Maria was on her own, in "the cutest little pub I’d ever seen," when the bartender poured her a Guinness she hadn’t ordered. She was perplexed. Then the bartender told her it was from three Irish guys who noticed she was alone at the bar. She’d never had a drink sent her way by a stranger. Let alone, three strangers.
In a foreign country.
Maria had been perfectly content sitting in the Ennis, Ireland, pub, reading a history book. But once the guys reached out, the evening morphed into something else. A merry evening with three locals. Verryy local. One lad’s accent was so thick, his friend had to translate for her.
Running into friendly pub goers turned out to be the norm during Maria’s 10-day trip to Ireland and Scotland. In fact, practically every place she went, expecting to read the night away in a cozy corner, or watch sports alone on the telly, someone would reach out and talk to her.
It still wasn’t easy for her to go out each night. She doesn’t like eating by herself. But she forced herself out the door each time. "I knew I would have regretted it if I stayed inside watching TV."
In Dublin, Maria, who is 38 and an avid
soccer player, went to a pub to watch Ireland play
Brazil in "football." She ended up talking to a couple of American guys in their 50’s
and four other Americans who were studying abroad at the university.
In
Edinburgh, at a place on Rose Street, it was two older guys who said,
"We noticed you’re sitting by yourself. Come sit with us." Soon two
Welsh guys and a fellow from San Francisco expanded the group to six. Yes, six people who closed the pub down that night. A Monday night,
no less.
Mulling over her experience, Maria realizes that when
she’s with her friends, she gets caught up in the activities they’re
doing together. That makes her less open to soaking up the culture of
the place she’s in. During her Ireland/Scotland trip, she had a chance to read a lot of history, while she was in the places she was reading about. And, of course, converse with locals.
It took Maria some time to see the
advantages of solo travel. She never thought she wanted to go alone. But she realized
before this solo trip that she won’t always have someone to travel with. And she doesn’t want that
to be a reason to stay home. "I totally realized I could do it. It’s
made me a cooler person."
Photo: Maria and friends in Edinburgh
Boldly Go Solo 
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