Short tours can do wonders for alleviating loneliness when you're vacationing alone. If, after flying to your dream destination, you start to feel lonely, you can join a group activity for a day or two and have real live conversations. Something beyond, "Does this bus go to Sintra?"
I recently went on an "urban foraging" walk in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. (My cousin asked if that meant dumpster diving!) My tour guide Kathy and I tasted our way through a tea shop, a French cafe, a BBQ place called Pig, a chocolate store and more, talking the whole way along.
Usually she won't go out unless she has a minimum number of people, but it was early in the season and she made an exception this time, me being a travel writer and all.
I've read a lot of great travel tips over the years. And I've probably forgotten just as many. So I always like reading stories on how to be a better traveler.
I've learned through experience to bring an empty water bottle to fill after going through security. That saves paying exorbitant prices to buy and throw out yet another plastic container.
For years, I've taken along photocopies of my passport in case I lost the real one. Having the passport information is supposed to speed up the replacement process.
Recently, I was intrigued by an item about an inflatable footrest for airplane travel. Seems like a godsend. I'm always looking for someplace to put my feet when I'm trying to sleep on an overnight flight.
For instance, have you ever noticed that the more you return to an airline site to check fares for a particular flight, the higher the prices seem to go? You're not imagining things. Bookmundi suggests using "incognito mode" to browse. Who knew there was such a thing?
The section on airport hacks gave me several new ideas. Like downloading an app called Flight Board so you know your connecting flight's gate without ever having to stop at an airport departure board. Or sticking a "fragile" sticker on luggage to get your bags treated with care - and possibly taken off the plane first.
Bookmundi also offers useful tips for being on the road. Such as downloading offline maps. Or making sure to have the apps best for traveling internationally.
I learned that one in Italy a few years ago when I discovered WhatsApp was the only thing on my phone that worked in the rural village where I ended up. Having it was a lifesaver. I could have wandered around that place for days before being able to get in touch with the friends who were waiting for me.
Check out all the tips on the site to find some you might not have thought of. Google Goggles anyone?
(Tip 10 under the "On-the-road Travel Hacks and Tips")
The Matador Network wrote a post recently about farmers markets around the world, from Dane County Farmer's Market in Seattle to Mercado Central in Valencia, Spain, and Rialto Markets in Venice, Italy.
I'm a fan of food browsing. I love walking up and down every aisle of shops in other countries to check out unfamiliar products, the foreign-language packaging of familiar products and tasty foods that could be gifts to bring home.
Yet I have mixed feelings about visiting farmers markets when traveling. With no kitchen, I can't do anything with the gorgeous fruits and vegetables I spot.
On the other hand, these markets are places where locals shop, and they often feel less touristy than other places in highly visited cities. And there are often nonfood items for purchase, including handmade items. Knitted scarves. Ceramic mugs. Framed drawings.
You say you don't want to travel solo. But suppose your choice of travel companions includes the faffer, the whinger or the waverer?
I enjoyed this post on travel companions by a writer for a New Zealand site who detailed the challenges of the "eight worst types of people to travel with."
The faffer takes forever to get out and go in the morning. The whinger won't stop complaining. And the waverer can't make a decision, come hell or high water. (No, I didn't know what these words meant either...)
Then there's the fussy eater, the drunk, the person who needs to be pampered, the person who is stressed by everything. I'm sure you know other types of people whose habits could lessen the joy of your trip, if not ruin your travels altogether.
These and the other aggravating travel companions will detract from a trip. They may even cause you to miss things you specifically went to see. What good is that, after you've spent your hard-earned money to have an adventure?
Other travel companion issues:
You may end up traveling with someone who wants to eat in the finest restaurants when you want to eat street food. Or someone who wants to buy all meals from supermarkets when you want to taste the local cuisine at highly recommended spots.
I hadn't heard of the Dingle Peninsula until a few years ago during a "girls weekend," when a friend presented a bottle of Dingle Original Gin from the Dingle Distillery for another friend and I to taste.
Then when I was researching a trip to Ireland last year, the travel literature suggested that if visitors had time for just one tour in the west of Ireland and had to choose between the Ring of Kerry and the shorter ring road on the Dingle Peninsula, the choice should be the latter.
And so it was, although it would have been nice to be able to do both.
I recently wrote about my trip around the Dingle Peninsula for the Boston Globe. I didn't travel solo, but it's a place you would enjoy as a solo traveler - if you're willing to drive a standard shift car on the left-hand side of the road.
Or you could join a guided tour of the Slea Head drive and let someone else do the driving. A quick web search shows plenty of companies that will take you around this Irish-speaking region.
I was looking for an Irish town to spend a view days on my own last April, during a two-week trip around Ireland with a rotating roster of travel companions.
Why did Shannon spend her Thanksgiving break solo? “I wanted to go with someone but no one wanted to go. I just went.”
That’s the spirit!
Shannon’s family is in California and she lives in D.C. It doesn’t make financial sense to fly to California at the end of November and again for Christmas just a few weeks later. That means Thanksgiving isn't a family event for her. “I never go home for Thanksgiving."
