Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Solo Travel


A couple of my fellow bloggers have written recently about traveling alone.  Because of work travel, I travel solo more often than I do with the sweet-hubby-bear.  We love one another's families (well at least most of the members of them) but we often travel alone to visit family.  We get away a couple of times a year together, but of the dozen trips I will make this year, 8 of them will be solo.

The adventure of travel is really two parts, transportation, and being there.

I actually prefer to fly alone.  The only person I have to keep track of is me, I can be as pleasant or not as I want when I am flying solo and not have to concern myself with another person.  The farthest that I have flown solo, is Athens.  I flew on frequent flyer miles and J couldn't match my outgoing travel, I arrived 8 or 9 hours ahead of him.  It was one of the easiest trans-Atlantic flights I have ever had - I slept for 4 or 5 hours between New York and Athens. I found my way to the hotel, checked in, took a nap, went out for lunch, wandered through the central market, and was back a the hotel for a second nap when he arrived.  I have also spent a week solo in France while J was at a conference at Oxford.  In 2015 I flew to Germany and J flew in a day later to meet me.

Driving long distances alone can be deadly boring.  I do a couple of 400-800 miles each way car trips a year alone.  I wish I had someone to talk with, to help spot the sights and adventures along the way.

Being there, IE, staying in hotels and eating is the second part.  I get a bit fuzzier here.  I don't mind staying in hotel rooms alone.  I settle in, get comfortable and relax.  When I am alone I don't have to share the bathroom, and I can come and go when I am ready.  I have come to be uncomfortable eating out alone.  The lone single dinner in a restaurant is not always treated well,  I really miss someone to talk to when I am waiting for service.  Being an American of mid-west origin, I (we) stop talking once the food has arrived - with the exception of commenting on the food.  As I travel I learn that other's are not like this, they talk while the food gets cold. A new habit I have developed when traveling solo, is to buy take-out-food and eat alone in the hotel room, I have had some memorable sushi overlooking the Pacific in California and Hawaii doing this.  I find this harder to do when I am traveling with J,  he has a harder time deciding what he wants and worries that he has made a bad choice (that something better was available.)  

So how do you feel about traveling solo?
What is the longest trip you have made solo?

11 comments:

  1. done it, but a bit lonely when you can't share the day's adventure with someone else.

    last trip I made solo was to montreal by train in 1991.

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  2. Anonymous10/26/2016

    I guess my longest solo trip was a 20-hour Amtrak train ride from NJ to FL. I think I could have walked there faster. I used to travel alone when I was in my early 20's, and I rather enjoyed it. Now that I'm in my 50's, I don't think I'd like it much at all. But then again, I don't like the actual traveling part anymore. I'd rather just twitch my nose or blink my eyes and be there.

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  3. I'll be making a solo trip out west for about ten days starting next week.
    My father's having surgery and I will play the role of nursemaid.
    Ah, well ....

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  4. I enjoy road tripping solo. I don't fly....nasty business. But being a woman of a certain age I had trepidation being alone on the highway now.
    The longest trip I took solo was 2 years ago from Eastern PA (with stops outside of Chicago IL, Wausau WI, Clear Lake IA, Roland IA, Kansas City MO, Princeton IL, Richmond IN, Pittsburgh PA) and then home again to Eastern PA. 14 days and 2900+/- miles.
    I am tired just thinking about it now. lolz

    I have an idea for another solo trip(well part of the way would be solo until I pick up my cohort in IL)out to Colorado. Don't know if it will pan out but it's fun to think on it.

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  5. I rather enjoy traveling alone. I am often in Ft Lauderdale alone. While I love my husband and several close friends I travel with from time to time, I also enjoy me time. Eating alone at restaurants is no problem for me as I get to people watch, savor the food and eat as fast or slow as I feel like. My longest alone travel was my first flight actually as I was an exchange student to Venezuela at age 16. I did fly with a couple of other students that I met shortly before the trip and a chaperone that would be in the country if we needed them. Oncethere we were sent off with strangers who spoke only Spanish to make our way speaking just two high school years of Spanish.

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  6. Interestingly, I prefer a traveling companion when I fly, but love long solo driving trips.

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  7. Anonymous10/26/2016

    Unfortunately I do it all of the time, though you night not get that from my own blog. Work takes me mostly all over the Uk. I am in Manchester at the moment solo :(
    Trust me there is nothing more boring than sitting in a Premier Inn alone watching tv. That usually mean I head for the bar... where I read blogs!
    JP

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    Replies
    1. poor guido...home all alone...cooking bacon for himself...

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    2. PS - my relatives on my father's side came from manchester in the early 1900s.

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  8. Great comments today, I am in suite, in a Hilton, alone for two nights (with a couple of 12 hour work days)

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  9. After my recent stint of traveling alone, I vote for company and companions.

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