Boldly Go Solo

World Hum, a travel magazine site, ran a twelve-part "e-mail roundtable" in October, written by four veteran travel writers. It was all about the "rewards and perils" of women traveling alone. I’ve pulled out some quotes that struck home for me.

    In Part 8, Catherine Watson writes about traveling with her significant other, who doesn’t like to travel:

We always fought when we tried to do it together. We once had a huge fight in the train station on a one-day stop in Venice over whether we should store the luggage so we could walk around freely. He grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "Travel is hard for you, isn’t it?" Amazingly, he managed to keep on being my friend when I told him the truth: No, it’s only hard when I’m with someone."

    Continued…   

    In Part 10, Stephanie Elizondo Griest writers about her 2007 workshops for women, "Traveling Sola." 

The
first question I always ask is: "Who here has wanderlust?" Every hand
blasts skyward. Then I ask: "So why are we here instead of out there?"
The responses are myriad, but they boil down to this: "We are waiting"
and "We are afraid."

    She
paraphrases Thalia Zepatos: "If you are waiting to find that perfect
travel partner, take a look in the mirror and get out your passport."

    Liz Sinclair writes in Part 11:

"The more I travel, the more I open up life’s
possibilities, to other people. I have had the most extraordinary,
life-affirming encounters with strangers. I have friends all over the
globe. The more I learn about other ways of seeing the world, other
ways of living, the more I learn about myself. I trust myself more. I
have a lot more confidence. I am more relaxed, flexible, adaptable,
content. I don’t need someone or something else to make me happy."

    And the final words I will share, and then you
should read the series of e-mails in full, are from Catherine Watson
again, in Part 12.

I tell
beginning solo travelers to start small, if they’re fearful–a short
trip, even a weekend alone, so they can see how it feels. Or start with
an interest-focused group trip, particularly a study tour or
activity-based experience.

  The advantage of traveling solo is you don’t have to feel "guilty or torn" because you’ve
discovered something you want to explore, yet you were supposed to meet
a travel partner at a certain time, she says. "The autonomy of
this is amazing."
    Moreover, she adds, no arguments, no waiting
for the shower, no shoring. "It’s a kind of freedom," she says. "You
can change plans in a heartbeat. You don’t have to compromise." Amen.

Photo: Ellen Perlman