and dosomething nice to myself that
was like a self care thing.
Just go to another hotel.
I get out, do things in townthat I don't normally do because
I don't want to drive in there,and enjoy that part of town and
(25:17):
then stay at the hotel and gohome.
Like you can do that becauseyou're still in the comfort of
your area, but you're stilldoing something different and
you're getting out of yourcomfort zone just a little bit,
but you always know that home isright around the corner.
So that's a great way to startlike practicing solo travel.
And then again, take a littleroad trip, maybe two hours away,
(25:40):
maybe three hours away, and thenwork your way up into doing
bigger things like flyingsomewhere, or taking an
international trip or doing oneof those websites where you have
group solo travelers.
So anyways, I just really wantedto share my experience of
traveling and I just reallyenjoyed that trip to DC and
(26:02):
meeting my coworkers and it juststruck a light in me that I
figured it was a goodopportunity to share how much I
enjoy solo travel and howamazing and awesome my life has
been and how many friendshipsthat I've created through
traveling alone.
(26:22):
And just, I've just learned somuch about myself.
So I just wanted to share thatand give you that opportunity in
your head to think about it anddo something like that for
yourself as well.
So that is all I have for todayand I will talk to you next
week.
Thanks.
Hi, I'm Cristina After 10 years of dating, I was tired
of attracting the wrong type ofguys and thinking I had to lose
weight to find love.
I finally figured out how todate and I found the love I
thought I would never find.
Each week, I'll teach you datingadvice, share dating stories and
help you ditch the dating drama.
My goal is to help you have funand create the life you love.
(00:35):
If you're ready to take yourdating to another level, then
listen up and let's go.
Hello, welcome to The Curvy GirlDating Podcast, Episode 29.
Today we are going to talk aboutsolo traveling.
I'm super excited about thisbecause I love to travel and I
just got back from a trip toVirginia.
(00:58):
It was for work, but I still gotto have a little bit of fun as
well as all the work that I hadto do.
So I have been traveling foryears and years by myself.
I have just enjoyed it so muchbecause I've learned a lot about
myself and I've just got toexperience a lot of different
things in life.
(01:18):
And I think if I hadn't donethat, and I held back, I would
have missed Hi, I'm CristinaAfter 10 years of dating, I was
tired of attracting the wrongtype of guys and thinking I had
to lose weight to find love.
I finally figured out how todate and I found the love I
thought I would never find eachweek.
(01:38):
I'll teach you dating advice,share dating stories and help
you ditch the diet drama andhelp you ditch the dating drama.
My goal is to help you have funand create the life you love.
If you're ready to take yourdating to another level, then
listen up and let's go.
(02:00):
out on a lot of friendships andopportunities to grow and
discover things about myselfthat I know now.
So it's really important to knowa little bit about who you are
or what the goal is of travelingand why you want to go.
I had done a lot of travelingwith my family before, which is
(02:24):
why I think it was a little bitmore comfortable for me to just
get out and try to do it bymyself.
I would definitely say, embracethe idea of stepping out of your
comfort zone.
I had done gone places with myfamily.
I've been to, San Antonio.
I've been to Mexico a lot.
I've done all kinds of differentthings with family and
(02:46):
experienced a lot.
Went to Disney World.
I've been to different places inFlorida.
We've been to Arizona.
So we've had some experiencevacationing, but as far as by
myself, I think my first semi bymyself vacation was going to
Mexico with a friend, Greg.
(03:06):
I was probably about 21 or so.
Yes, I technically did go withsomeone, but it was independent
as in not with my parents.
So it was the first time I hadgone out and experienced
planning and budgeting all bymyself.
So we went to Mexico when Igraduated college.
(03:27):
Oh, I was about 23 or 24 and wejust had such an amazing time
together.
We went to Cancun and Just spenta week at an all inclusive
resort and we met a lot ofpeople.
We met some people from Canadaand some people from South
(03:50):
Africa.
And even to this day, I thinkabout them and, one of them is
still a Facebook friend.
It was nice to be able to meetmy first group of friends going
out and traveling alone.
And it was an internationaltrip, which, I don't know if
I've done any independent,international trips, but it's
(04:12):
definitely on the checklist todo.
So after that, I think I waiteda few years.
I was in a relationship, got outof that relationship, was single
and I had gone on my next solotrip, which was for real solo
trip to Nashville, Tennessee.
