Top 4 reasons to travel solo

Have you ever started to plan a trip somewhere, then put your plans on the shelf because you couldn't find anyone that could go with you?  Yeah, you have?  Well, why didn't you just go on your own?

I know, it's a daunting thought.  You'll be all by yourself in a strange place.  No one has your back. You won't feel as safe.  You won't have fun.  You'll have to eat meals out alone.  You could DIE.

What's so bad about all that?  Ok, dying would suck.  But seriously, what are the chances that you'll die on vacation simply because you went by yourself?  You probably have a better chance of getting your wallet stolen by a flying monkey. I once had my wallet stolen by a gypsy, and I wasn't even by myself.

Are you still not convinced?  Or are you now afraid of flying monkeys picking your pocket?  Well, here are my top 4 reasons for giving that solo trip a chance:

1.  You can do what you want, whenever you want.  You're a morning person?  No one will sleep in late and keep you from doing your AM exploring.  You're dying to go to the Musee d'Orsay on your last afternoon in Paris, but your travel partner wants to pay homage to Jim Morrison and go burn incense at his grave?  No need to choose, and no need to split up.  The world is your oyster, and you don't have to do what anyone else wants.  This is awesome.  Your inner child will finally get what it always wanted - complete freedom.

Also, best excuse ever to take a bunch of selfies.

2.  It is SO much easier to meet people when you're traveling by yourself.  Solo travelers tend to gravitate toward each other.  If you stay in a communal-style place like a bed-and-breakfast or a hostel, you're sure to meet other travelers and end up exploring and eating with them. If you go out to eat alone, eat at the bar where it's much easier to strike up a conversation with someone.  Shoot, you might even meet a local that will give you some awesome insider tips on places to go.

3.  You can have all the alone time you want. If you're the type that really benefits from some alone time to relax and recharge, you're guaranteed to have that.  Unless you're staying in a shared room in a youth hostel.  Then you're just sh*t out of luck.  Also, you can't walk around your room naked.

4.  You'll actually learn more about the places you go because you'll have to figure out everything on your own. That may sound difficult and daunting, but come on.  You're smart.  You can figure out where to catch a bus and how to get to that rockin' pub with live music that you keep hearing about.  You'll understand the lay of the land much better because you figured it all out yourself and didn't rely on anyone else to do it for you.  And this may sound weird, but I promise you will remember your trip that much more vividly because you took the time and effort to learn everything you needed to do what you wanted.

Still apprehensive?  A friend and I once met a girl in the Slovak Republic that was traveling around eastern Europe by herself for a couple of weeks.  She had a severe dairy allergy, but she didn't let it stress her out, and she certainly didn't let it stop her from having a fabulous trip.  She couldn't read many of the menus in the restaurants she went to, so inevitably something she ordered ended up having cheese, cream, or milk in it.  She would just keep ordering until something came out that she could eat.  She left a lot of confused waiters in her wake, but her strategy worked.  She didn't get sick, and she could care less what the waiters thought.  She did what she had to do, and it was fine.

My same friend worked in a hostel in Berlin, and one day a girl in a wheelchair checked in.  She was traveling around Europe - by herself.  IN A WHEELCHAIR.  So if there's a trip you're dying to take but you haven't found a travel companion yet, just go.  I'm willing to bet you'll have a much easier time than Wheelchair Chick and Dairy Girl.

Top 9 simple and silly reasons to travel

Have you ever traveled someplace hellbent on seeing everything you possibly can in the short time you have?  Of course you have.  We’ve all done that.  “I’m going to London for 4 days!  I’m going to go to Buckingham Palace and St. James and the Tower of London and St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey and the British Museum and Big Ben and Tower Bridge and the Tate Modern and Hyde Park and Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square and go see a play every single night!”  MUST SEE ALL THE THINGS. Ugh.  I got tired just typing all of that. 

Of course, if you’re spending four days in London, those are all worthy sights and activities.  But great googly moogly, when are you ever going to eat or sleep?  When are you going to just sit down in a pub, take a deep breath, and go, “Ahhh, I’m in London!”? You’re going to fly back home, end up exhausted from the combination of jet lag and your self-imposed suicidal vacation schedule, and decide to take a couple of sick days from work just to recover from all your rushing around. 

But you saw so much cool stuff!  Yes, you did.  But did you actually experience London?  

Alrighty, now - I’m going to propose something strange. Scandalous, even.  Instead of making your mind up to see every conceivable thing under the sun on your trip, pick just one thing to see or do that will make you over-the-moon happy.  That was not a typo.  Just ONE thing.  Make it something huge, or make it something that seems silly and stupid to someone else.  If you focus on just one thing that will make the trip seem worth it to you, then everything else you do is just icing on your travel cake.  The pressure to cover as much historic and cultural ground as possible is gone, and you’re free to simply experience the place you’re in.  If a big museum strikes your fancy, go for it.  If you just want to sit and chill in a cafe all morning, do it.  If you happen by a joint with some live music, check it out.  If you just want to stroll around a lake or a park, then that’s what you should do.  

The trips I’ve taken with just one goal in mind are usually the most satisfying.  I don’t stretch myself thin, and I don’t set my sightseeing expectations up in the stratosphere.  I just roll with whatever looks interesting, and that often makes for the most memorable experiences.  Below are my top reasons for taking a trip.  Some are expected, and some may seem downright ridiculous to you.  But they were important to me, and I don’t regret a single one.

1.  Go visit a friend or family member.  What better reason could there be?  You can catch up with    someone important to you, check out a new place, and use your friend/family member as your personal tour guide! Ok, and they’ll most likely put you up for free, too.  I’ve made a regular habit of visiting friends that have moved outside the U.S.

