Soloism

The jaw-drop moment, if not the point when I tell people where I’m going, comes when they find out that I’m going, not with family, not with friends, not with a church or tour or study group, but all by myself.

Sometimes it just works out that way, traveling alone. The odds that anyone else from my circle of acquaintances would have the same jonesing to visit the same obscure destination at the same time, let alone have the same availability and budget (or willingness to sleep on a mattress with all the give of volcanic rock) are slimmer than Chile. The universe might implode at such a perfect meeting.

Even if the perfect traveling storm were to spawn a fellow traveler for a given trip, there’s just something about going alone. It’s more of an adventure — everything is new. There was something in Pygmalion about how disguises give us a freedom to act without fear (or I could be generously paraphrasing something I’ve never read — but I did hear this somewhere, and I did watch My Fair Lady!) and I can definitely stretch that out to apply in some way to travel. Where we’re strangers to everyone around us, we might as well be in disguise — no one knows recognizes us, knows anything about us, or will ever see us again — and so, with the possibility of embarrassment suspended, we try new things.

For me, traveling with someone who knows me can lead me to check myself subconsciously. Perhaps it’s more comfortable initially, but it’s less of an adventure. I’m not opposed to the idea of meeting up with friends, traveling part of the way with old friends, or even meeting new friends along the way, but sticking with people I know for too long can limit the rewards of travel.

If a vacation is your only goal, staying in a resort with friends is an excellent escape. If you have somehow managed to make friends who can travel with you, beyond vacation, and who travel the way you do, then you should take care of them and ensure they don’t get run down by a rickshaw or swindled by a shop owner (as I’m sure they’ll do for you). But if you, like me, don’t know anyone who can go with you, don’t wait around — you might never get to go!