"And then I was sitting by the water's edge at a cafe, watching the houseboats bob by, when I realised: I was literally totally fine. No one stared, no one cared, and I had the whole afternoon ahead of me to be used entirely at my leisure. It wasn't lonely, I realised, but peaceful."
"I'd never travelled anywhere on my own before - and, at this time, when we'd all been isolated enough! The idea of eating alone in a restaurant filled me with dread. I imagined other diners pitying me or wondering if I'd been stood up. But I could cancel and look flaky in front of editors I'd only just persuaded to take me seriously, or get on the plane by myself."
"Come to think of it, I was having a far better time than I'd expected. Better, perhaps, than I'd had on certain trips with company. Like the ill-fated trip to Iceland with a boyfriend, which was so disastrous we never spoke again (for the best)."
A homes writer received her first travel commission to stay at The Dylan in Amsterdam but faced a last-minute crisis when her travel companion's passport expired. Unable to find a replacement or renew it quickly during the pandemic, she faced a choice: cancel and appear unprofessional to editors, or travel alone for the first time. Despite initial anxiety about dining and socializing solo, she discovered that traveling alone was liberating rather than lonely. Sitting by the canal, she realized no one judged her solitary presence and she had complete freedom to structure her time. This experience revealed that solo travel could surpass trips taken with companions, particularly those complicated by personality conflicts or incompatible travel styles.
Read at CN Traveller
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