The young 25-year-old photographer and videographer from Barcelona Helena Palau Arvizu has just published the book Suppose I travel alone (Harp), in which he portrays a series of trips that he undertook between 2018 and 2020 to destinations such as Uganda, Vietnam, Japan and Jordan. “I am much braver when I am alone, I have no other choice. When I travel alone is when I am safest ”, she confesses.
In a 1989 interview, the American writer Paul Auster explains that, for him, writing is not a matter of free will, but rather an act of survival. Much of Helena Palau Arvizu’s journey can be explained through this phrase. More than vocation, leisure, or pleasure, writing, as well as traveling and taking photographs, were necessary subsistence mechanisms for her. “My book is a story of overcoming that starts from a critical moment,” explains the author to Magazine Lifestyle.
“It was born from the worst moment of my life in which I entered an absolute well of sadness, uncertainty, very little self-esteem, anxiety and very poor mental and physical health”, recalls Palau, adding: “the only way I found to get out of there it was with two elements: travel and work ”.
At only 22 years old, he had to live a media heartbreak while his ex-partner participated in a talent musical very popular. The haters They not only harassed her on social media, but also on the street.
Photography was my job and feeling that I was working gave me a lot of power “
“Although it may be less romantic, photography was my job and feeling that I was working gave me a lot of power. I felt that I was doing something with my life, that I was no longer in the shadow of a man ”, recalls Palau as she adjusts her long, wavy light brown hair, adding:“ the same thing happened to me with traveling. It’s not that traveling is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Working and traveling made me feel fulfilled in that moment ”.
“I lived a heartbreak live. My relationship was being seen by millions of people because who is now my ex-partner was on TV, in the reality most viewed of the moment. I was very exposed without my will ”, explains Palau. As her partner continually appeared on the screen, she had to deal with terrible messages and constant insults. “If she was fat, if she was ugly, if she was cheating on me. When you are very sick and they send you this every day, you end up believing it, ”he says. It was then that one of her brothers convinced her to do therapy and even paid for the sessions.
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“Towards the end of this process, I realized that I needed to go. I wrote to a guy on Instagram that I didn’t know but I really liked his photos. I asked him if he wanted to travel with me, ”Palau recalls. A month later he was in Jordan with him and three other people who joined the trip. “It was my first photography trip and one of the best of my life. I was able to get away a bit from what was happening to me, ask other people about their lives and stop talking about mine, “explains Palau.
Suppose I travel alone It was born as a question that Helena Palau asked herself at that time. What if I travel alone? Could it be a way to heal me? Spoiler: it works, ”he says.
Helena Palau on one of her trips to Indonesia
Traveling little by little gave him the ability to enjoy himself. “I was able to focus my energy on something else. Learn new things. Meet women of different cultures and ages. It has nurtured and educated me a lot. After having lost ten kilos, which with my physical build doesn’t make any sense, I was able to eat well again. Also to take photos, which is something that filled me up. Starting to travel saved me. It cured me, because I was very bad ”, he assures.
For any 22-year-old woman, the prospect of traveling alone can be scary. In 2016, the emblematic case of the two Argentine tourists aged 22 and 21, María Coni and Marina Menegazzo, violently murdered while traveling in Ecuador, aroused the alarms of many young women who, like them, dreamed of traveling as backpackers with friends . Faced with the comments that blamed the young women for walking alone, social networks were flooded with testimonies from women who, under the hashtag #YoViajoSola, claimed their right to travel on their own without having to feel fear.
Starting to travel saved me. It cured me, because I was very ill “
“They make us very afraid of going alone, they tell us that we have to be very careful. Obviously I’m going to be careful. But it is not fair, it seems that the responsibility is on us. That we have to make sure that everything is fine because, otherwise, we are not safe “, criticizes Helena Palau and points out:” Sometimes they tell me: ‘How scary to go to Japan alone’. And I say: How scary to go home after partying. That is really scary. Traveling alone does not require being braver than we all already are, whether we travel or not. Since you are here, if you can go to an island in Thailand alone, better than staying at home ”.
In any case, he clarifies: “You have to have common sense. There are destinations and destinations. There are places that are quieter than others and there are ways to make your trip safer ”. For example, she always tries to carry everything in front and well attached to the body. Although his most important advice is another: “Be alert but also trust that most people are good. Ask for help whenever you need it, someone will give it to you. And, above all, she trusts other women, because in general we always tend to support each other and empathize with each other because we know, wherever we are from, the risks that we can go through. There is an unwritten rule to take care of each other ”.
Girl photographed in Uganda
Palau recalls a time when, while walking through a market in Indonesia, she realized that she was getting bad looks for being uncovered. An older lady approached him smiling. She couldn’t speak English and they had no way of communicating. “She came up to me, took the shawl I was wearing and tied it on me without saying anything, so that my shoulders and breasts wouldn’t show up. This gesture that could have been more hostile or of rejection for being dressed like that, was the opposite. It was from care, “he explains.
Traveling alone made her feel braver than ever. “I notice that when I travel alone I am much more forward. I’d jump off a bridge doing bungee jumping if necessary. On the other hand, when I am with people I know, I am more fearful ”, she confesses and adds:“ It is about looking for a way to get away with it and losing your fears, of realizing that you can do many things for yourself. . Yes, you can take risks but that is not why you are going to stop doing it. You gain a lot of confidence to start conversations with strangers, face problems, look for solutions ”.
Be alert but also trust that most people are good. “
Suppose I travel alone it is also a proposal for its readers. “With this title, I try to make people who have not done it ask themselves what would happen if they did,” says Palau.
More and more young women dare to take the leap. Data from the Kiwi travel company indicate that Spain is the third country in the world with the highest number of women traveling alone. Since 2018, 45% of Spanish women traveling alone are between 18 and 30 years old, and 35% between 31 and 45. According to INE figures, from 2015 to 2020, women constitute around half of the people Spanish women who travel, although the vast majority of them do so only through Spain (between 31% and 34%, depending on the year).
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After having suffered the worst face of social networks, today Helena Palau uses them as a means to communicate with her followers. On your Instagram profile @helenavisuals share funny reels, photos, reflections and travel experiences. “In my account, people who were only there out of curiosity have been leaving, and people who follow me because of the work I do and because of who I am have been entering. If today someone tells me that I am a pringada I do not care. I am calmer and happier, well with my new partner and with my work ”, she indicates.
Through her social networks, she seeks to enhance the message of her book: “More and more girls write to me to ask me what it was like to travel alone. I also receive opinions from readers who tell me ‘I want to go and with your book you are making me even more wanting’. That is super encouraging. I am very excited to be able to help give that boost to someone’s desire to go on a trip ”.
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Cover of the book ‘Suppose I travel alone’
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