When folks consider girls travelling solo, the very first thing that involves thoughts is security and societal judgement. Nonetheless, singer, songwriter, content material author, and traveller Amanda Sodhi didn’t permit judgemental feedback put a hamper on her travelling. She lived out of her suitcase for a whole 12 months and travelled throughout ten cities.
Born and raised in Washington DC, Amanda Sodhi moved again to India and lived in Mumbai and Kolkata. Nonetheless, none of those locations felt like dwelling. As a single lady in her 30s, she started feeling misplaced and struggled to seek out the place she belonged. Then, she went on a year-long journey to seek out herself and lived out of 1 suitcase.
The content material author and social media marketing consultant took benefit of her life-style as a digital nomad and balanced work, journey, and judgemental appears for a 12 months as she travelled from metropolis to metropolis. She additionally took the chance to pursue freelance tasks as a singer, songwriter, voice-over artist and filmmaker.
Sodhi’s first solo journey journey passed off after she moved to Los Angeles when she was 23. Sodhi’s pals weren’t out there to go on a visit, so she went alone. Why delay her plans when she was able to travelling on her personal?
In an interview with SheThePeople, Amanda Sodhi spoke about what sparked her curiosity in journey, her experiences with residing out of her suitcase, and the challenges of being a feminine solo traveller.
Interview With Amanda Sodhi
What Sparked Her Curiosity In Journey?
Whereas Amanda Sodhi’s first solo journey passed off when she was 23, she typically heard tales of her father’s fondness for travelling. Sadly, monetary restrictions and rising up in a strict household meant that travelling alone was out of the query.
Her first solo journey was to the Grand Canyon, which had been on her bucket checklist for a while. Since Las Vegas occurred to be alongside the way in which, she ventured there. Why didn’t Sodhi select to journey with a bunch of pals as a substitute? It’s easy, they weren’t out there on the time.
“My pals weren’t getting break day on the similar time, and it didn’t make sense to delay my plans after I may go on my own. I realised travelling solo isn’t that large of a deal, and from then onward, I haven’t actually shied away from going anyplace alone,” stated Sodhi.
She added that being a solo traveller didn’t imply she would thoughts having firm. “It’s simply that I don’t see any purpose to sit down there twiddling my thumbs, hoping somebody will accompany me after I can simply go and discover the world alone, as a substitute.”
Amanda Sodhi
Recommended Studying: Why Do We Nonetheless Have Issues With Ladies Touring Alone?
Residing Out Of One Suitcase For A Yr
Sodhi spoke in regards to the idea of dwelling and the way the locations she lived in by no means felt like dwelling. She stated, “Individuals at all times equate dwelling with household, and on the time I made a decision to embark upon the journey of residing out of a suitcase for 12 months throughout 10 cities, I used to be estranged from my household fully – by alternative – and puzzled what dwelling may presumably imply for me if I don’t equate it with my organic household per se.”
Sodhi determined to go to a special metropolis every month whereas sitting in a shikara at Dal Lake on Diwali in 2020. She needed to do one thing constructive and check out a minimalistic way of life to see whether or not her definition of dwelling modified.
Sodhi additionally stated, “It’s additionally very difficult in your 30s as a single lady in India – culturally, folks have a look at their cousins as their major circle of pals, after which many individuals have a look at their companions’ pals as their subsequent circle of pals. You start feeling misplaced.”
Travelling additionally gave Sodhi the chance to work on her inventive retailers. “A inventive particular person must expertise and observe life. Travelling teaches me loads – it permits me to know folks throughout cultures. And, I’m certain these insights do subconsciously make their means into my work,” Sodhi shares.
Her travels impressed her to start engaged on a memoir about her journey residing out of a suitcase for 12 months throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The memoir is tentatively titled Twelve Steps To Hope.
As a self-described digital nomad, Sodhi may stability her skilled profession and inventive endeavours as she travelled via India. She clarified that digital nomads labored remotely, not folks on a “everlasting trip”. Sodhi allotted sure days every week to discover new locations and the tradition, the remainder of the time, she was residing a “fairly regular life” as she labored on her content material writing and digital advertising and marketing tasks for purchasers.
Challenges Of Being A Feminine Solo Traveller
In an anticipated flip of occasions, folks’s judgement was probably the most difficult facet of being a feminine solo traveller. Sodhi stated, “I bear in mind one ex-client instructed me it’ll be very tough to get married since males and their mother and father will assume I should have had an affair in each metropolis I visited and am ‘characterless’”.
Sodhi admitted that she got here throughout a number of males who disapproved that she was a girl who went the place ever she needed whereas they needed to ask their mother and father for permission. She additionally needed to endure via folks’s taunts similar to, “solo traveller ho toh poori zindagi solo hello rehna”.
Sodhi added, “I don’t know if male solo travellers get this a lot hate – however, I’ve seen lots of people really feel jealousy and insecurity when a girl lives her life to the fullest.”
Amanda Sodhi in Alleppey Kerala
Travelling solo for a 12 months could have been an enriching expertise, nevertheless it additionally took a toll on Sodhi’s bodily and psychological well being. Having to uproot herself as quickly as she started to settle into a spot took its toll, and there have been occasions when Sodhi felt down within the dumps.
Nonetheless, the avid traveller pushed via by promising to “give up to the method for the entire 12 months and waft”. Her purpose of writing a memoir in regards to the journey motivated her to maintain going and never give up midway via her year-long journey.
“Typically that you must willingly quit the phantasm of being in management,” stated Sodhi.
Recommendation To Ladies Who Need To Take Up Solo Journey
Sodhi suggested girls to journey solo just a few occasions to understair their capabilities. She stated, “It’s essential to discover ways to get pleasure from your organization. Once you journey solo, you lastly perceive you don’t want to make use of folks you already know as crutches – you might be completely able to doing something you need alone, and that’s a liberating realisation to reach at.”