Episode 52: Reflecting Back on One Year of the One Girl Travel Podcast

Have you ever felt the need to break away from routine and explore the unknown? As I took my first solo trip to Florida, I didn't realize then that I was setting off on a journey of self-discovery. This episode is a tribute to the transformative power of solo travel, as I share my personal experiences of breaking from my comfort zone, and learning to embrace self-love, confidence, and worthiness. 

Over the past year, I've had the pleasure of hosting the One Girl Travel Podcast and building the One Girl Travel Club, and the journey has been replete with challenges and triumphs. The importance of taking action, staring down fear and being persistent when starting something new cannot be overstated. It's not just about traveling alone but about embracing a lifestyle of self-exploration and growth. So join me, as I offer an honest and uplifting look at how taking the road less traveled has transformed my life, and how it can do the same for you.

If you enjoyed this episode of the One Girl Travel Podcast, then I invite you to follow me on Instagram. That's where all the fun is happening! @ONE_GIRL_TRAVEL

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the One Girl Travel Podcast, episode number 52.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Welcome to the One Girl Travel Podcast, your passport to the world of solo travel with certified life and travel coach, Alessia Tenebruso. Join Alessia as she shares her own journey of self-discovery through solo travel, while also focusing on topics such as life coaching insights and travel tips along the way. Now here's your host, Alessia Tenebruso.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Welcome to the one year anniversary episode of the One Girl Travel Podcast. I can't believe we're here, one year of this podcast, and I have so much to share with you this week. I actually, if you haven't noticed, I missed last week. I was so sick, I relapsed from COVID and I completely lost my voice and I was so devastated that I had a miss recording the one year anniversary on the correct date. And again we just you know you learn how to pivot and to take some time for yourself, take care of yourself. And now we're here and it's one year of the podcast and I want to start this episode off just by thanking you for being here and for listening and for supporting me and the One Girl Travel worlds and community and being a part of it. I truly appreciate you. I appreciate you tuning in, interacting with me on social media, being a part of the One Girl Travel Club, being my friend, all of it. I love you, thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:46

And this episode. I really want to reflect on this journey in hopes of inspiring you on your own personal journey, because this journey has been a work in progress for over a decade and it wasn't easy and it wasn't comfortable and it was worth it and it's still going strong and we're going to keep growing with time and building and learning and doing all the things. And I want to help you with your own personal journey. Whether it's solo travel related or just related to anything you want to do in life, it all works together. It's all connected and that's why I'm here and that's why I share with you my life, my trips, what I've learned over the years, and I'm so grateful to have this podcast as a resource for me to communicate that with you all. So let's get into it. So I want to start just by resharing my story quickly, because I know I've shared it with you on the introductory episode a year ago.

Speaker 1: 3:03

And basically, how I began this solo travel journey was due to the fact that I had just gotten out of my first adult long term relationship that happened to be mentally abusive and when that relationship ended, I no longer knew who I was as a person. I lost myself. I lost my identity. I depended on him for so much that I just didn't know who I was without that relationship and I knew that I needed to do something to rediscover myself and to figure out who I am as a person and I knew I needed to do something I have never done before and that was something outside of my comfort zone. And I chose solo travel because at that time I was scared to do anything by myself. I wouldn't go to the mall by myself, I wouldn't go to a fast food restaurant, I wouldn't do anything by myself. I needed somebody with me at all times and I certainly did not feel comfortable having conversations with strangers or dining by myself nothing. So the fact that I chose solo travel was so completely outside of my comfort zone and such a stretch for me and I decided I needed to do it if I wanted to figure out who I was.

Speaker 1: 4:31

And my first solo trip was a trip to Florida. I chose somewhere that I was comfortable with but also have never gone by myself before, and I went and from the moment I got on my plane I sat next to somebody that was around my age and he happened to be a solo traveler. And for the first time in my life I had a conversation with a stranger on a plane and he shared all of his solo travel stories with me and pictures, and it just felt like the universe put him on my path for this journey and I was so grateful to have him as the first person I met while on my solo travel journey. And during that trip I did a lot of firsts I spoke to strangers, had the conversations with them, I made new friends, I did an excursion, I dined by myself, I spent time alone with my own thoughts which is probably the most significant of all of those things and I survived and I actually kind of liked it and I decided I wanted to keep going and to learn even more about myself. And then I continued with a cruise my first ever cruise and I went to Bermuda out of New York and I immediately made a friend there and I made more friends and I felt more confident and I learned more about myself and I did more things and I felt really good about it and I knew I needed to keep going and I continued traveling the world.

Speaker 1: 6:12

I went to Europe by myself for the first time I've been all over and I made friends all over the world and I'm so grateful for those friendships and for the people I've met along the way. And with each trip I unlocked something new about myself and I learned what I was capable of and I learned confidence and self-love. I think self-love is one of the biggest benefits of solo travel that my journey has taught me, because I struggled with body image and having love for myself for most of my life and it wasn't until I began solo traveling that I formed this relationship with myself, where I truly became my own best friend and I practiced positive self-talk, I cheered myself on, I learned to love my own company, I learned to be proud of myself and confident and to know my worth and just truly love who I am and, yeah, that has truly been the greatest gift, for sure, because that is something I use every second of the day and to have that relationship with yourself where you are your own best friend and you love the person that you are and you enjoy your own company. That is priceless and that is something that you can also learn through solo travel, and I hope you do. Especially if that's something you struggle with. I urge you to begin taking time for yourself and traveling by yourself and getting to know who you really are, so you can learn to appreciate yourself and to know your worth and that way, everybody else around you in your life knows your worth as well, because you're setting that example for yourself. And besides all of that, I got to travel and I got to grow and I learned how to take risks. I believe in myself, and that led me to taking a trip in 2019 to Paris, my first ever time going to Paris.

