Travel Tales – Paris

Last week, I went on my first solo trip to Paris. So many things (positive and negative) went through my mind the night before and the morning of my first ever solo adventure. In this post, I’m going to be sharing my experiences with you all. I do also want to share some tips with you as a first time solo traveller, which I will do in a later post.

I had been planning to make another trip to France (I’ve been twice already) for a few months and early last month, I just thought to myself ‘What the hell, stop procrastinating and book that trip!’. So I booked a hotel first and then I decided to use the Eurostar Snap service to book my tickets (£118 return is pretty impressive!) so if you plan on taking Eurostar anytime soon, you might want to check that out.

On the train, I was so nervous. I had never travelled alone before but when I arrived at Gare Du Nord and went to the information desk, asking how I could get to my hotel, I suddenly felt this surge of confidence in me and I knew that I would be just fine. I bought a 3 day travel pass and made my way to my hotel. I stayed in Saint Cloud which is a beautiful commune about 30 – 40 minutes away from all the city’s main attractions. As I was a little far from Paris, I knew I had to shake my tiredness off immediately and go and explore the beautiful city.

I visited a variety of attractions during my stay including Champs-Elysees (yes, my bank account is still crying), Arc De Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame.

I also ate at some pretty amazing places. I just love eating in other countries – even though I don’t experiment with food. Travelling alone was so empowering because you are in charge of your own experiences – you aren’t making decisions with anyone so you feel a lot more independent than if you were travelling with friends.

One place I really enjoyed visiting was The Louvre. I bought my tickets in advance because my cousin told me it does get busy during the summer months. I was impressed by  all the beautiful artwork. I found that once I looked at one exhibition, I wanted to see the others straight away. For me, as an art and museum lover, I was in heaven. The Ancient Egypt collection was my personal favourite. I do wish I had gotten the chance to see the Mona Lisa and go on the Beyonce and Jay-Z inspired tour.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first solo trip. It was great to see places I’d never seen before and just enjoy my own company. I think that everyone should travel solo at least once in their lifetime.

Have you ever travelled alone? What was your experience like? or are you thinking about taking your first solo trip? Let me know in the comments xo