“Being open minded and having the courage to submerse yourself into another culture, and then to discover and appreciate that you can adapt to any circumstance, will serve you well in any job situation that you find yourself in,” Young said.
Tips for Going Solo Study the history of the region, the language and the customs. Pre-arrange where to stay and how to travel from one city or country to another. Check with the State Department for any warnings about the country you will visit. Pack lightly; solo travelers packed down with too much luggage are easy targets.
“Out of the six and a half weeks that I was in Europe, I booked a room for eight days in Rome and then made reservations to stay two weeks in Paris and then my flight home from London was 10 days later. Those were the only definite plans I had,” Young said. “I discovered that traveling alone, you find serenity in solitude.” The lesson of not having every minute of her schedule planned and learning to manage the chaos of spontaneity in a strange land led Young to find the feeling of internal peace. “Being open minded and having the courage to submerse yourself into another culture, and then to discover and appreciate that you can adapt to any circumstance, will serve you well in any job situation that you find yourself in,” Young said. Young started her job at Exxon Mobil. After her initial 16 weeks of on-thejob training, she will use her education and chemical engineering experience to
Bagley College of Engineering
help the company market their products worldwide. She says her travel experience made her more grounded in the belief of standing by her word, to never secondguess decisions and to live life with positive internal affirmations. “I think something that we can all strive for is to not necessarily gauge our success on the amount of money we make or the company we work for,” Young offered. “But evaluate ourselves more along the lines of what is most important and that is the question of, ‘Is what we are doing making us happy? Do we have the time to spend with family and friends? Do we take the time to smell the roses and enjoy that long meal or vacation?’” For more information about Young’s adventure of self-discovery, please visit her blog, The Miss from Mississippi at http:// www.themissfromiss.blogspot.com. ________________________________ Written by Diane L. Godwin dlgodwin@bagley.msstate.edu
Don’t be afraid to make friends, but analyze the person first and make the initial contact to avoid scams. Be observant. Walk with confidence; solo travelers are less likely to become targets when they’re aware of their surroundings. When checking into a hotel, ask for a room near the elevator to avoid walking down long, low-lit hallways. Ask the hotel clerk to write down the room number instead of saying it out loud. Avoid hanging a filled-out breakfast card on your door— doing so lets people know you’re alone in the room and it creates an opportunity for you to open the door to someone other than room service. Arrive during the day to get your bearings and sense of direction before dark.
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