(04:34):
So I went to Nashville, I was ina weight loss group So anybody
who's a NoBS person, I am stillcurrently in NoBS as well, but
this is way back in the day in2019.
I went on a NoBS trip toNashville and didn't know
(04:54):
anybody at all.
I knew that there was gonna bepeople in my group that were
gonna go.
But they were like strangers,right?
And I had no idea who I wasgoing to go with and who I was
going to meet and how it wasgoing to go.
I planned my plane trip.
I planned my hotel and saved upmoney and just crossed my
(05:15):
fingers and said a littleprayer.
And went out of town to meet awhole bunch of women that I've
never met before in my life.
And, again, that was, a nicetransition on learning how to go
out and vacation by myselfbecause in the end I did have
people to meet, but more andmore that I had practiced going
(05:38):
and traveling independently,like getting to the place
independently and then meetingup with people that were
internet strangers.
but meeting up with people thatI felt safe, meeting and being
around and then coming home bymyself was really the beginning
of my solo trips.
And then I started to do alittle more advanced things, and
(05:59):
just going by myself and goingto a destination where I still
didn't know anybody and I wasjust going to have a great time
and wing it and see how it goes.
So back to Nashville, I went andagain, it was a group event.
We were doing, Don't StopBelieving.
It was a 5k, 10k and a halfmarathon that you could choose
(06:21):
to do.
And I did my very first 10Kthere and I had been, getting
ready for it and training for itfor a first time.
And I, that's how I became a,runner.
I don't know if I would callmyself an experienced or great
runner, but I moved my legsforward in the direction in a
running pace.
That was my first experiencedoing a 10K and traveling solo.
(06:44):
So we get there and we have thisFacebook group and so I checked
into my hotel and I just took adeep breath and I wrote on the
Facebook group,"Hey, my name isCristina.
I'm wearing this.
I'm going to go downstairs andif anybody wants to hang out,
come and meet me." Luckily, Imet Rosie and I tagged along
(07:09):
with her and her family thewhole time and we had a great
time, but I also met a lot ofother friends as well, but she
was the first person whoresponded to my message and
reached out.
And it was her first time in aNoBS event as well.
So we met up and got to becomefriends and we're still friends
today.
So it was pretty awesome andamazing.
(07:32):
And I really appreciated thatexperience and meeting her as
well as meeting all the otherwomen that were in my group.
I met Julie as well, there's somany different people.
Cara, it's just, I had such agreat time meeting just so many
different people.
Too many to list.
So anyways, I did my 10k.
(07:54):
It was an awesome weekend.
I learned a whole lot.
I came back home and I waspumped and ready to do my next
trip already.
So I didn't do anything asadventurous by flying, but I had
done some weekend getaways and,went out of town to different
cities around Texas.
(08:14):
So I had gone to San Antonio.
I had some friends there.
So I would drive to San Antonio.
I went to Austin by myself.
Didn't know anybody, justdifferent little towns around
Houston that were, three hoursmax away and got a hotel room
and went and just had a goodtime.
Sometimes I met up friends.
(08:35):
Sometimes I met up my internetfriends that I've been friends
with for a long time and theywere total strangers, but it was
awesome.
And then some of my bestfriends, T and Shanna, I met
them in Galveston for the firsttime.
My aunt had a beach house and wewere doing a first of the year,
girls weekend there.
(08:56):
And we just had a good timedoing vision boards.
And it was the first time we hadmet each other.
We had been friends online forseveral years, probably about
one or two years.
and we still meet weekly fiveyears later.
Every Saturday morning we meetand get together and talk about
our businesses and we pump eachother up and talk about what's
(09:18):
going on.
And we're just my best friendsand we talk every single day and
chat with each other.
So I had created thisrelationship with them and we
decided to meet up in Galvestonand go on this vacation
together.
And we just created like thisawesome.
Girls Weekend, and I still havemy vision board right here on my
(09:39):
wall from that weekend.
And it's just very special and Ilove that I have it still.
So anyways, the last trip that Ijust went on, I just came back
from it last week.
That's why I didn't have apodcast last week I went to
Virginia for this work trip.
It was fun.
We had a great time.
It was a lot of work, I also meta lot of my peers, my coworkers
(10:02):
for the very first time there aswell.
So I knew, again, this was anevent that I went to traveling
solo, but I knew I was going tomeet people, but I didn't know
anybody.
I didn't know how they weregoing to be, if they're going to
be nice or nerds or, whatever.
