A solo cruise to Greece, Italy and Turkey changed April Lutz for all time.
It wasn’t the amazing ruins of Ephesus, Turkey, the best preserved classical city of the Eastern Mediterranean. Or the visit to Izmir, Turkey, dating back to 3000 B.C. Or the stop in her favorite place, Santorini, Greece, with its brilliant white houses and blue-domed churches built into a hillside that actually is a volcanic crater.
No, it was the realization she could strike out on her own. Book a solo trip. Deal with her nerves before going. Get over the fact she didn’t speak the languages of the places she was going. Forget the fact she was supposed to go to Germany with her boyfriend…until they broke up three weeks before that trip.
She took what she felt was the easiest route to a solo vacation. She booked a reasonably priced cruise with Costa Cruises. With stops in Rome and Sicily in Italy, Patmos and Mykonos in Greece, and Izmir. After paying her money, she let someone else take over the details.
April, 27, figured she’d be alone the whole time. She was okay with that. The broken relationship gave her plenty to mull
over.
But on the first day, she met three American women
close to her age. Two sisters and their friend. They liked one
another so much, they planned to change table assignments so they could
sit together. Until they found they already were seated together.
April figures she spent about 50 percent of the week with her new friends and 50 percent by herself. By choice. And she liked both parts equally.
The trip was, "the best thing I could have ever done
for myself. Once you know you can go halfway around the world by
yourself, you know you can handle things."
She didn’t realize what a big deal it was until
people she knew expressed shock. They said things such as, "I could never
do that." She suggests they should. "It’s so empowering. I didn’t have
to answer to anyone but myself. It was very liberating." Something every woman should do at some point in her life.
Would she take another vacation solo? "In a heartbeat."
Photos by, or of, April Lutz.
Boldlygosolo tags: Greece, Italy, Turkey
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