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Solo Travel Gets An Unfair Rap
By Gina Greenlee
The Hartford Courant
June 17, 2003
Had I waited for a companion with whom to travel around the
world in 2000, I'd still be waiting. Instead, from April to
September of that year, I traveled solo to 21 countries across
five continents, fulfilling a long-term dream.
Lest I be mistaken for a misanthrope, I also travel with
friends whose company I enjoy. Much can be said for companionship
on the road, for sharing our impressions of and feelings about a
place. At the same time, solo travel offers the unique
opportunity to engage an experience that is entirely one's own,
not filtered through the perceptions of others.
There is virtually no arena of adult life where we are not
sublimating our needs and compromising with others every day. If
we are parents, we put our children first. As employees, we wave
our customers and bosses ahead. Responsibilities, commitments and
externals that may not coincide with our personal rhythms often
dictate when and where we eat, how long we sleep and the
activities that fill each day.
I'm not suggesting that solo travel is a playground for the
id. Our ability to consider and respond to the needs of others is
what allows us to coexist harmoniously on and off the road. These
are significant life skills engendered early in our socialization
and cultivated throughout our formative years. But it is
precisely because life is a multitude of daily negotiations - an
interplay of wants and shoulds, yeses and noes - that we benefit
from opportunities to break from its weight, to give ourselves
the time and attention to experience what we want, when we want
it and how.
Though millions of Americans do it annually, solo travel still
gets a bad rap, largely from those whose perceptions have kept
them from trying it. Some common ones are:
It's lonely.
Traveling without companions doesn't mean not interacting with
others. Rather, when we travel solo we are more attuned to our
surroundings and open to new people. With our energies turned
outward, we become a magnet for kindred spirits from whom we get
to choose. We may also discover that the companionship we crave
is with ourselves.
If I can't speak the language or if I get lost, there's nobody
to help me.
People across the Earth are aching to serve as ambassadors to
visitors. And solo travelers especially attract local guardian
angels.
During five months of globetrotting, I received help from
strangers the world over, including a teenager in Ubud, Bali,
who, in the rain, gave me a lift on the back of his motorbike to
an Internet cafe; and a Parisian businessman in Tahiti who
drove me to the dock to catch my freighter to Bora Bora. If
nothing else, the kindness of strangers will bolster your faith
in humanity.
There's nobody to help me with my stuff.
True. You will have to schlep your bags into the public
restroom and cart them with you. But this isn't necessarily a bad
thing.
Years of solo travel have taught me to be more mindful - vs.
absent-minded - about my belongings. With each trip I'm better
prepared and more skilled because I've learned how to be my own
backup. The biggest lesson of all? Travel light.
Solo travel needn't be a mournful default. It can be a joyful,
often transformational option that allows you to:
Honor your internal clock.
Indulge your preferences for food, itinerary and pace at
will.
Stay longer, go farther or in a different direction, just
because.
Never have to explain, defend or ignore your moods.
Enjoy as much or as little solitude as you wish.
Now, I ask you: What could be more fun than that?
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