Going solo

Photo by me (Florence, Italy - 2011)

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of traveling alone. The first thing that that comes to mind as to why is safety. Being a woman traveling alone, it's only natural to think of safety. Second, I am absolutely horrid at directions. I have no sense of direction and am awful at reading maps. I do think one of the best things to do while traveling it to get lost, just not in the stressful, oh my god time to freak out kind of way. Thirdly, I get lonely easily. I'd like to share that particular travel experience with someone, and have someone to keep my company and to talk to. 

Then I started thinking about the instances of my past trips abroad where there were times where I was alone. Then my feeling slowly stated to change. Being around a large group of people while traveling is, to me, too stressful but being alone the entire time is as well. I think it's all about finding a happy medium somewhere in there, and then slowly but surely taking the steps outside of my comfort zone to go at it alone more often.

Most of my past trips have been with schools, so I'd be with a group of anywhere from 15-25 students. The first time abroad, the group travel was the right thing for me but after the third or the fourth trip I was not as big of an advocate as I once was. 

The second trip abroad I went on was a school trip to Italy in 2011. I was in Florence and the group had gone to the Uffizi Gallery for the day. I went off with another girl from the group and we got separated but agreed to meet in the gift shop. So I waited. And waited. And no one showed. Finally, after realizing everyone left, I knew I was alone. I had to find the way back to my hotel alone. For someone who is as bad as directions as I was, I was kind of freaking out a bit. Thankfully, the way back to the hotel was easy, and I had paid attention the past several walks along the same route. I started along the route back, a route I had walked at least 5 other times but this time it was different. I actually had time to take my time and to really appreciate and absorb the beauty of Florence. In that short walk, I reveled in the fact that no one else was there and it was so peaceful. I walked alone the road in awe of the buildings and the beauty of the Santa Croce church. In the short time it took me to get back to the hotel, I had the time to actually stop and appreciate where I was, something that is difficult to do in a huge group when you're trying to rush from place to place because you are on a schedule. Amongst the craziness of that group trip I like to think that that time I spent alone gave me back a bit of my sanity that you can at times lose with a big group abroad.

The same time next year I went on another trip to Paris with another group. This time was a bit different, since I had a friend who was living in Paris at the time. The first night in Paris I broke away from the group and met up with my friend. While I wasn't exactly traveling alone that time, just being with one person instead of 20 people for a few hours was incredible. Those few hours we walked around Paris were the best memories I have of the city. I had my own personal tour guide who gave me a private tour of the City of Lights at night. We walked through The Louvre, over the Seine, to Notre Dame and to Shakespeare and Company and more. It was such a great experience; to walk around Paris at night with no plans and no destination...just the goal to appreciate an incredible city.

That same summer I went abroad again with my university for a month. We spent 3 weeks in London, Paris and Rome and then after our program was over, 5 of us decided to explore more of Italy for a week. That trip made me realize two things: one, traveling with a very small group was so much better than a large one, and two: hostels were awesome and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the hostels we stayed in. 

We decided to expire Venice for a few days. Venice took my breath away from the moment I stepped out of the train station, and kept taking my breath away the more I saw of it. I loved walking through the streets and down alleyways with no particular destination in mind. I loved seeing glimpses of the grand canal through the buildings, and I loved just how different Venice was from anywhere else I had been. One night we went to dinner at a restaurant on the canal. Once we had ordered, I decided to break away from the other 4 girls for a few minutes and go explore the beautiful Rialto Bridge. They probably thought I was crazy, but I was craving some alone time with such an incredible city. Again, I really got to appreciate and absorb the beauty of Venice, even if I was surrounded by tons of people on the most famous bridge in Venice. I went into some shops, talked with some Venetians and took some of my favorite photographs from my travels thus far.

As I took back on the times I was alone while abroad I am reminded of all of the positives of traveling alone and that it is extremely possible to do so, even for myself. While I won't be going off on a month long tour by myself tomorrow, I hope that in the future by living in London and exploring the various boroughs and neighborhoods of the city alone, it will push me closer and closer to taking a trip by myself and turn me into a solo travel afficinado.