The happiest thing I’ve discovered this year as a single is
that traveling solo is not only manageable, but possibly even preferable.
Sometime in March, I made the decision that this would be
the ‘summer of fun’ since last summer was certainly not that; in fact it was
pretty much the opposite of that.
So after searching around the interweb for a few days, I
booked a decently priced flight to Italy: Leaving July 6th,
returning July 20th.
I had no idea what I would do there but ever since reading
Eat, Prey, Love (I know, cheesy) two summers ago, I had dreamt of sitting on
the Spanish Steps in Rome, eating gelato for breakfast and tucking into a
perfectly cheesy, margherita pizza.
Never having traveled totally solo before, I booked a tour
with Gadventures (formerly Gap adventures) that would find me situated directly
under the Tuscan sun.
Since I would have to write a novel to get into all of the
wonders that unfolded over my two weeks in Italy, I will keep it short saying
that I came home 5lbs heavier from all of the pizza, pasta, gelato and buckets
of fine Chianti that I consumed. But some of the highlights include: riding a
bicycle through fields of glowing sunflowers; eating the best gelato I’ve ever
tasted while wandering the streets of Florence; swimming daily in an aqua pool
overlooking the rolling hills and quaint villages of Tuscany; cruising the
bustling waterways of Venice on the city’s public transport boats; finding the
perfect pair of Italian leather boots in a medieval Tuscan village; and
watching a spectacular fireworks show in Venice’s San Marco square.In addition to all of these wonders however, were the great new friends I met along the way and the freedom I felt being just on my own.
In the end, traveling solo, I realized I was not really
alone at all.
On the eight days of my group tour I met 12 lovely people who
kept me happy company through wine tastings, wanderings through cobblestone
streets, pasta making, and cappuccino drinking.
Then I set off for Venice with a sweet couple I’d met on the
tour and ironically, I think it was they who desired the company of another
even more than me. The young twosome had been traveling around Europe already
for 4-5 weeks and had another 5 weeks to go.
Although they seemed very much in love and happy with one another, the
young girl admitted several times that it was nice to have someone else to talk
to besides just one another for a while. We spent three happy days touring the
streets and canals and simply marvelling over the sheer wonder of the place. I
found I had to make a concerted effort to find time for myself and when I found
it, I enjoyed it. 
The final leg of my trip was spent at a Toronto friend’s
family vacation home in Umbria where I again spent quiet mornings and hot
afternoons soaking in a pool overlooking olive groves and grapevines, listening
to the crowing of the neighbours’ roosters across the valley and sharing
delicious meals with my hosts.
By the end of my 14 days in Italy, I had probably only spent
two nights alone and found that I treasured those moments, mostly because I
knew there were potentially hundreds of friends all around me at any given
moment.
On my last night in Rome a young man on business from Milan
sat at a table next to mine on the patio and soon started chatting, asking me
where I was from and what I was doing in Rome. I was happy to meet him as he
seemed to be a friendly and harmless enough guy, but after spending two weeks
with so many new friends, I wanted my last night to be just for myself. I got
the sense he would have continued the conversation throughout the evening but I
already had my own plan in mind. I asked him the best way to get to
Trasteverre, a part of town I had yet to explore, thanked him for his help and went
on my way.
The best part of that evening was drinking a peach Bellini
I’d bought on the street, sitting in the evening heat on the Spanish Steps, reflecting on my adventures. All by myself, but surrounded by hundreds :)
