Solo Traveler

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 6^th, returning July 20^th.

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 :)