Overview

If you lost someone and found yourself then you didn’t actually take an L, you won so here’s a round of
applause for all of us who took steps in the right direction. Diani marked a turning point for me and in the end I have come to realize that sunsets are live proof that endings could be beautiful too.

2018 had been a really emotional year for me especially because of all the relationship drama I was
going through right before we broke up. It had been both my best and worst years all in one because I

finally realized who I really was as a person and this is what actually pushed me to call it quits with this
boy I had been in a bubble with, you may be wondering why I’m calling it a bubble, well we really were
terrible for each other but somehow we had made it work for one and a half years.

Towards the end we had been planning to go to Diani so we had been saving up, it had been almost 10
years since I had been to the coast and I felt it was gonna be better to go with him. We had planned to
go around valentines so breaking up before doing that felt like a big L for me but I was still determined
to go to Diani and when I get something in my head I always have to go through with it.

So I book a SGR
ticket and embark on my first solo vacation ever. I had no idea how it would turn out but I felt like I
really needed to travel and unwind especially after how badly things had ended with my ex, I had not
even found the courage to call him my ex because I think a part of me still hoped things would get
simpler and we would find our way back because a love that strong can’t just end but I was only holding
on to the memories coz it had actually been over for months even before I decided to walk away. But I
guess sunsets are proof that endings could be beautiful too so I had to find a way to make peace with
the situation and somehow move on because anyway what choice did I have, I had to be better and I felt
that he had really been holding me back coz I actually got signed by a modelling agency a month after
the breakup and I saw this as a sign that I had taken a step in the right direction however difficult it
seemed at the time. so I leave kabete around 6:00 am and take a matatu to syokimau and get settled in
on the train and at exactly 8.30 am it leaves, I watch the trees and think I’m I really okay, I had been in a
weird state of mind, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad but I was just winging it. We get to Mombasa
terminus around 2.30 pm and this nice gentleman I met on the train offers to show me to the bus stage
to Mombasa town and goes ahead to pay my fare and even be my tour guide. I felt so humbled, it’s even
safe to say my faith in humanity had started getting restored. I get to the ferry and take a matatu to
Diani beach resort which was gonna be home for the weekend. It actually turned out to be a very
amazing vacation because I realized my strength and now I actually believe in myself more because it’s
really a difference between being alone and being lonely as Mary J Blidge sings in ‘stronger’ what
doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I remember going out on a boat ride to the reef in the middle of the
ocean and thinking to myself that I had to make sure before heading back to Nairobi that my heart
would be in the right place and sure as hell I left Diani having a lot more courage to face life and find out
more about myself because I had really lost myself in that relationship. Looking back now I’m so thankful that I lost him coz that was the beginning of me finding myself and going to Diani marked a very important step for me both mentally and emotionally because I proved to myself that I am strong enough to go through a storm and come out shinning coz my mother raised a strong woman and sometimes storms come to clear your way and this is exactly why Diani was and still is my best vacation.

I thought of coming up with a cute story about how I went to Bali in my dreams but it wouldn’t have been authentic if I did anyway and there wouldn’t be any message to it coz you know me I always have to have my ‘Ted Talk’ somewhere in my article. Anyway as I told you before sunsets are proof that endings could be beautiful too and the big G could never give you a battle that He thinks you aren’t capable of handling. So raise your glass if you can actually go on a solo vacation and raise your standards if you can’t.

WRITER: Marie