So many of you may be wondering.... "How the hell am I supposed to convince my friends and family that this traveling solo business is a good idea?!" Well, I am here to help with that my friends. The reality is once you've made the decision to venture out on your own, the best way to gain the support of those closest to you is to be open and honest with them. Do your research and show them you are capable of doing this crazy expedition. Get them to see how independent and confident you are and prove to them this adventure will only make you a more amazing. Even if this is your first trip on your own, making sure your family, especially your constantly nervous mother (yes mom, I'm making fun of you), are comfortable with the idea of you testing yourself is crucial to the success of your adventure. Having that motivation and support will help you as a solo traveler overcome the difficulties that are sure to arise while galavanting around a foreign country. Once while in Budapest, I was having a horrid time getting from the train station to the hostel I was supposed to be staying in. If any of you have ever been to Hungary, you will know no one speaks English (so be prepared). It was disgustingly hot and humid and carrying a 40 pound backpack is a pain in the ass when you're sweating balls. After 4 hours of wandering the streets (there are very few street signs and apparently you have to go UNDER the streets in order to get to the other side), I finally said f#ck it and decided to find a different hostel. This required getting on a trolly that would get me across town. Unfortunately you couldn't purchase tickets from the trolly driver. So I had to find some fruit stand where I could get a ticket (really? From a fruit stand?) Of course with my luck, the fruit stand man was sold out, so I had to hunt down the nearest bank to buy this damn trolly ticket. By this time it was 5:30 and all of the banks were closed. Dammit!! That was the breaking point and for the first time during my trip I cried my face off. I had never missed my crazy mother more than I did at that moment. So I walked into a hardware store, snot and all, and vented to the Hungarian lady behind the counter. Although we didn't speak the same language, tears are pretty universal. The stranger let me cry on her shoulder while I vented about my awful day. After that I meandered my way back to the train station and left for Prague. This story made my mother laugh (although I'm sure it also made her warm and fuzzy inside). But knowing that my family supported what I was trying to accomplish made the tough times easier to overcome.