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Today I'm taking you back to the very beginning, where I first fell in love with travel! I was 26, newly single and although I loved my holidays I had never really thought about travelling, especially solo but something that year changed inside me and I have not been the same since!
We’ve all been there, something happens in your life and you just want to get away from it all and for the first time in my life I wanted to get away by myself. I wanted to take time for myself, do what I wanted to do and step completely out of my comfort zone, so I decided to dip my toe in the solo travelling pool.
Being my first solo trip I booked only for 2 weeks, 2 weeks alone sounded like enough to begin with and being my first trip I decided to join, what I thought at the time was, an organised group tour. That turned out to be more of an individual tour, but it was organised, which made me feel more comfortable, knowing where you are staying, what you will be doing and having an experienced guide with you really does help if you are nervous about travelling alone.
I searched for days for the perfect trip, there are so many to choose from, volunteering in Africa, Adventures across Europe, seeing the wonders around South America, working with animals or local families. How do you decide! I eventually found a company working with elephants (my favourite animals) in Africa, unfortunately this trip fell through but the company I was booking through mentioned they had another trip working with Elephants but in Sri Lanka. At this point I didn't know much about Sri Lanka but I was so excited to find out and so glad I took their advice!
Sri Lanka is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to. A developing country, with the friendliest people, breathtaking landscapes and the most delicious food! As you fly into Sri Lanka you can see from the air how stunning the country is, pristine beaches and turquoise waters to lush rainforests and mountain ranges.
I was lucky enough that the accommodation I was to be staying in was a traditional Sri Lankan house, at the end of a dirty track, in a local village, surrounded by beautiful rain forest, the sound of animals nattering in the trees, insects clicking outside the windows and children playing down the street, it was so surreal.
The main part of my itinerary was volunteering at an Elephant Orphanage. The orphanage was a captive breeding and conservation institute for wild Asian elephants, it was founded to care and protect the many orphaned unweaned wild elephants found wandering in and near the forests of Sri Lanka. My days consisted of clearing and cleaning the elephant houses, washing the baby elephants and sitting for hours just watching these magnificent animals grazing in their fields and bathing in the river.
I say the main part of the itinerary was volunteering but I think on this trip I only spent 6 days out of the 2 weeks actually working. Volunteering trips aren't all about work, and when you are staying with a local family they really go out of their way to immerse you into local life and show you what their country has to offer.
My evenings were spent relaxing in the village, the Sri Lankan people are so welcoming, they invited me over for dinner, asked me to join in on traditional games they gathered to play (may not of understood what was happening but it was still fun) and just trying to soak up everything that was going on around me. One evening was spent giving out donated bags of rice to each family in the village, a tradition that was started by a local lady who wanted to help her community.
We spent time visiting different parts of Sri Lanka, learning about the culture and seeing some of the wonderful places it has to offer.
We had a day in Negombo, a famous fishing town with an energetic fish market and colourful fishing boats where we relaxed on the beach, eating delicious fresh food and enjoyed a few cocktails.
We visited the capital of Sri Lanka, Columbo, where we went to one of the most important temples in the city, Gangaramaya Temple. A buddhist temple with a mix of modern architecture and cultural essence. It is a temple and museum all under one roof containing a multitude of gifts given to the temple over the years including a very out of place Rolls Royce by the temple doors.
We had a girls weekend wandering the streets of Kandy, the largest city in central Sri Lanka. Although we always felt safe in Sri Lanka, we did find out our taxi driver, who was a family friend of our host, turned into our bodyguard when we received a little hassle from shop owners. Sri Lanken people really do treat you like family and watch out for you like you are one of their own. We visited The Temple of Tooth, a buddhist temple which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha, a tea plantation to witness the production of the finest tea in the world and soaked up the atmosphere around the Bogambara Lake.
One of my favourite days was the day we took all the children who were living in the nearby boys orphanage out on a day trip. The orphanage was a place where children aged 6 - 14 were placed when families could no longer take care of them. A place you would think was full of sorrow, housed 14 boys who were some of the happiest people I've met. We all piled into a mini bus for a day at the aquarium. The first stop though was a temple where all the children changed into their temple clothes and led us into the temple and showed us how to pray. Everybody in Sri Lanka was so respectful of their religion from young children to the elderly and took time out of their busy schedules to worship Buddha when they had the chance. We then made our way to Water World, an aquatic park with underwater tunnels, tanks & ponds, plus exotic birds. This was the first underwater tunnel in southeast Asia, a fun and educational day out for the children and for us topped off with a stop at a roadside restaurant with the most delicious food (Sri Lankan food is still my favourite in the world).
This trip opened my eyes to a whole new world, different experiences, a different culture and a whole new way of living. This is where I caught the travel bug!
A few years later during my 6 months trip to southeast Asia, I had a free week in between Vietnam and China. We discussed a lot of countries to visit but decided to head back to Sri Lanka to show my 2 good friends why I fell in love with Asia in the first place.
The second visit didn't start great, we had a terrible flight over and the airline lost 2 of our bags so we were borrowing clothes for the first few days until they were found and returned. When travelling remember to always keep a spare set of clothes in your hand luggage just in case! But once we pulled up to ‘my house’ all the stress disappeared, it was just as beautiful as the first time I saw it. We returned to the elephant orphanage, spent a few days on the beach, visited Columbo, went on a river cruise through the mango trees, stopped at a little island to see a 400 year old Hindu temple, were taught how to make string from coconuts and oil from cinnamon and visited a turtle conservation.
This visit was just as relaxing and interesting as the first and although I don't usually like visiting the same place more than once, standing back and watching people close to you in awe of the place that gave you the love for travelling is a feeling that just makes your heart smile each time it happens.
There are so many different places to see in the world but I would happily visit Sri Lanka again and again!
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