Mylène was chilling next to the pool of our quiet hotel when I met her. She was reading a book and we gave each other a shy “hi”.

 

The hotel itself was pretty amazing. Around the pool, in a green garden, coconut trees and exotic plants were separating a dozen of bungalows from each other. Outside, a little home with a terrasse with a pair of chairs, a table to have breakfast in the morning and a hammoc to tease moskitoes at night. Inside, the perfect jungle princess’ furnished studio: big round bed, no tv, sometimes the electricity was running, sometimes not and in the back patio, a private outdoor bathroom to enjoy the sun while you try to wash your salty skin with “unsalted water”. 

I think it’s one of the first thing we talked about. The trick was to take a shower and then remove the salt left by the water from the shower by jumping into the swimming pool which was surprisingly not salted at all. Until this day, it’s still a mystery. Why this pool was filled up with soft water?
  

We introduced ourselves in English but switched in French when we realized it was both our mother tongue. 

She was a bit older than me and travelling by herself. She had a boyfriend who was waiting for her in Melbourne, city where they just moved in. This trip around Bali was happening at a transitional point in her life… What I admired in her was her relaxed and open minded spirit. I felt like her point of view about life, travel, love, work, loneliness, couple stuff and food would be a great add on the documentary. Maybe the fact that she was not travelling by herself for the first time played a role in her attitude. Maybe the fact she was a yoga teacher was the key… Or maybe she was just an awesome lady.
  

As often when I met a really nice soul staying at the same hostel, I liked arranging my days like I wanted, do my little explorations and adventures and have dinner or a drink with this person at night. A lot of solo girl travelers that I met were the same way. It’s not that we try to avoid each other’s really but the feeling of total freedom that occurs after waking up and deciding at the very last minute of the plans of the day is impossible to get if you are doing something with somebody else. 

I had the chance to stay in Bali, in Canggu, or follow Wes’ path in Thailand but I was not ready yet to loose any bites of this solo travel. I kind of really enjoyed this loneliness during the day… 
  
  

My time on Nusa Lembogan was nearly ending, the Gili Islands were calling me, so I asked Mylène if she could give me an hour to speak in front of the camera for the wanderlust queens project. I found her story and her peacefull mind interesting and knew she would add something special to the documentary.
 

She sat in the hammoc in front of her little house. I prepared the settings on the camera and we start.
She confided never have experience fear while she was travelling. In a train or walking in the street… I jumped a little bit when I’ve heard that as for sure, I started my trip with scary thoughts and once in a while, still finding myself having fear about some situations. One of the explanation she gave was that she travelled since she was very young with her parents (hippies in the 70′) and was left independant, wandering around by herself a lot during their holidays. She started developing her travel instincts early I guessed… 

Later she mentioned that “there is love everywhere”. How can you be afraid when you try to focus on good energies and positive things?  Mylène was not naive and admitted that she questioned sometimes the real intention of people she met along the way but since she travelled for years, only good stories remained.

When I questioned her if she wanted to continue travelling by herself after this trip, she answered peacefully: “I do have a partner now. We’ve been together for few years. We still travel together but we travel separately as well. I think I will allow myself to go travelling alone and do the activities I want and find my own way and path.” She laughed and added: “even if I’m in my eighties, hopefully I can still travel. If not I’ll make daily trip by myself around the corner of my house!”.

We finished the interview on a powerful note. “I think I’m proud of myself. Most of the time you learn, maybe with years, that you have to do what you really like in life. I became really proud of being able to tell people that is what I do, that is what I like doing, and not being ashamed of being an outsider of society… Not being in an office all day… I work for a certain period of time and then I spend all my money in travels. I think it’s not something easy to do but I’m proud I’m still doing it”.

Thank you Mylène for the words you gave me, the good vibes you’ll bring to the little documentary and for sharing your truly self with us.