Mbabane-based Xoliswa Ndzimandze is a budding entrepreneur in the catering business, and from her social media posts its clear that she loves to travel. She lets me in on what it was like exploring New York City on her own as well as the benefits of solo travelling.
Xoli’s Story
Xoli credits her father for instilling this love in her as they used to travel a lot as a family, especially within southern Africa. She reveals that attending a school like Waterford Kamhlaba also sparked her interest in seeing new places, as she got to meet and make friends with students from different national and cultural backgrounds.
A Present to Myself
Her decision to visit New York was based on how she had always wanted to see the US and with her approaching a significant milestone the trip was even more imperative. “I always knew that when I turned 30 I was going to do something big for myself so that’s why it was NYC. I was like: ‘Why not take that money [that would have been used to throw a birthday party] and give a present to myself and go overseas.’ Because when you’re doing a party, you’re doing it for people. The trip was basically a present to myself and that’s how this whole idea came about, I had always known that when 30 comes it was going to be big.” Talk about creating a lifelong memory for yourself.
I then ask how it happened that she found herself travelling there alone, Xoli explains that initially the plan was to travel as a group with a number of friends. However as time went, one by one, people started to pull out from the trip, and at the end only two of her closet friends remained. But as luck would have it they both had other commitments which coincided with the planned date of departure. This probably would have been the time when most of us would throw our hands up in the air and cry a river at the imminent prospect of cancelling the trip. But this was not the case, as Xoli says: “I had already booked my ticket, I already knew I wanted to go. You know when you’re excited about everything. So mum’s like, ‘Vele uyahamba on your own?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, I’m not going to cancel ngendzaba yebantfu.’ So that’s how it [the solo trip] came about.”
She further explains: “I always knew that even if they don’t come, I’m going. I’m not scared, this was for me. I’ll just figure things out there. People go alone all the time and I also knew a guy from university who I was following on social media. He tagged himself as the lone traveller and had seen so much of the world. And I was like, ‘He didn’t have to wait for anybody’. The thing is nawungamela bantfu you’re not going to do anything.”
Despite the fact that she was going to an unknown place where she didn’t know anybody, Xoli felt confident that she would find her way around the city with the use of apps and websites like Google, Uber, and Airbnb. There’s no denying that technology has become an invaluable resource for travellers.
After securing her visa, which Xoli says wasn’t as scary as everybody made it out to be, she started looking online for tickets which turned out to be quite pricey. So on a whim while in Jo’burg she walked into a Flight Centre and asked how much a ticket to NYC would cost and to her surprise it was much less than what she had found online. “I quickly paid for the ticket as I didn’t think I would find it cheaper anywhere else, so I got a return ticket with travel insurance for R9140.” This was for a direct flight from OR Tambo straight to JFK Airport.
I ❤️ NYC
Xoli arrived in NYC on the 15th of August, after a 16 hour long flight. For the duration of her trip, she rented a private room in a home that was listed on Airbnb and located on Roosevelt Island (it is part of the borough of Manhattan). Most people opt for an Airbnb as it tends to cost less than hotels, while offering more space and other inviting factors. She admits, though, that securing a room was a bit of a challenge because when you book a place you need to pay half the money immediately and some of the places that she’d tagged would be snapped up by other travellers upon visiting the site again. In the end she was helped by a family friend that is based in New York who had a friend that ran an Airbnb. Xoli says this arrangement worked out well as her host, Auntie Esther, made her solo travel feel “not so solo”.
I admit this concept was a bit foreign to me, so I asked Xoli to explain a bit more about how one goes about booking a place on Airbnb. “You just need to go on the Airbnb app or website and type in where you are going, i.e., New York and they will show you the various places you may be looking at such as Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan or whatever. It picks up all the places for you and you’ll see which fall within your price range. It tells you who the host is, and a little bit about the host and you can see pictures of their house and they tell you about the area where they’re in and then you get to see reviews from the people that have stayed there. So I was also making my decision based on the reviews.”
On the touristy things she got up while in NYC, she relates how she got to see various landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, World Trade Centre, the 9/11 Memorial site, Wall Street, Times Square, Trump Towers, Rockefeller Centre, NBC Studios, Madison Square Garden, Broadway and Brooklyn Bridge. “I also did a lot of walking and was doing happy hour drinks because everything is so expensive.” She admits, though, that some of the sites she visited were by accident as she’d get lost a lot while trying to navigate her way around the city and find the train. In order to get from Roosevelt Island to the mainland, Xoli learnt how to use the subway. This made getting around easier for her as the subway runs 24 hours a day and is a relatively inexpensive mode of transport.
