5th of June, 2016, Budapest.

Two very strong women were weeping desperately on their hostel beds, lying in a fetal position. They were solo-travellers — the free, the brave, the independent.

The two had met in that very room a little over a month earlier and had spent “the time of their lives” together, obsessively strolling streets, exploring cities, feeling confident.

This very last day, however, appeared to be different. Those streets had lost their charm, those cities had become unusually mundane, and the air was filled with a vague sense of threat.

Travelling had ceased to be fun.

The Free, the Lost, the Sleepless, the Homeless

I will never forget that night. We were two clueless little things lying in a hostel room in the middle of nowhere, trying to find the answers before the questions were asked.