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?