A story from my solo travels

During my solo trip through South India, I spent a few days in Varkala, Kerala.

When I first reached Varkala, I stayed at a backpacker hostel for 1 night and to be honest, I didn't enjoy that hostel very much, so instead of spending time there, I went out and explored Varkala. By the end of the day, I had seen most of the places I wanted to see.

That night, I went out for dinner and after that I started walking back. It was getting quite late and the roads were much quieter than they had been during the day.

On my way back, I decided to visit another hostel (Zostel) where I was planning to shift the next day. I just wanted to check how far it was from my current hostel — and while I was there, the Community Manager told me that there was live music happening that night at the far end of the cliff. The moment I heard that, I wanted to go.

But after a while, the road became quieter and quieter. At one point, it was almost completely dark. There were hardly any people around and suddenly I wasn't feeling as confident as I had a few minutes earlier. I really wanted to go to the live music event, but I also started wondering whether I should just turn around and go back.

Just then, I saw a couple walking towards me — and I don't know what came over me, but I walked up to them and said hello. I asked if they were heading in the same direction. They laughed and said: Honestly, we don't know where we're going. We're just walking around and exploring. So I told them about the live music event and asked if they wanted to come along. They looked at each other and said: Sure, why not. And just like that, the three of us started walking together.

We reached the venue without any trouble and spent the evening listening to live music under the night sky. Most of the songs were in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. I couldn't understand much of the lyrics, but it didn't matter. The music was beautiful and the atmosphere was even better — and we had dinner together. When the bill arrived, I tried to pay but they simply wouldn't let me.

What started as a random conversation on a dark road had turned into such a lovely evening for all three of us — and by the end of the night, two complete strangers felt like friends.

That evening taught me something: people often think solo travel means doing everything alone. But that's not what it has been for me. Solo travel teaches you to trust yourself. Sometimes that means exploring a new place alone. Sometimes it means listening to your instincts. And sometimes it means starting a conversation with people you've never met before.

The next day, I moved to the new hostel. And somehow, just like the night before, I met another wonderful group of people — all solo travellers. We became friends almost immediately. That evening I took them to the same live music venue, and this time there was even more laughter, more conversations and a lot more dancing.

When I think about Varkala today, I remember the cliffs, the music and the beautiful sunsets. But more than that, I remember those two strangers I met on a dark road. Some of my favourite memories from that trip were not places at all. They were people.