Waving ‘goodbye’ was a strange experience – part heartbreak, part panic. “What on earth am I doing?!”. Stop! I’ve made a terrible mistake! But swept into the current of travellers heading through the international gates, I became everyone and no one. Once my friends and family were no longer in sight, I felt an incredible sense of anonymity. Here I was, just another passenger – one of the however many hundreds of others who were about to board this majestic miracle of a Boeing 747 to London.

I can’t remember who gave me the most important piece of travel advice I have ever heard. I wish I could, because I would really like to thank them. It was the simplest advice I’d ever received – “Don’t forget to look up”. At the time, I thought it was a gentle reminder to admire architecture or marvel at distant constellations. But those five words followed me through cities, forests, mountain ranges, and deserts – and over time, they came to mean something much more.

As solo travellers, it’s easy to become hyper-focused on destinations, maps, safety, finding the next hostel, the next meal, or the next checkpoint on our list. But when you look up, literally and metaphorically, you notice things – not just the things that weren’t visible from street level, but elements of the time and the place that have the power to radically alter our perception of where we are, who has come before, and why it matters.

Looking up asks something of us – presence. It reminds us to venture out of our heads and into our surroundings – to become not just visitors to a place, but a quintessential part of the shared experience of ‘place’ and our unique moment ‘in’ it. Looking up is also a demonstration of immersion and resilience – gently reminding us that we’re a unique and precious part of a much bigger picture.

It’s easy to forget, especially when travelling alone, that the world has invited us to meet her halfway, and that the surprises she has up her sleeve are countless, bountiful and often entirely unexpected. Looking up reminded me to pay attention – not just to the wonders and mysteries at eye level, but ceilings, skies, the heights to which Mother Nature’s canopies soar, and the ever-changing qualities of light and darkness.

So, don’t forget to look up – and when you do, make a wish on that Shooting Star. It just may be a sign that you are exactly where you’re meant to be.