Speaker 1: 8:32

I went with my mentor on a trip that I desired to go on for many years and I finally figured out a way to go. And on that trip, I had this epiphany while in Paris that I wanted to bring women solo traveling. I wanted to show them what solo travel can do, and I had this feeling come over me while I was in Paris and I declared it at the dinner table on our last night of this trip. And ever since that moment that I declared it and I said the words out loud that I knew what I wanted to do, I kept moving forward and I started the One Girl Travel Instagram page and then LLC'd the name One Girl Travel, which I don't think I shared with all of you. I owned onegirltravelcom for several years before this even happened, before my epiphany, I had the email address One Girl Travel for several years prior. I always knew I was gonna do something with it, but I didn't know what, and I trusted in that fact. And when I did have that realization in Paris, I knew exactly what it was. I knew it was One Girl Travel and that One Girl Travel was born in Paris officially.

Speaker 1: 9:53

And it's just been such a rewarding journey to know that when I share my struggles and my growth and my journey with all of you and it inspires you to take action on your life and to start traveling by yourself or dining by yourself or meeting new people or just taking the initiative on your dreams if I have some small part in that because of what I shared with you, my job is done Like that is. All I've wanted was to inspire people with my story so I can help them realize that you have so much potential and you just have to trust in yourself and you have to believe that you're capable and know that you're worth the effort and that discomfort is temporary and it will get easier. But just to take action and to start. I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea. I'm learning as I go. We're only human. None of us are going to start something new and be an expert at it. We're going to learn as we go, and the same goes for this podcast.

Speaker 1: 11:12

I decided on when to start a podcast. I didn't know how to start a podcast. I knew I needed a microphone and software to record on and a nice intro and somewhere to host it. And within a weekend I had it all set up and I released the first episode. You don't have to overthink everything, whether it's podcast or a trip. Don't overthink it. Figure out the basics of what you need to do and then start taking action. And the same goes for starting the One Girl Travel Club my membership. I am so proud of that membership and for my members' progress and for the work that's being done there, and I'm so excited to grow it and have it develop over the upcoming years.

Speaker 1: 12:01

But when I started that membership, I've never created anything like that before. I had to figure it out. I had to learn how to build a website and to market and send out emails and all of the things, and it's scary. It's scary to put yourself out there and again, this covers anything that you can possibly imagine that you want to do in your life. It can be so terrifying to start something new, especially when you're not sure if you're going to succeed or not, especially when you're putting yourself out there for other people to judge. But the most important thing is knowing why you want to do it, why do you want to start the business, why do you want to take the solo trip, what do you want to get out of it, and knowing your reason and knowing that that reason is worth you feeling uncomfortable and worth you putting yourself out there for other people to judge and worth failing for. And I know I say it all the time, but you really can't fail as long as you learn something, as long as you know that you tried and maybe things didn't go your way, but you keep going and you pivot and you learn from it and you create something from it and over time you'll get there. But it's going to take time. It's going to take time to feel comfortable traveling by yourself or feel comfortable dining by yourself or going to a concert by yourself, starting a business, whatever it is.

Speaker 1: 13:42

One girl. Travel is not about a vacation. It's about the solo travel lifestyle. That's what I love to remind you all about, because a lot of people think solo travel okay, I went on a solo trip, I'm done, I did it, that's it. No, what did you learn when you put yourself out there? What did you learn when you spent time with your own thoughts? What were you telling yourself when you were uncomfortable sitting by yourself at a restaurant? How did you navigate that and how are you going to implement that into your everyday life for you to feel more comfortable, for you to get stronger, for you to get braver?

Speaker 1: 14:21

This is a work we do in the One Girl Travel Club. This is work we do with one-on-one coaching, and I want to help as many of you as possible. I wanna help you build the life that you desire and again, whether it's solo traveling or starting a business, it's all related. It's all about feeling confident in yourself to do whatever it is that you want in life, and not waiting around for somebody to give you that break or to hold your hand or to give you the bonus. It's about creating your own life and I absolutely love helping people and I wanna help you with whatever it is you need.

Speaker 1: 15:06

So, if you're interested in one-on-one coaching, joining the One Girl Travel Club, joining me in Italy, because there's only two spots left. I am here for whatever you need. There are so many ways to access me and work with me and I cannot wait to help you, and we have a long road ahead of us. My friends, this is just the beginning. I can't wait to see what we create together and what's to come, because there are big things ahead and I am so excited for the next year of podcasts and I wanna make sure that I am giving you the content that you want.

Speaker 1: 15:46

So please make sure to reach out to me. Let me know what you wanna hear on the podcast. What topics do you want covered? If you wanna guest on the podcast, let me know. I wanna hear from you. This is just as much your podcast as it is mine, so let's do this together. Let's start breaking down our own boundaries. Let's start getting outside our comfort zone, doing the things that we wanna do, taking action and creating the lives that we want. We got this. Thank you so much for being here with me and I can't wait to talk to you again next week. Have an amazing day and thank you for one year.

Speaker 2: 16:29

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the One Girl Travel Podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can find out more about your host on our website, onegirltravelcom, or follow her on Instagram, facebook, pinterest and TikTok. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.