‘I Booked a One-Way Ticket’: The Anxiety and Liberation of Moving Abroad Alone

By Amy Walsh

The phrase ‘do something that scares you every day’ used to make me think ‘nah, I’m happy being comfortable’. Living through the pandemic, though, made me reflect on and rethink my attitude, and actually encouraged me to take the plunge on a dream that had been swimming around my mind for years: to move abroad. 

I had been considering moving away from Ireland for years to see more of the world, but life kept scuppering any half-baked plans. Then in 2021 the stars aligned; the world was opening back up, and I was made redundant from my job at the time. With nothing holding me back, this seemed like the perfect time to go. I set my eyes on Canada. It’s a place that has always appealed to me for its landscape and lifestyle.

Well, there was one big issue: my boyfriend had no interest in moving away. He also had a couple more years left in college, so he couldn’t even if he did want to. After much deliberation (and tears!), I came to the conclusion that I may not have the freedom or means to do this again in the future, and I booked a one-way ticket to Vancouver. I simply didn’t want to regret not giving my dream a chance. 

The excitement of moving to a new country and knowing only a handful of people in the city is incredibly liberating and also quite scary. Intense homesickness and thoughts of ‘what have I done?’ during the first few weeks of moving abroad is something a lot of people don’t talk much about, but it definitely happens – it did to me.

So many people tend to skim over these feelings or don’t mention them at all, which made me feel like something was wrong when I felt them so intensely every couple of days or weeks. It wasn’t until I opened up to others that had also made a move away from home that I realised they had felt the same way and still had waves of it every so often. ‘It’s something that’s always there, but you get used to it,’ one of my ex-pat friends told me. 

I’ve been in Canada for eight months now, and moving was one of the best decisions of my life. Without sounding corny, it’s given me the opportunity to learn more about myself and what I want from life, career-wise, personally and socially. It’s also given me more confidence in myself and my independence.

I was terrified of not making friends and of being alone, but I have made friends that I already know are friends for life. In cities there are so many people in the same solo traveller boat as you that people are eager and ready to make friends. There are generally plenty of meet-up events or activities that have been conjured for this exact reason! 

Long distance with my boyfriend has been tough at times; there’s no two ways about it. We’ve figured out our groove; optimum times for chatting daily, watching movies together remotely, going back to the olden days of sending letters and seeing each other every few months. Absence does make the heart grow fonder! 

If you feel the urge to move abroad or travel, and it’s only a fear of doing it alone that’s stopping you, try to find the courage within you and just do it while you have the chance. If you don’t like it, you can move on! If living through a surprise global pandemic can teach us anything, it’s that life as we know it can be ripped out from underneath us without a moment’s notice. So, let’s do the things that might scare us, but that make us happy while we have the chance. This is your story; exceed your own expectations. You won’t regret it.