I'm a nerd too, but like justpeople that I wasn't going to
get along with, but I got alongwith everyone.
It's such a great group.
(10:23):
We had so many memories andinside jokes afterwards.
And I'm just so glad I got achance to meet all of these
people that I work with everyday.
And I talk to every day and I'venever gotten a chance to meet
them in person.
So it was great to see theirpersonalities in real life
versus just behind a computer.
And so it was a really specialtrip and I'm glad I got to do
(10:46):
that and looking forward to thefuture trips as well.
But we did get a little bit ofplaytime and we went to DC our
very last night there.
We took an Uber from Virginia toDC and we took a bus tour We
hopped around in the bus tour.
We learned a lot about our U.
S.
history and about the D.
C.
area.
(11:07):
And we had the best tour guide,Dion the 13th, by the way.
So if you go look for that tour,because he's amazing.
And Mr.
Sean was our driver, but we wentto this bus tour and I got to
see, all these amazing places.
I got to see these monuments.
(11:28):
I got to see the White House.
I was on the South Lawn.
I got to see, so many things.
I can't even think about itright now because it was so
exciting, but we took so manypictures and it was just a quick
experience.
We were there three hours.
We jumped in, jumped out, and Igot to experience going to DC in
very cold weather at night, butit was a very eventful and
(11:53):
exciting trip to go on and justcheck out for a second.
So had I not said yes to thiswork trip because I was too
scared, I wouldn't have beenable to experience that trip to
DC and I wouldn't have been ableto experience meeting my co
workers and just having a greattime with new friends, right?
(12:13):
I went in meeting co workers andI came home with new friends.
All I'm saying is take the risk,get out of your comfort zone and
say yes to those trips.
It might be a trip to a worktrip, but you have the option.
Say yes, just go.
What do you have to be afraidof?
I know a little bit oftraveling.
There's some discomfort there.
(12:34):
I know that there's a lot ofanxiety, being plus size and
flying.
Having to get a seatbeltextender or having an extra seat
or getting just reallyuncomfortable and just tight in
a space, in an airplane orsomething.
But there's options for you thatyou can do to solve that.
(12:54):
You can fly first class.
but I know if you fly Southwest,they have a customer of size
policy that you can get twoseats and, they'll accommodate
you to have two seats so thatyou can be comfortable in the
flight.
and you can also drive if you'reclose enough to somewhere that
you could go to and go on adriving trip so that you can
(13:17):
take your own car.
I've taken a trip to Dallas on abus.
It was like a luxury bus.
It's called Vaughn Lane.
I really like that.
I live in Houston, so it'll takeyou to Austin or San Antonio or
Dallas, like the bigger cities.
So that's a great option becauseyou're in a nice bus seat, it's
(13:38):
air conditioned, it has free wifi, you can uber when you get
into town to your destination,whatever.
So there's lots of differentoptions that you can have when
you get there if you're choosingto take a Vaughn lane or a bus.
So driving, Vaughn lane, plane,get two seats, customer of size.
(14:00):
Again, seat extenders are anoption, when you get on the
flight.
If that is something that is aconcern for you, they can be
very discreet about it.
It doesn't have to be, and Ican't guarantee you that it's
always discreet.
Sometimes it's not, but youdon't need to be discreet.
Think about it.
it's something that you need foryour safety.
(14:21):
And you deserve it just likeeverybody else deserves to have
a seatbelt for their safety, youdo too.
So if that's going to be therequirement for you to be safe
and be on the trip and havecomfort, then that's what you're
going to need.
And that's going to be theaccommodation that you need.
So there's nothing to be ashamedof if that is something that
you'll need to have to be safeto fly to wherever you're
(14:44):
traveling.
So just keep that in mind.
But yes, get out of your comfortzone and try different things.
Sightseeing, I sightsee bymyself as well.
I just find different thingsthat would accommodate a single
person.
That bus trip totally could havegone by myself and really
(15:06):
enjoyed it.
When I went to Nashville, I dida bus trip.
It was like a jump on and jumpoff trip and you buy your
ticket.
I did that by myself.
That was fun.
You just get your ticket, youget on the bus, they tour you
around, they make a stop.
If you want to stop and go visitthat part, you can go and jump
(15:26):
off and then another bus willpick you back up and you get to
do that all day long.
you get to see a whole bunch ofthings all at once.
