The Trip I Nearly Cancelled And Why It Changed Everything

Ciara Mooney
11 hours ago
8 min read

How a €1000 mistake became one of my best travel adventures

Christmas, New Year, Hong Kong, Bali… and the accidental adventure that taught me why solo travel matters.

There are some trips you plan for months.

And then there are the trips where you stand in your office, stare at your computer screen and think:

“What the actual feck am I going to do now?”

This was definitely the second kind.

It was 2017. I was working away in Freedom Travel, and at the time I was seeing someone. In what can only be described as a moment of spectacularly questionable judgement, after knowing him for approximately five minutes, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to book a load of trips together.

One of those trips was Hong Kong and Bali over Christmas and New Year.

Fast-forward a little bit and, unsurprisingly, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

I found myself looking at flights that I'd booked for nearly €1,000 and thinking:

Do I cancel everything and take the financial hit… or do I just go?

The sensible option probably would have been to stay home.

But sensible has never exactly been my strongest travel trait.

So I thought:

“Feck it. I'm going.”

And thank God I did.

From a very expensive mistake to a very unexpected adventure

Yes, getting stung for nearly €1,000 on flights was painful.

And yes, it was an expensive lesson.

But looking back now, I genuinely believe that money bought me one of the most valuable experiences of my life.

Because instead of cancelling the trip, I decided to turn it into my trip.

One of the girls in the office suggested I look at an escorted group tour in Bali.

Her thinking was simple: Christmas and New Year on your own could be a bit lonely, so why not join a group and spend it with other people?

She was absolutely right.

In pure Ciara style, I didn't spend weeks researching it.

There was literally one place left.

I booked it.

Done.

And that decision changed everything.

First stop: Hong Kong

Before heading to Bali, I had three nights in Hong Kong.

I'd been there once before, but there was something I'd never managed to do — something that had been on my childhood bucket list for years.

A junk boat.

I remember seeing a picture of one in a children's encyclopaedia when I was younger. It was one of those images that sticks in your head.

And now I was actually in Hong Kong.

So obviously, I had to do it.

I also booked a trip to Macau.

And here's another example of my travel planning skills…

I only realised after I'd come back from the trip that Macau was basically right beside Hong Kong.

You really can't make this stuff up.

But that's the beauty of travelling.

You don't need to know everything before you go.

Sometimes you figure it out along the way.

The American journalist who changed the way I looked at the news

While travelling in Hong Kong, I met an American guy.

I can't remember his name.

But I remember what he told me.

He was a journalist from New York and we got chatting about the media and how stories are reported.

He explained something that has stayed with me ever since.

Different newspapers and television broadcasters can receive much of the same footage and information — but the way they edit, select and present it can completely change the message people take away from it.

Same footage.

Different story.

Different perspective.

It really struck me.

And that's one of the things I love about travel.

You think you're going away to see places.

But you come home having seen people, perspectives and possibilities you might never have encountered at home.

You learn things you weren't expecting to learn.

And sometimes, those are the things you remember most.

And then came Bali

Eventually, it was time to head to Bali.

And this is where the trip really became an adventure.

I joined my G Adventures group and suddenly I was surrounded by people I'd never met before.

Different ages.

Different countries.

Different backgrounds.

Different stories.

And yet, within a very short space of time, we became a little travelling community.

That is one of the things I love most about group travel.

You arrive as strangers.

You leave having shared experiences that you'll probably talk about for years.

3am starts and climbing Mount Batur

One of the adventures I'll never forget was getting up at 3am to climb Mount Batur.

Now, let's be honest.

If you'd asked me in Ireland:

“Ciara, do you fancy getting up at 3am and climbing a volcano?”

I'm not entirely sure I would have been rushing to put my runners on.

But put me somewhere completely different, surrounded by people I'd only just met, and suddenly:

“Yeah. Sure. Let's climb a volcano.”

And that's another thing travel teaches you.

You realise you're capable of so much more than you think.

Sometimes all you need is somebody beside you saying:

“Come on. Let's do it.”

Standing there watching the sun come up after that climb was one of those moments where you think:

I'm so glad I came.

And I had absolutely no idea, when I was standing in my office wondering whether to cancel the whole trip, that I'd end up having moments like this.

The conversation I'll never forget

One evening, I was worrying about something that was happening back home.

You know how it is.

You're away somewhere incredible, but your brain decides it would rather focus on whatever problem is waiting for you at home.

I mentioned it to one of the guys in the group.

And he told me a story about something that had happened to him at work.

He worked in a business where a customer came in absolutely furious because his car wasn't ready.

Instead of reacting to the anger, he brought the man into his office and asked him what was really going on.

That's when he discovered the reason.

The man's daughter was extremely sick in hospital.

