Boldly Go Solo

I landed upon the blog of a woman who normally travels with her kids and her "other half," who she says takes good care of her by packing and doing laundry for her. (Is he for rent?)

Recently, she had the opportunity to travel in Japan on her own for two days. "Big deal, right?" she writes. "But to me, it was a
big scary deal."

She hadn't traveled alone before, not even on a business trip. She feared having no one to talk to and no one to remind her of the essentials, like taking her meds.

Her blog post on solo travel is long so I'm going to pull out the pertinent bits, including that she
has also had "rip-roaring fights" on some of her travels with this treasure of a packer and
launderer, so remember that nothing is perfect and score one for solo travel versus angry partners.

So, she finally gets to her destination and realizes she not only has the whole room to herself, but can soak in the tub for as long as she likes without kids banging on the door. She can surf the net without anyone nagging. She can have a meal without having to cut up meat for a child or referee a fight.

She ventured around Tokyo, apparently a place she knows well, and felt a sense of confidence and familiarity. She knew how to use the ticket machines at the train station and could easily check into her hotel.

"The fear, the trepidation,
apprehension all vanished," she wrote. Although sometimes she wished she had someone to talk to (don't we all?) or marvel at the scenery with. And it was tough to get photos with her in them. But she learned to ask strangers to snap her photo.

"I don't think I was ever homesick or oppressively lonely
and longing for company," she says. She was busy writing in her journal, listening to music, eating Japanese delicacies and day dreaming.

She found she really enjoyed her solo travels. Her new-found independence was seductive. She longs to do it again. Despite being part of a family with children. Or maybe, because of it.

It's still hard to convince people who have never traveled solo to swallow their fears. But I'll  keep passing along the epiphanies from other solo travelers.