Solo Travel Ideas

Part 2

Photo by Luca Dugaro on Unsplash

Hello readers, it was a busy July and now that it is August, I am spending a lot of this month housesitting. I also watched a lot of the Olympics. I’ll spare you all from talking about them at length but I am one of those people who cannot get enough. I love them but I’m always happy when they’re over so I am not compelled to watch as much as I can. If any of you want to tell me your favourite Olympic sports in the comments, go for it! Even more exciting, if you’ve been to an Olympic Games, I know some of you have, I’d love it if you wanted to write something about your experience. When I was a teenager, my family went to some of the events at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and I’d love to go to another summer games as well as a winter Olympics. 

In this issue I am continuing my mini-series on solo travel in a more relaxed format and will wrap it up with the last issue of August.

Dining out: Part of why I like to be on an airplane with no wifi is because it is uninterrupted reading, crafting time, or movie-watching time. And, I can just as easily and happily sit at a table with a book or my kindle and read. If you’ve never dined out alone, then I recommend doing it with some reading material to start. And read this.

Get a table and enjoy it. If you’re in a more social mood, especially if you’re travelling, sit at the bar, even if you don’t drink, you can eat there or order anything you want to drink. Have your reading material but also feel free to chat with the bartender if they’re not super busy. Or, chat with the other diners around you if they seem open to it. If no one is into it, then you have your book/magazine/e-reader to keep you company.

The easiest place to start with this is obviously the airport, most people are chatty there. I recommend trying it once you’re at your destination too. At some destinations, restaurants don’t always have bars with seats so you’ll get your own table. In my experience, this seems more common outside of the US and Canada so dining alone might require you to stare at a wall unless you have a book, magazine, or sketchbook. No one will think you are weird if you’re dining alone and doing something other than scrolling your phone. 

Dining in and buying groceries: I usually try and book something with breakfast included or at least with breakfast available. Or, I book accommodations where I can buy some groceries and have easy to make breakfasts in my hotel or airbnb to save myself some money. I also like that I can leave for the day and not have to immediately get food. Don’t get me wrong, I love a breakfast or brunch out on vacation. However, breakfast is the cheapest to make and also the most marked up, so I like to save my money there. I’m also less enthused about eating breakfast solo in public, but that is just me. I don’t mind and often do buy a coffee out and sit to enjoy that but it takes less time that a full breakfast.

In Berlin earlier this summer, my sister and I went to the Neue Palais in Potsdam and we found a grocery store between visiting the two main palaces. The palaces are quite spread out with a shuttle bus system to take visitors from point to point, and they were on schedule. At the grocery store, we bought sandwiches, fruit, and some crackers to share and took our food to the grounds of the palace and ate outside. I think we only spent about 10 dollars CAD each on our meals. So, save your money at breakfast and plan to have at least one or two picnic lunches and you’ll have more money for excursions, fancier dinners, accommodations, etc. I don’t necessarily make a budget for meals when I am travelling but I try to be mindful of what I have spent and adjust accordingly. Think of it in terms of the entire trip rather than feeling like you’ve failed if one meal costs more than you planned. I think about my general budget this way so it is easy to do while on vacation too.

Schlepping your bags when travelling solo: One reason I’ve learned to pack light when I travel is because I am the only one carrying my bags, obviously. I try to take public transport when I arrive, walk if and when distances are short, and always carry-on unless I’m bringing something that must be checked, like hiking poles. I research the transport options before I arrive but then usually make a decision when I arrive based on how tired I am. Last year I bought the Monos carry-on suitcase. It is hard-sided and has no pockets on the outside and I use packing cubes, but this suitcase was an adjustment for me. I can fit a lot into it but it definitely makes me edit what I pack. My rule is never pack more than I can carry or manage on my own so that I’m not a target, don’t lose anything, and stand out less. 

Walking tours: These almost always have a solo traveller or two! You’ll usually be asked to introduce yourself briefly at the beginning of the walking tour and tell everyone where you’re from. This is where you pay attention and you can usually spot the other solo travellers at this point. Then, while in between the stopping points of the walking tour you have built in opportunities to walk and chat with those people. You can make a new friend and possibly ask the person if they have any recommendations on food/drink/coffee what they’ve liked or done so far at the destination, or what they plan to do, and the conversation can organically progress to a possible travel buddy for a meal or activity. Some solo travellers might not be into it and that is okay, but I think most of us have a good idea when that is the case, use your intuition. If I’ve been solo for several days of a trip, I would generally enjoy having someone ask if I want to enjoy a coffee, walk, or lunch together.

Tours: Of course, if you’re anxious about the idea of travelling alone, I would suggest starting with a guided tour anywhere. Whether you book an entire trip package with a tour operator or book day tours every day of your destination, those both still count as solo travel. I work for a tour operator and the majority of our travellers are solo travellers. They often make lifelong friends and travel partners on these trips too. 

Here’s a list of destinations that Afar thinks are great for solo travellers. You’ll find my first solo destination on that list as well as one I’ve mentioned several times lately.

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I really would like to travel solo to Rio de Janeiro, however, I’ve read and heard over and over that this is not a place to go alone. Has anyone been to Brazil or Rio? Some questions for you!

Where would you like to go first if you’ve never travelled solo?

What concerns you the most about travelling solo?

What parts of travel do you not like and would want someone there for you? Turbulence (more on that soon)? Dining? Budgeting?

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I’ll wrap this little series up in August with my pros and cons of solo travel. 

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Consuming

The Olympics but now they’re over and I have my life back! I love them and I’m glued to my favorite events (too many to count) but I’m so happy when they’re over and my screen time dwindles back to my usual levels.

The band I saw in Berlin in June released a single that they played at the show and I’ve been listening to it on repeat. It was my favourite song of the entire concert and I searched spotify and youtube for a couple of weeks afterward for it until I realized it was yet to be released. The song is called Don’t Get Me Started.

The reading has been a bit slow around here considering there’s been a one month gap in my newsletter. But, I read Grief is for People and it was mostly sad and reflective. It is not a long book but it jumps around and is quite deep so for me it was not a read in one sitting type of read. It took me three nights in a row to read 20 pages and finish the last 60 pages because it was just kind of depressing. I also read The Last Murder at the End of the World (post-world disaster story that got a bit confusing at times but was an interesting read), State of Paradise (family story that happens during the pandemic and has a bit of time travel or magical realism in it - honestly not sure what to call it), and Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. 

I enjoyed Knife the most. If you don’t remember the news story, click here for a refresher. I have one Salman Rushdie book on my shelf for several years and have not yet read it. I picked up Knife from the library on the Fast Reads shelf, which means I got it for 7 days. It has about 220 pages, I can read that in two days as long as I don’t have an evening class and devote my mornings, lunch time, and evenings to reading. I had just checked my spot on the waiting list, I was 150 something on that list, not getting it any time soon. I grabbed it knowing I would have to stop reading another book and cancel myself from that long waitlist and started reading when I got home. Wow, I really enjoyed it. He is thoughtful, witty (who knew?), and has led an interesting life. He writes about the incident, his recovery, and has an imagined conversation with his attacker. I want to read more by him and wonder why I’ve had The Enchantress of Florence on my shelf for so long. His newest novel, Victory City, also sounds intriguing.

I also listened to The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality. I had already listened to Cultish earlier this year and I really can’t remember this book. I had high hopes but apparently it did not make a huge impression on me.

That’s it, see you next issue. :)

Sonya