And it's, there's no worriesthat you're by yourself or not.
This is hot in here.
I don't even know what to dowith myself.
I'm sweating.
So anyways, there's a lot to doand things that you could do to
accommodate yourself when you'resolo.
(15:46):
So don't let that hold you back.
Budgeting is also somethingthat, is important to do when
you want to travel by yourself,be flexible in your budget, but
also know where to splurge andwhere you can save, right?
Like I, have tried.
I'll just price out differentthings and I'll see, okay, is an
(16:10):
Airbnb a best place to stay?
Is an Airbnb like getting a roomor a little house or an
apartment or a condo.
Or if I'm in a shared space,like which one is the most
affordable and which one's safe.
Hotels, I like to stay athotels.
But I like to stay at ones thathave good reviews, that are
(16:30):
safe, that are walkablepotentially if that's in the
budget.
If they're not walkable, or isUber an option, or public
transportation that's safe anoption?
Do they have like a hotel busthat'll take you to a tourist
area and pick you back up,things like that.
There's just different ways, ifyou're flying somewhere, what is
(16:53):
the expense between Ubering tothe airport and driving your car
to the airport and leaving itthere and then paying for it
every single day?
Those are things to considerwhen you're trying to budget and
where you want to splurge andwhere you want to cut the
budget.
If you want to, make your ownmeals or have snacks and then
have one meal out.
(17:13):
Like I know a lot of times it'suncomfortable to go out and eat
alone.
So if you want to have likesnacks for yourself to keep
yourself, satiated, or you wantto make your own food at your
hotel or your apartment oranything, find which places are
going to accommodate that foryou.
(17:34):
Or if there's a restaurant inthe hotel, and that's a
comfortable place to eat on yourown, that's also a good option.
Just pay attention to thosethings when you're budgeting and
planning.
I think that's, one of the mostimportant things is the safety,
looking for safety and lookingfor the accommodations and which
ones you want to save on, whichones you want to splurge on.
(17:57):
But definitely safety isimportant.
I always tell my parents whathotel I'm staying at, what room
I'm in.
If I need to put my littlelocation tracker, I will if I'm
flying or something.
especially if I'm driving too,so they know if I'm stuck or in
a car accident or something,they can track a location to see
that I'm not getting to thedestination.
(18:19):
But I always keep somebody inmind that I can contact and have
that too.
When I'm in the hotel or in thespace, I write down emergency
contacts on a piece of paper andI leave it by the remote or I
leave it somewhere that ifsomething happens, somebody can
see, who I am and who mycontacts are and how they can
(18:41):
reach people that know me, stufflike that.
You just never know and it'salways better to be safe and
have that available than to not.
Again, reading about whereyou're staying, having any kind
of safety apps, keeping yourfriends in the loop.
Knowing a little bit about youraccommodations, those are the
most important ways to stay safein my opinion.
(19:04):
Sometimes if I'm in a place, Imight talk to, the front desk
person and just ask questionsabout, what's a good time to be
home.
just ask them about the localenvironment and see if there's
any where I should stay awayfrom and where, is a good place
to go.
Where are tourists andtravelers?
(19:25):
Are the locals friendly?
Are they not?
There's a lot of differentinformation that you can obtain
to make the best of your trip.
So that would be also somethingelse that I would recommend, but
take the time to meet new peoplewhile you're out there.
Again, there's different waysthat you can travel solo.
I many times travel solo and endup meeting people I know or
(19:50):
they're in a group that I was inonline.
Like I have tons of internetfriends all over the country and
I'm sure I could meet them forthe first time and become
friends and enjoy their town ortheir city that they're in, with
or without them.
But at least knowing thatthey're close by and they can
tell me a little bit about.
(20:11):
where they live and theirhometown and giving me some tips
on how to enjoy that vacation,if anything.
So yeah, decide how you want thevacation to go.
Do you want to go and be alone?
I've been to Corpus Christi bymyself and I just went to the
beach and I was just quiet andnobody but my family knew that I
(20:33):
was there.
I just, took a little break fromwork.
went to Corpus Christi forvacation, hung out at the beach.
It was very super chill.
I didn't do a whole lot and itwas a relaxing weekend.
Whereas other times I've goneand I was busy.
I flew into Philly one time tomeet one of my best friends.
(20:55):
She was getting married inDelaware I did meet them there.
We went quick Philly tour, wentto, New York, did a quick New
York tour around, got thehotspots, and then went to the
wedding in Delaware and thencame back.