Times Square
On the eve of her birthday (August 17), Xoli recounts how she had wanted to stay up till midnight. With this plan in mind, she headed to Times Square and set about looking for place that had more of a “dance party vibe”. It then started to rain, and by chance she landed up in a bar which had an underground karaoke section. This is where she danced the night away on her own and eventually left the club at 3am and “walked walked walked” until she found the subway. At this point I’m so incredulous as to how secure she felt with walking alone in the early hours of the morning. Without a doubt that’s one of the interesting things about the city, just how many people one will find walking at all hours of the night.
She regards Times Square as being the highlight of her trip. “There is just something about that Square. It blew me away at night, it is amazing. The lights. It is so busy at midnight, there is traffic. The energy there is electric. I cannot even explain it. It is the energy. It is what you see in the pictures.” Most agree that Times Square with it’s dazzling array of neon lights is something that should be seen at least once. In addition, Xoli also regards the people she met as being the other highlight of her trip as they were keen to hang out and find out more about her, especially when they learnt she was “from Africa”.
I then ask if she experienced any low points.“The low point was actually leaving America (she departed on August 29), I was not ready to leave. She [Auntie Esther] actually wanted me to extend, we were going to extend but then I had to come home for a funeral. I was very happy; happiness was trending the whole time I was there.” However, Xoli wishes she had experienced more of the city’s food scene and seen more places like Brooklyn and Harlem.
The Importance of Travel
I end off our interview by asking her why she feels travel is so important and what one stands to gain from such an experience. “There is so much value in travelling. You cannot even measure it. I think I even had a post on Instagram that said: ‘My bank account is still recovering, but I would rather have an empty bank account than trade in the wealth of experience that I have come back with.’ It opens up your mind. I got to look at things in a different way; I got to look at my life differently. And it generally just gets you out of your comfort zone. I don’t think much has ever come out of a comfort zone. There is just so much out there and I just think people need to go out to see kutsi there is more to life.”
Exposure to something different also makes one appreciate their own country a bit more. Xoli noted this when looking at how the hight cost of living in NYC pushes people to forever be on a quest to try make ends meet. “People have got four different jobs and there is no such thing as a weekend or public holiday, I think maybe they have one or two, but tsine lana on public holidays everything literally shuts down.” Meeting people from other African countries also made her realise that Eswatini, despite all its problems, is not so bad as many Africans have sought refuge in America as a means of escape from their own countries which are war-torn and in dire economic standing.
Benefits of Solo Travel
And on the positives of travelling solo, Xoli observes: “The nice thing about traveling alone is that I could do whatever whenever I wanted. Because bekungenteka ngitsi ngiyavuka the one day lomunye solo ulele, namuhla yena akakhanuki kukwenta lutfo. I did not have to be like, ‘Oh friend, siyakuphi namuhla?’ Or ‘You are taking too long to get ready.’ It [travelling solo] minimised kutsetsisana nekukwatelana.”
One could say the solo travel bug has definitely bitten Xoli as she is already planning her next trip and has her sights set on Europe.
In case you are inspired to take a solo trip to NYC (or anywhere), here are some helpful travel tips:
- Sufficiently budget for your trip, set aside enough money so you can splurge and give yourself the best and safest experience especially if travelling alone.
- Opt for accommodation that is comfortable, rather than cheap.
- Use reviews from previous guests when making accommodation arrangements.
- Be warned New York is very expensive, so try not to be overly preoccupied with converting the price of items in your mind.
- Make sure you’re clear on what your bank’s policy is with regards to withdrawing money from a foreign ATM, such as your daily allowance and foreign fees. Credit cards are generally recommended when spending abroad.
- Develop your social skills as you’ll be depending on strangers for company, directions, and picture-taking.
- Use social media to link up with people you know who may be visiting or are based in your travel destination, however the point is not to acquire a permanent travel companion.
- Plan your trip in good advance and do some research.
- Its perfectly fine to start small and travel to a nearby place to build up your confidence and finances for a bigger solo trip.
