“In time, she will find that it’s not actually all that hard to be captain of the ship.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“The longer she travels on her own, the more likely she is to prioritize experiences above all else. Stilettos and purses will lose their luster; she’ll crave far off places and splurge on plane tickets instead.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“Traveling on her own will cause a woman to reevaluate her life and give her space to think, feel, and grow.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“The point of hitchhiking is not just to get a free ride, but rather because of the guarantee that it will be an experience completely out of the unknown.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“I think I’m better off spending my time in a relationship with myself, out exploring the world, becoming more in tune with the person who I will most definitely never break up with – me.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“Why can’t being single and free be as valuable and respected as the role of a mother or wife?”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“When I join a local ceremony, hitchhike across a country, or learn how to ski, do I really need a counterpart there to legitimize that, to legitimize me?”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“I don’t see ‘settling down’ as the end goal for my life. Maybe I’ll get married and have children and maybe I won’t.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“These days I spend more time in countries that are statically safer by a long-shot than the USA, so by leaving home I am actually decreasing the chances of something sinister happening.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“Each time I walk into a hostel I make five new friends, each time a local takes interest in why I’m alone, I get invited to a family dinner or a cool local ceremony.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“Maybe those around you expressed concern or tried to talk you out of it, because the idea of a girl traveling on her own still, unfortunately, draws some skepticism.”— Kristin Addis, thoughtcatalog.com
“Why can’t I sit with my legs spread? What’s so shameful about what I keep between them?”— Mia Morgan, fawnbabe.tumblr.com
“I see it now, sometimes in my own face, but also in the faces of younger girls on the subway, their pinkies linked, their eyes darting and wounded. See me, they say.”— Emma Cline, theparisreview.org
“Getting people to look at you, I understood, was a way of getting things to happen.”— Emma Cline, theparisreview.org
“I squeezed lemon juice on my hair until it was crisp and sticky, and then I sat in the sun, hoping my hair would lighten to her shade of pale. I studied her face for signs of my own, noting her polyester miniskirts, the slim legs in tall boots.”— Emma Cline, theparisreview.org
“Marion smiled at him with an intensity that made her look almost cruel. I tried to smile that same way.”— Emma Cline, theparisreview.org