u/hikingforeva

I’m 23(F) from Canada. I went on my first solo trip to Europe last fall, which went great. I’m really interested in going to some more adventurous places, learning new cultures, getting to befriend other solo travellers, and so after lots of research I landed a volunteer position at a hostel in Antigua, Guatemala. I’ll be there for 36 days.

I leave in six weeks and just told my parents this week, as they’ve been travelling and my position was only confirmed/made official two weeks ago. My dad was neutral, but my mom was very unhappy. She thinks Central America is dangerous, she thinks someone is going to do something really bad to me there, etc. She hasn’t been — she’s only travelled a little bit in the U.S. and Europe, for context.

A few days went by and I thought things were getting better, but I come home this evening to my mom screaming and crying. She read the Canadian governments travel advisories for Guatemala, and was listing off things about how women shouldn’t travel there solo, there are zones you should absolutely avoid, there is murder and kidnapping and sexual assault, etc. She’s screaming and telling me I’m being reckless, that I’m not acting like an adult, and that I’m putting my family under immense stress.

I don’t really know how to move forward. My flights were nonrefundable because I chose the cheaper seats. I already filled out forms and confirmed a start date with the hostel. I also put in my notice at my 9-5 office job to quit, because I was finally ready to rip the bandaid off and do this travel thing for the next several months.

Looking for people who have gone through similar experiences with their parents and can share thoughts / how they got through it ;(

A few months ago, I (F23) asked my (now ex) boyfriend (M31) his body count one night because I was simply curious. He told me he’d tell me if I told him mine.

He said his was between 15-20, but he didn’t know the exact number. Then I told him I’ve had sex with 8 men including him. After I told him mine, he got so insecure. He rolled over in bed and refused to look at me, covered his head with the blankets and pillows. He was whining, saying “don’t look at me”, and tried to justify his reaction with something along the lines of “I’m 8 years older than you so it makes sense mine is higher, but mine are more spread out than yours”. He also said multiple times that he wishes he could go back and never have slept with any of those women, and that him and I had only slept with each other.

This whole ordeal went on for probably 30 minutes, of him refusing to look at me, whining, playing on his phone and saying he hated the idea of me being with all those guys before him.

I can understand if the information made him uncomfortable. Hearing he had been with up to 20 other women before me made me a bit uncomfortable too! But, it felt hypocritical for him to react that way when he’s been with more people than me. I know he was possessive of me, which at the time I thought was a bit cute because it was in a “I’m yours and you’re mine” way, but to be so bothered by my body count that is lower than his… I still don’t quite understand.

We’re no longer together, for other reasons, but this whole situation still bothers me from time to time