Boldly Go Solo

How to set out solo, but not travel alone: Trips, tips and ideas for the active traveler.

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  • Cross-country skiing on the beach, Cape Elizabeth, Maine

    Skiing on Crescent Beach, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Credit Sheara SeigalMy tale of cross-country skiing on the beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, just south of Portland, is in The Washington Post today. A year later, that trip still feels magical. A beautiful inn. Fabulous skiing. Great food. 

    It may be difficult to replicate the experience at the moment, due to the lack of snow this year. But it's something worth keeping on the "bucket list." 

    I'm hoping that there will be snow somewhere in late February, when I plan to head North for another cross country ski weekend with my ski buddies. Somewhere.

    We haven't picked a place yet. We're waiting for the white stuff to decide the best location. It seems it will have to be a last-minute decision.

    Funny enough, I was just in Jordan – a desert country – where we drove by sandy ground dusted with snow! Our Jordanian tour guide cracked jokes about opening a resort, serving camel burgers for lunch, telling us to skip Switzerland and head to his country for the winter.

    Uh, it wasn't THAT much snow. And Jordan's a tad tougher to get to. 

    Although you may remember the solo traveler version of the cross-country skiing story posted here last year, today's Washington Post story has different photos and additional details on restaurants in Portland and Cape Elizabeth. And on the Inn by the Sea, where we stayed. Check it out. 

  • Israel for first-timers

    Boker Tov, (good morning)

    No time, no time.

    I've been in Israel for almost four days, seeing and learning a zillion things, so there's no time to post here. I've been to the Western (Wailing) wall and to the Temple Mount. To old Jerusalem and, as of last night, "new" Tel Aviv.

    Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust musesum, was a profound experience but too short a visit. There was one day in Jerusalem that I heard the Muslim call to prayer, followed by church bells. Here, in this Jewish nation. I'm finally, viscerally, understanding the intense mix of religions and why tensions can so easily arise.

    Soon, I'm off to ancient Jaffa.

    I'll tweet when I can. Post photos when I can. But if not, write in more detail when I return.

    Meanwhile, check in every so often for the tweets on the top left of the blog. I'll shoot some 140-character thoughts if there's time and an Internet connection.

    Shalom

  • The Christmas 11. Holiday hiking for those looking to get out of the house


    Christmas day hike, 2011, solo travel    The "11" refers to the number of miles.

    While others were unwrapping presents or scarfing down turkey or perhaps banging forlornly on the doors of closed stores, 20 of us gathered for a Christmas Day hike.

    A long one.

    It was hosted by the Wanderbirds, a hiking club that more typically hires a bus to drive hikers from the Washington, D.C., area to the Shenandoah Mountains for day-long, scenic hikes.

    The hike was one of at least three offered by area hiking clubs.

    We started at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. Everything was closed but the gates to the parking lot.

    After hiking out of the gardens, we ended up on trails in the Rachel Carson Conservation Park. Hike 1

    Just one pileated woodpecker made its presence known during the four hours we tromped through the woods. Often I hear lots of them on local hikes, "creating starter homes" as a fellow hiker joked.

    The day was chilly. But you warm up nicely at a brisk pace and this pace was more than brisk. That leader had some long legs!

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  • Top 20 “Lost in Translation” signs sent to Lonely Planet’s photo contest

    Bar_not_closedSomewhere along the line I traveled with someone who taught me the fun of photographing silly signs documenting the hilarious mangling of the English language by non-English speakers.

    No, these photographs never get blown up, matted or framed. But they're good for a laugh and for showing other people. I'm sure many people would appreciate being amused by someone's vacation photos, more so than having to ooh and aah over some beautiful sunset that they didn't experience.

    NOT that I'm saying I make others view dozens of sunset photos they don't really want to see…

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  • Tokyo cafes where solo travelers can chat with Japanese residents

    In my previous post, my friend Bob described the conversation café scene in Tokyo. The conversation continues.

    Do guests always just sit down at the conversation cafes and chat?

    No, the cafes also hold “international parties” on the weekend once or twice a month. At a Norton Place party, a pianist provided a mini-concert at the cozy café that looks like someone’s family room. 