But.
Just finding out what kind ofexperience do you want?
Do you want it to be alone?
Do you want it to be where youmeet friends?
(21:17):
Do you want to go alone and findnew friends and discover new
friends?
What is the goal of thevacation?
You might want to be adventuroussometimes, and sometimes you
just might want it to be quietand relax a little bit.
Take that time to grow andconnect with yourself, and
really embrace the experience.
the time that you're spendingdoing something independently
(21:38):
and getting that confidence totalk to people and meet new
people and just go out there andenjoy your life and experience
things that you've never been toor seen or experienced before.
So that's a really good way tofigure out who you are and what
you like and what you don'tlike.
It gets you out of your comfortzone and helps you practice
(22:01):
talking to people and gettingthat sense of if you feel safe,
how much do you want to share ornot share, it gives you those,
personal boundaries on how youwant to communicate with people.
And it just gives you thatpractice.
So it helps you share a littlebit more if you happen to be a
little more timid and don't wantto share a lot about you.
(22:24):
But also sometimes I tend toover share, but then I realized,
"Hey, it probably wasn't a goodidea to tell this person what
hotel it was at," or somethingdumb like that.
It really helped me, figure outwhat was okay to share and
whatnot and make betterdecisions in the future.
It's important to practice thosethings.
(22:45):
sometimes you make mistakes andsometimes you don't, but you
learn through it and justoverall choose the safer side
than not, but also experienceyour life.
I've never done it, but I wouldtotally do it.
There's also traveling groups ofsolo people.
You can find different travelinggroups that you can sign up to
(23:06):
go by yourself, but it's reallya group, in the end, you end up
having a group of people, butyou're going by yourself, like
when I went to Nashville.
I knew there were going to bepeople that I, somewhat knew
that they were in the same eventthat I was going to, so there
was gonna be a lot of people, alot of women that were going to
go to the same event and do the5k or the 10k or the half
(23:30):
marathon, that they've beenworking really hard and training
for it and, communicating onlinefor a while, and even though I
knew nobody, I was able to feelright at home the second that I
walked in the door of thathotel.
There was this breath of freshair that I felt like.
This whole entire hotel is fullof women just like me.
And that was a really goodfeeling to have.
(23:51):
So if you go to these travelgroups, they're solo independent
travelers, but they're aroundyour age, they might be all
women, and you might createthese beautiful friendships that
can flourish and that you guyscan go independently to see each
other at each other's towns.
So it's a really good way tomeet people as well, but yet
(24:13):
you're still in a group settingthat you get to feel a little
bit more safe than if you wereto completely go by yourself.
Because at least if you're inthese groups, they know where
you are and you can havesomebody, keep tabs of you as
well, like the program, right?
So I would definitely recommenddoing that if it was too
(24:35):
intimidating to just go out.
Start small.
You don't have to go to theother side of the world on your
first travel trip.
Just if it's a staycation andyou just want to go to a hotel
in your town, like again, I livein Houston.
It's a big town.
If I want to stay downtown andget a hotel, which I have done
(24:57):
plenty of times just to get awayfrom my own space and just make
myself feel special and dosomething nice to myself that
was like a self care thing.
Just go to another hotel.
I get out, do things in townthat I don't normally do because
I don't want to drive in there,and enjoy that part of town and
(25:17):
then stay at the hotel and gohome.
Like you can do that becauseyou're still in the comfort of
your area, but you're stilldoing something different and
you're getting out of yourcomfort zone just a little bit,
but you always know that home isright around the corner.
So that's a great way to startlike practicing solo travel.
And then again, take a littleroad trip, maybe two hours away,
(25:40):
maybe three hours away, and thenwork your way up into doing
bigger things like flyingsomewhere, or taking an
international trip or doing oneof those websites where you have
group solo travelers.
So anyways, I just really wantedto share my experience of
traveling and I just reallyenjoyed that trip to DC and
(26:02):
meeting my coworkers and it juststruck a light in me that I
figured it was a goodopportunity to share how much I
enjoy solo travel and howamazing and awesome my life has
been and how many friendshipsthat I've created through
traveling alone.
(26:22):
And just, I've just learned somuch about myself.
So I just wanted to share thatand give you that opportunity in
your head to think about it anddo something like that for
yourself as well.
So that is all I have for todayand I will talk to you next
week.
Thanks.
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