A lot of people expound the innumerable benefits and positives of travelling, getting out of a rut and letting loose solo. While that sounds like a spiffy deal, what these people don’t take into account is that this easy suggestion actually poses a pretty difficult conundrum for introverts. Extroverts might have the best damn time on a solo trip, but for an introvert, the prospect of having to interact with and meet new people constantly can be a draining, almost frightening experience, which is why they need a special kind of push to make that leap.
Inspiration can strike in the strangest of ways, and for Rishdeep Thind, it was in the form of a Reddit post. At the age of 28, Thind quit his job, collected his savings and left the UK to travel, all because of a picture he saw on Reddit of a dude chilling the fuck out on a hammock in what is seemingly paradise.
This is the picture that changed Rishdeep Thind’s life and made him decide on his travel goals. He found it while scrolling on Reddit and instantly fell in love with it.
He contacted the man who had posted that particular picture on Reddit and was further encouraged by him to move out of his place and see the world. However, Thind didn’t take the big decision at once. He took eight long months to make up his mind for it.
“It reignited the passion I had as a teenager to go travel the world, something that I’d lost the passion for because you get stuck in a routine life,” he told Insider.
Thind is documenting all that he is experiencing on his journey with a 360-degree camera on his blog, 360Backpacking.
Thind, who describes himself an introvert, further added, “I had pretty much stuck to the same circle of friends I’ve had throughout my life. To overcome that was a big issue.”
After eight months of decision making, he spent three weeks in Thailand exploring the exotic city all alone.
“I remember the first night when I arrived in Bangkok…there were a bunch of people sitting around chatting with each other, and just approaching someone was really, really difficult for me, to get over that fear of saying ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ or ‘Can I join you?'”
However, he was invited over by a fellow solo traveller to have a drink and it was then that he realised the joy of meeting new people and how it was different from meeting people back at home.
“You can literally approach anyone because they’re all in the same boat as you. They’re all travelling alone. They all want to interact with each other, as opposed to back at home if you were to approach a random stranger.”
“It’s the best thing I could have ever done. Literally life-changing for me.”
Thind not only recreated the photograph that inspired him to take the big plunge…
… but also posted his experiences on the same platform. And guess what? He received a message from another user six months later saying that Thind inspired him to go to Thailand. Can you believe it?
Rishdeep Thind is currently backpacking in Central America and plans to cover South America and Southeast Asia in the near future.
Because all you need is a little push and a handful of courage to check items off your bucket list.