    English language conversation cafe, Tokyo, Japan(Except that family rooms don’t tend to host belly dance parties. But this cafe did. And it displays the photos to prove it, Bob says.)  

    Leaf Cup’s international party was a standing happy hour type event.  Because people are eager to practice English, finding someone to talk to at the parties is easy. They want to hear about where you're from and what your experiences have been in Japan.

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  • Tokyo’s conversation cafes welcome native English speakers

    Tokyo conversation cafe, JapanClearly, Japan is a café culture. The last time my friend Bob returned from a solo trip to Japan, I asked him about his travels and he contributed his observations about Japanese cat cafes to my blog.

    This time, he stopped in at several English-conversation cafes in Tokyo, where he was a top attraction, I'm guessing, being so good in English and all. 

    What did you like about going to English-conversation cafes in Tokyo?

    Tokyo’s English-conversation cafes give you a chance to interact with Japanese people in ways you might not otherwise.  

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  • Real ghosts for Halloween…scary!!!


    Spooky stairs connect to haunted sites, Harpers Ferry, WVThey say that if you walk late at night, up Hog Alley, a short, steep street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., you might see a tall black man, dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s, pacing up and down. If you get close enough, he slowly lifts his head to show piercing blue eyes. But when he lifts his head a little farther, you see blood dripping from a scar that goes from ear to ear. . . .

    Agghhhhhhh!

    This story is continued in Friday's Weekend section of The Washington Post. The headline is, "An eerie twist on 'living history.' "

    I went on the O' Be Joyfull ghost tour in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and visited The Haunted Cottage there as well.

    The Harpers Ferry Ghost Tour

    Rick Garland, the guide of the ghost tour in the historic area of Harpers Ferry related stories about the ghosts of people who actually died in the area, many during the Civil War era. Some Confederate soldiers, some abolitionists, some young boys sent to help the soldiers.

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  • Back to (language) school


    0143-Panes dulces, Guadalajara-Ellen Perlman This is the second year that fall h    as come around and my thoughts have turned to…Guadalajara. 

    The foods, the family I lived with there for a few days and the Guadalajara sights.

    The San Juan de Dios Market. (I just recently finished the vanilla I brought home from there, which reminded me of my trip every time I baked with it.) The Corona Market in Guadalajara's city center. And much more. My nice teacher at the IMAC Spanish language school in downtown Guadalajara. 

    I was in a class with about five others, who ranged in age from teens to probably 60's. I loved the fact that la maestra couldn't revert to English to explain things (she didn't speak it well) and that I was able to follow along in Spanish pretty well.

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  • Harpers Ferry lodging, ghosts and pancakes. West Virginia is indeed wild and wonderful.

    Harpers Ferry, boldlygosolo, travel A guy I hardly knew cooked me breakfast yesterday. Pancakes. An Israeli guy from New York. 

    Actually, "hardly knew" overstates things. I didn't know him at all. But Raz from Queens not only cooked me a batch of pancakes, he also gave me a rundown of all the places I should go and see in Israel – which I'm planning on visiting in January.

    This is what I love about hosteling. Particularly when traveling solo.

    You are unlikely to feel lonely at most hostels.

    In the short time between when I checked in at the Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, hostel (actually located in Knoxville, WV) and left to visit the historic town of Harpers Ferry, I ended up talking to two bicyclists and one weaver, all staying there.

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  • Travel tips and iPad apps

    Jibbigo- Travelers debating whether to buy an iPad to take on the road should take a peek at the apps and functions described by Jim Karlovsky on The Globe Less Traveled. He lists 21 useful functions the iPad provides travelers.

    The wifi and Internet connections didn't impress. I don't travel to stay in touch. In fact, it's the opposite. In any case, there are Internet cafes and I can always pay to activate my smartphone overseas. Jibbigo

    But then I kept reading and got to part about language translators and offline maps. This got my attention.

    He writes about Jibbigo, a language translator. You type in or speak a phrase and the translation is spoken aloud for the person you're trying to communicate with. It's also written on the screen. Within seconds. That's kind of cool.

    Then there are the offline maps and transit schedules. "Offline" is a magic word when traveling with electronics. Who knows where or when you will find a connection?

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