Visiting my friend Ben in South Korea

2.  Participate in a sporting event.  Sign up to run a race, do a triathlon, or take part in a rodeo in a place you’d like to check out.  I met up with two good friends in Austin, TX last year to run my first half marathon.  The race was our only set plan, and we ended up having a blast.  We ate fabulous food, shopped, wandered through different neighborhoods, and wound up at the famous Broken Spoke where old Captain Sketchy decided I was going to be his dance partner for the evening.

3.  Attend a sporting event.  Go see your favorite team play football/basketball/lacrosse/cricket/badminton/shuffleboard, or get tickets to something huge like the Olympics or the Super Bowl. I got tickets to see a couple of World Cup matches back in 2010, which meant that a trip to South Africa was in order.  Soccer was the reason for the trip.  Wine tasting, cage diving with great whites, and seeing a leopard in the wild were all major bonuses.  

4.  Go get some amazing food, and perhaps a beauty treatment.  I used to drive from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, VA (a 2-hour drive one-way without traffic, and there was almost always traffic) to get my hair cut and have brunch at my favorite brunch spot in the entire world.  Everyone I knew thought I was beyond insane to spend at least 4 hours in a car just for a haircut and a plate of food.  You probably think that sounds nuts, too.  I loved it, though.  My hairdresser was wonderful and much cheaper than most places in D.C., and my brunch spot (Millie’s Diner - downright mind-blowing) was just a few blocks from the salon.  I would drive back to D.C. in a glorious food coma with fabulous hair.  Worth the trip?  Absolutely.

5.  Go see a show.  I went to Paris for a long December weekend with a friend for the sole purpose of seeing an opera in the Paris Opera House.  The opera experience was unbelievable, and my inner opera nerd practically passed out from happiness.  Spending the rest of the weekend doing nothing but drinking champagne, eating macaroons, walking around the beautifully decorated Champs-Elysees, and not feeling my feet for 3 days thanks to the cold was just blissful.  Yep, even the numb feet part.

6.  Go be IN a show.  I’ve been to Italy twice to take part in an opera festival.  The experience and education I received were top-notch.  I didn’t have all that much time outside of rehearsals and performances to explore the area, but I took every brief chance I had to do just that.  I mean, I was singing in Italy.  Anything I got to do on top of that was just bonus.  I even managed to eat gelato at least once a day, which was an extra bonus.

7.  Go see a building that fascinates you.  I once went to York, England for a day just to see York Minster.  I also once went to NYC for a weekend just get an insiders’ tour of the Met, and happened upon a rehearsal of Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore”.  Operagasm.

8.  Go to a festival.  In college, I drove from southern Alabama to West Virginia to spend just 36 hours in the town of Fayetteville for Bridge Day.  We spent about as much time driving as we did at the festival, but that 36 hours was full of beautiful weather and fall foliage, gorgeous mountains, staring at people bungee jumping off of the New River Gorge Bridge, and eating delicious, artery-clogging carnival food.  I even posed for a picture with a guy dressed as a chicken. 

9.  Go because the name sounds cool. While studying abroad in Scotland, a friend and I debated about places we could go for a weekend trip.  We settled on the seaside town of Ayr just because we thought the name was funny.  It ended up being one of my favorite weekend trips during my time in Scotland.

You can come up with any number of singular reasons to go somewhere.  You may even come up with a reason sillier than getting a haircut (if you do, I will personally give you a golf clap round of applause).  And I’m willing to bet you’ll be just as happy, if not happier, with your travels as you would with an itinerary that fills every second of your days.  

I'll have the damnation, please

Amanda:  "Wait.  You're an opera singer, but you've never been to the Paris Opera House?!"
Me: "Um... no..."
Amanda:  "We have to fix this.  Pick a weekend.  We're going to Paris to see an opera."

And that's how I found myself on a plane to Paris on a freezing cold December weekend with my brilliant friend.  We greeted Paris with wool socks, ball gowns, and box seat tickets to Smetana's The Bartered Bride.  Paris greeted us with rain, sleet, Christmas lights, and champagne. I couldn't feel my feet for the cold the entire weekend, but, well, that's what the champagne was for.

We ran late to the opera.  We burst into the house in a flurry of pouf and pearls.  My jaw dropped immediately upon entering.  This was one of the most beautiful, ornate places I'd ever seen.  Even better, I wasn't there as a tourist - I was there to see a dadgum opera!

The opera itself was amazing, and time flew.  I never could wrap my head around the fact that I was seeing an opera in the Paris Opera House.  We sat on red velvet chairs in a box with red velvet walls.  There was gold everywhere.  There was the gargantuan chandelier of The Phantom of the Opera fame.

Amanda and I wanted to keep this fairy tale evening going, which meant that champagne was in order.  We took a cab to a restaurant with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  Our waiter was Italian.  And by the laws of physics, all Italian waiters must flirt with anyone with boobs.  He gave us menus and a wink.  We ordered our champagne and perused the dessert menu, because we had been subsisting off of nothing but champagne, chocolate, and macaroons thus far, and we saw no need to change this delicious pattern.

Amanda and I saw it at the same time.  We looked at each other and grinned.

"Do you want to split it?"  Amanda asked.
"You bet," I replied.

We called our new Italian friend over.  "We'll have the damnation, please."

That was one delicious damnation.  If this is hell, I'll take it. 

Photo of the week: Paris

I took this picture of a Paris Metro sign next to Galeries Lafayette in December of 2010.  The Galeries were sporting more Christmas lights than the Griswolds' house, except it was tasteful and gorgeous.  I took so many pictures that my hands went numb.  Actually, I think most of my extremities were numb for that entire trip.  But Paris at Christmas is an amazing experience that is totally worth not feeling your feet for a few days.  Don't like the cold?  It's ok, they sell gluhwein all along the Champs Elysees!