Solo Trip for Sushi?

Have you ever felt so lost, so confused, so hurt, that you didn’t know what to do? Well, I did not either until the summer of 2019. It felt as if everywhere I turned the world was crashing down on me. It seemed like there was no escape, even in the comfort of my own home.

In August of 2019, I made the incredible, tough choice to end my engagement. My life at home had become … overwhelming. I lost sight of who I was. I lost my optimistic, upbeat personality, and forgot my purpose in this thing we call life. It was time to find myself again. The only thing I wanted to do was, escape. So, I did and took myself on my very first solo trip. It was the adult version of running away from home, but better!

When it came down to planning my first solo trip, I knew that I wanted a little bit of nature and a whole lot of sunshine. Beyond that, I had zero idea exactly where I wanted to go. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a sushi obsession. A few months prior to all of this, I randomly started following this amazing sushi restaurant on Facebook. For months I was seeing their drool worthy posts.

Well, this lovely little sushi spot happened to be located in Mount Dora, Florida. Literally, the sunshine state. There was a water, sun, and sushi. Nothing else mattered. Now, that I had a location picked out, I spent the rest of the day searching places in the area and decided to just go for it. Trip booked!

Funny enough, it has been a long-time joke with my mom that one day, I was going to call her to let her know I was hopping on a plane just for sushi. As the say, two birds, one stone.

It was all planned out, about one month in advance, which for me was spontaneous. Up until this trip, I was always a big planner, but I had reached a point in my life where I just needed change.

Being that this was a solo trip, affordability was key. The cute Airbnb I found was about 40 minutes from Wave sushi, but right on the lake with my own dock to find myself again. When I tell you, I had nothing else planned, I mean I booked a 3-day trip to a town I had never heard of in my life to just eat sushi with nothing else thought out.

Day one of my trip, my sister dropped me off at the airport alone. Oh, did I mention I hate flying alone? The flight there was quick, thankfully. Once, I landed, found my rental car, I started heading to the Airbnb. Properly, windows down and music up. When I arrived, I realized the Airbnb was in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Also, it was half a mile from the local jail and courthouse. This made me anxious, but in my mind, I kept telling myself that I was doing this to prove to myself I could make it on my own. After all, the life I had just previously planned was flipped upside down and now I needed to figure out how I was going to make it on my own.

Day two of my trip is when everything kind of clicked after I had what will always be one of the best days of my life. The day started by waking up at five in the morning to watch the prettiest sunset I had ever seen while drinking coffee. Then I drove to meet the pilot that was going to take me on my first seaplane ride that I impulsively booked the night before at dinner.

Remember when I said I had a fear of flying? Well, for a minute or maybe two, my pilot Ryne, let me fly the plane. Just the two of us, flying over the lakes in the smallest plane I had ever been in. It literally felt like we were on top of the world.

Next stop was to finally eat at Wave sushi. The restaurant was much smaller than I imagined, and I could not believe I was really here about to try their sushi! Without even reading over the menu, I knew I was ordering the sushi burger. It was so good, and I even met some awesome people while sitting there.

After that, I drove to my next destination where I met a kayak guide. There were six of us, sitting in clear kayaks, paddling down a beautiful stream in Florida. At the end of the excursion, we stepped into clear blue water.

Once we were finished kayaking, I was starving. So, I treated myself to a burrito and margarita at a local restaurant. Finally, I ended the night by watching the sunset on the lake, drinking wine by myself.

It sounds so crazy, yet it will always be one of the best days of my life. Not only did I prove to myself that I could have fun, alone, but that I could also conquer my fears.

The best part, I proved to myself that I could be alone and that it would be okay.

Before this trip, I had never been on a solo trip or journaled while traveling. After this trip, I am so glad I decided to journal, and I now have those entries to look back on. On this day, my journal entry ended with, “All I can say is that life is beautiful.”

My two major takeaways from this trip are: First, when I do finally find the one that I am going to spend forever with, I am taking them back to relive this same exact trip with me step-by-step, so they can see where I found myself again. And, secondly, and the possibly the most important takeaway for anyone who may feel the same way, is this, if you are feeling stuck just please know that you are not lost, you are simply misplaced.

All my best,

Laura | Instagram

Fast Five

1. Three hours early to the airport or running to the gate? Definitely three hours early, always pre flight mimosas

2. Pretzels or Lotus Biscoff cookies? Lotus Biscoff cookies all the way

3. Excel planned trip or just wing it? Wing it!!

4. Favorite continent? Europe

5. Dream destination? ITALY!!