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5-MINUTE FRIDAY: I Was Frightened to Travel Solo — Until I Took My First Trip · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Emily a Badi here. You are listening to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: five Minute Friday from Hurdle. This is kind of weird because,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: as you may be listening to this in real time,
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  Speaker 1: I am currently in Singapore. I'll be here for five
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: days until I head to Tokyo, and I'm doing it
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: all so low. It is absolutely wild. I feel like
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to you from the future. My thoughts are
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: entirely sporadic and yeah, wow, I am going to do
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a massive recap from this trip and share as I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: typically do the recap from the marathon that I'm running
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: on Sunday to third about a week and a half
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: after it happens, so stay tuned for that. But in
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  Speaker 1: the meantime, in honor of the fact that I am
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: traveling solo again, I wanted to bring a story from
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  Speaker 1: my first ever solo trip to the feed this week
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: for five Minute Friday. Now. I never really aspired to
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: travel alone. In fact, I, although I would do it
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for work, felt as though for the longest time that
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: planning a trip by myself meant that I was doing
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  Speaker 1: something wrong. It meant that in my mind I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: find someone to do something with me and even maybe
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  Speaker 1: a little bit further than that, if I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: take it to that next step. It was at one
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: point saddening for me because I wanted to be taking
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: these trips not only with friends, but also perhaps with
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: some sort of a partner. Now spoiler alert if you
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: don't know, I'm single. I'm in my mid thirties. And
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the era in my life that I first decided to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: throw these narratives away was about, I want to say,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: seven years ago. I was living on the Upper East
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  Speaker 1: Side and I was living on my own, and I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: remember distinctly talking to a girlfriend about the concept of
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: solo travel. And this was a friend that did it
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: regularly at the time, and she said to me, well,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: why don't you reframe the way that you're thinking about
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  Speaker 1: solo travel. If you're already living alone and spending a
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: lot of time on your own and enjoy doing that
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  Speaker 1: here in New York, then why would it be any
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  Speaker 1: different somewhere else. And that was the first time that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I started to think, Okay, maybe this could be something
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  Speaker 1: that's good for me. I got out of a relationship
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the same relationship that ended that triggered me to create
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  Speaker 1: what you're listening to right now, and I was totally
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: in my Eat Prey Love chapter and made the call.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I said, I'm going to go for it. What's the
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  Speaker 1: worst that could happen? And so I booked my first
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  Speaker 1: ever solo trip to Italy, and candidly I was frightened.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I booked it for ten days. I got an apartment.
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  Speaker 1: I planned one thing that excited me for each and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: every day. So maybe that was a tour or a meal,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: or some sort of a class or an activity. I
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  Speaker 1: remember during that trip I was training for the Boston
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  Speaker 1: Marathon and I did twenty two miles around the cobblestone
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: streets of Florence, and oh my god, that is one
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: thing I will never ever, ever forget. The hobbling to
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  Speaker 1: a restaurant afterward and eating Pasa in the sun like
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the world's largest beer. Oh, it was everything that's right
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in the world. Anyway, I digress. I was frightened to
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  Speaker 1: go on this trip, and I recall that I got
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: into the uber on my way to the airport and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I cried. And by the time I pulled up to
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  Speaker 1: the departures and got my bags and went through security
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  Speaker 1: and got on the plane, the emotions that I had
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  Speaker 1: they weren't gone, but the tears were done. I did
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  Speaker 1: not cry for the rest of that ten day trip.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I felt more free and so proud of myself,
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  Speaker 1: so rejuvenated, so excited for the opportunities that lay ahead
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  Speaker 1: of me. And I tell you this story because I
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: reflect on the stories that I was telling myself before
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  Speaker 1: I just went for it, the stories that were holding
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  Speaker 1: me back from doing something that it really impacted me
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  Speaker 1: for the better. So often I'm guilty of this. We're
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: guilty of this right, of allowing a false narration, a story,
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  Speaker 1: something that's not rooted in fact, to hold us back,
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  Speaker 1: to prevent us from doing something that could be so excellent.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: And so for my listener prompt this week, I encourage
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  Speaker 1: you to ask yourself, what story are you telling yourself?
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  Speaker 1: And is there any fact to that? Or are you
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the only thing standing in your own way? What story
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  Speaker 1: are you telling yourself and are you standing in your
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: own way? I'm telling you solo travel to this day
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  Speaker 1: one of my absolute favorite things. I would love to
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: talk more about it. So if you have any questions,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: anything you want to know, feel free as always to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: click on over to the show notes and leave me
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a voice message. I'll answer it in an upcoming episode
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of the show. And with that a listener question.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Hi, Emily, it's Katie. I jumped on the early bird
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: pricing for the every Woman's Marathon, which is not until November.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: What is the best way to prepare so long before
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  Speaker 2: training cycle begins. I love following a plan. I love
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: to move some way every day, but I don't want
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: to do too much or too little with a huge
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  Speaker 2: goal that's ten months away. Thanks for listening. I'm looking
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: forward to your ideas as always.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: You just reminded me that there is definitely an email
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: in my inbox about this marathon, which sounds kind of
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  Speaker 1: fun for those that might not be in the loop.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: There is a new marathon this year called the every
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  Speaker 1: Woman's Marathon. It is sponsored by Milk and it is
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  Speaker 1: on November sixteenth, and basically the goal is to create
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  Speaker 1: our race and community experience for women by women. As
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  Speaker 1: far as what someone should do in the meantime. For
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  Speaker 1: some context, if you are running a marathon in mid
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  Speaker 1: to late November, you wouldn't start training for this marathon
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  Speaker 1: until about sixteen weeks out, which means that you are
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  Speaker 1: getting after it at the end of July beginning of August.
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  Speaker 1: If my math does me right, so I would encourage you,
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  Speaker 1: dear hurdler, to do things that excite you right now.
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  Speaker 1: Find an activity that lights you up, and if it
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  Speaker 1: can better you for that training cycle when you get there,
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  Speaker 1: then all the better. Something that runners often skip out
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: on is strength training, so maybe now is a really
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: great time to incorporate that regularly into your routine. If
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you want to start that training cycle with some sort
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of a base. You don't need to overdo it, but
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  Speaker 1: I would encourage you to get to a place where
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you're running between maybe twenty and thirty miles a week
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  Speaker 1: and that feels attainable. It doesn't feel like a super
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: super hard, as we know with any sort of fitness routine.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: If you like what you're doing, and if you do
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  Speaker 1: it with friends, you're more likely to keep on keeping on,
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  Speaker 1: So enjoy yourself right now. Marathon training has so many rewards,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: but it can also get a little monotonous, so no
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: need to rush into that just yet. Also heavy heavy
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: encouragement on flexibility immobility training. This is something you'll never
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: regret incorporating into your routine, regardless of what your health
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and wellness goals are especially as we get older. It
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: is so important. I swear my once weekly twice weekly
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: yoga classes feel like the greatest gift that I give
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: myself on the regular. Make sure you're following along with
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: hurdle over on social It's at Hurdle podcast. I am
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: over at Emily a body, another hurdle conquered. Catch you
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: guys next time.