He needed his car that particular day because it was his only opportunity to get the shopping and everything else organised before going back to work and spending time at the hospital.

Everything suddenly made sense.

The anger wasn't really about the car.

It was about fear, stress and worry.

So my travelling companion did something incredible.

He gave the man his own top-of-the-range BMW to use.

He told him he'd bring his car back to his front door once it was ready and collect his own car then.

But he didn't stop there.

When he explained the situation to his colleagues, they did a whip-around in the office and bought the man's daughter an iPad.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house when he finished telling the story.

And the funny thing?

His girlfriend, who was also on the trip, had never even heard the story before.

That conversation has stayed with me ever since.

Because we really don't know what somebody else is going through.

We never know.

The person being rude.

The person who seems impatient.

The person who looks like they have everything together.

The person sitting quietly in the corner.

We simply don't know what's happening behind the scenes.

And sometimes, when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and actually open up to people, we discover just how much kindness there is around us.

Some people are struggling.

Some people need help.

And some people are there to help.

The restaurant that made me feel at home

There was another moment in Bali that I remember so vividly.

I'd found a restaurant that I absolutely loved.

They had a particular parmigiana dish that I couldn't get enough of.

I'd been there several times during the trip with the group.

But eventually, people started heading home.

And suddenly I was on my own.

So I decided to go back to my favourite restaurant.

Only this time, I walked in alone.

And they were completely booked.

No tables.

No seats.

I thought, Ah well, that's that.

But then the waiter recognised me.

He disappeared into the storage area.

And came back with a table and a chair.

He found a little space on the other side of the restaurant and set me up with my own little table.

Just for me.

It wasn't a grand gesture.

It wasn't expensive.

It wasn't something that would make the newspapers.

But it meant everything.

Because I'd gone from thinking:

“I'm here on my own.”

to:

“Someone remembered me.”

And that's the magic of travelling alone.

You experience these tiny moments of human kindness in a completely different way.

You notice them.

You appreciate them.

And they stay with you.

This is why I believe in solo travel

When people hear solo travel, they often think about being alone.

And yes, there are moments when you're physically on your own.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you're lonely.

In fact, my experience has been almost the opposite.

When you travel alone, you become more open.

You talk to people you might never normally speak to.

You accept invitations.

You sit beside strangers.

You listen to stories.

You share experiences.

You become part of someone's life for a few hours, a day or sometimes an entire trip.

And you realise that the world is full of good people.

People who will encourage you up a mountain at 3am.

People who will share their stories with you.

People who will teach you something completely unexpected.

People who will move a table across a restaurant because they remember you.

And sometimes, people who will completely change the way you see something.

The trip I nearly didn't take

When I look back now, the irony isn't lost on me.

The whole thing started because of what was, in hindsight, a very questionable decision.

I booked an expensive trip because I was seeing someone I'd known for about five minutes.

It didn't work out.

I lost nearly €1,000 on flights.

And for a while, I genuinely thought the entire trip was a disaster.

But if I'd cancelled it, I would have missed everything.

Hong Kong.

The junk boat I'd dreamed about since childhood.

Macau.

The journalist who changed how I thought about the news.

Bali.

Mount Batur at sunrise.

The strangers who became friends.

The stories.

The laughter.

The vulnerability.

The kindness.

The parmigiana.

And most importantly, the realisation that I could actually do this on my own.

Sometimes the wrong road takes you somewhere incredible

That trip taught me something I've carried with me ever since.

Sometimes what looks like the worst possible situation can end up being the thing that pushes you exactly where you need to go.

I could have stayed home.

I could have cancelled.

I could have sulked about the money I'd lost.

Instead, I said:

“Feck it. I'm going.”

And it turned into one of the most memorable Christmas and New Year trips I've ever had.

It's one of the reasons I believe so strongly in solo travel today.

Because sometimes you don't need to wait for somebody else to come with you.

You don't need the perfect circumstances.

You don't need everything figured out.

Sometimes you just need to take the first step.

And who knows where it might take you?

Everything happens for a reason.

And one of the phrases I now live by is:

What's meant for you won't pass you.

Maybe the relationship wasn't meant to last.

Maybe losing €1,000 was the price of learning a very valuable lesson.

Maybe that trip was never supposed to be about the person I'd originally booked it with.

Maybe it was supposed to be about me.

And looking back now…

I'm very glad I went.

✈️ Thinking about travelling solo?

If there's one thing I'd say to anyone reading this who is sitting at home thinking “I'd love to travel, but I don't have anyone to go with”, it's this:

Don't let waiting for someone else stop you from seeing the world.

You might arrive alone.

But you never know who you're going to meet.

And you never know what story you'll come home with.

That, for me, is the real magic of Solo Travel.

Open your world.