And where we work, Thanksgiving is a four-day holiday, so why not zip off for a little rest and relaxation somewhere new?
"It looked cute."
Shannon happened upon Quebec online. "It looked cute," and it was French-speaking and she thought it would “feel like you’re in a foreign city,” without the effort and expense of flying to someplace in Europe. In fact, the official website reads, "Quebec City: So Europe. So close."
They say that if you walk late at night, up Hog Alley, a short, steep street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., you might see a tall black man, dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s, pacing up and down. If you get close enough, he slowly lifts his head to show piercing blue eyes. But when he lifts his head a little farther, you see blood dripping from a scar that goes from ear to ear. . . .
Agghhhhhhh!
This story continues in The Washington Post under the headline, "An eerie twist on 'living history.' "
Rick Garland, the guide of the ghost tour in the historic area of Harpers Ferry related stories about the ghosts of people who actually died in the area, many during the Civil War era. Some Confederate soldiers, some abolitionists, some young boys sent to help the soldiers.
We got our first crisp day of autumn today here in D.C. With the beginning of fall, some people's thoughts turn to vacation plans for the cold months ahead.
Maybe it's a trip to someplace warm. In other cases, the choice is winter sports.
For those thinking about a ski vacation but don't have friends who ski, here's a post I wrote about how a ski-loving friend dealt with the situation:
Although my friend Elaine is skiing in Park City, Utah, alone, she's making friends right and left. Okay, they're friends for five minutes, but what's the difference? She's being entertained, being social and not feeling lonely.
"I have five-minute relationships with people on the chairlift," she says. "Then it's, 'Have a nice life.' " And off she goes, carving her way down the snowy mountainside.
I worried that Elaine, who has gone solo on plenty of biking, skiing and other group adventure tours, would not have a good time going skiing for a week in Park City, Utah. All by herself. In a condo without her pals.
Instead, I'm envious of her vacation. No, it isn't perfect. Nothing's ever perfect. She misses the camaraderie from the time a couple of years ago when she, our friend Andrea, and I traipsed out West together, eating out, waiting for each other on the slopes and laughing. A lot.
A photographer friend invited me out to the McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area to capture the fields of sunflowers. They're at their peak this weekend and next.
I've been meaning for a long time to join Rena on photo shoots. I love her work, and I knew it would be helpful to see the world through her eyes. And to get some photo tips.
I'd seen her sunflower photos from other years and definitely wanted some of my own. So I met Rena and her friend Amy out at the fields in Poolesville, Maryland. At 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday. We beat the crowds but not the heat.
You know the solo travel world has come into its own when The Washington Post does an entire travel section on it.
One article offers eight tips ensuring a "trip of ease."
Some obvious tips include using common sense when it comes to safety and talking to locals. One you don't hear as often is the recommendation to travel places where the dollar is strong. Agreed.
It's always fun to go somewhere you can live like royalty for very little money, but it's that much more important when you're not sharing expenses.
Meeting a tiny Irish tourist, Inishmoor Island, Ireland
In another of the articles, the writer calls solo travel the "All About Me" trip. "More myselves and Is are venturing out into the world alone," she writes. Good for them!
"Ideal for solo travelers," says the press release from Western River Expeditions about its rafting trips on the Colorado River through Cataract Canyon, Utah. I vouch for that statement.
I had one of the best trips of my life floating on peaceful sections of the river and holding on for dear life through Class III and IV rapids (read: "big"). And camping by the side of the river with new friends who I was happy to spend every minute with.
These are professionally guided rafting trips with all meals and equipment provided. I call them "one-phone call" vacations because you sign up and then let the company do all the work of getting licenses, providing boats and setting out food.
Our guide in Port of Spain, Trinidad, pointed to a concrete lot as we drove past it on the way to our hotel. "That's one of the panyards."
Which explained nothing at all.
It wasn't until a couple of days later I understood. Steelpan is the term for steel drums in Trinidad and Tobago. And panyards are where steelpan band members set up their steel drums and practice.
You do need a whole vacant lot in a city because these are big bands playing big instruments. Bands and instruments that don't fit into your average garage.
Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island republic in the Caribbean, offers much to see and do. Birds. Multi-ethnic foods and festivals. Exotic island fruits and vegetables. Crab races.
We did not see crab races. Crab races don't happen every day. Nor do the goat races.
We did motor by boat through the mangroves of Caroni Swamp. The swamp opened on a lake surrounded by trees that are home to thousands of scarlet ibis, the national bird. What a wonder that was, watching hundreds of big, scarlet-red birds fly overhead at sunset to roost for the night.
We tasted goat roti, bake and shark, callaloo. Wait, you don't know what callaloo is? It's a soup. Or maybe it's a sauce. Made from the young curled leaves of the dasheen bush. Got it?
In this country composed mainly of people of African and East Indian descent--but with Spanish, French, British, Dutch, Chinese and many more influences--there were many new dishes to try.
And the island's brand of Caribbean rum. Two kinds recommended to me: Angostura 1924 and Angostura 1919. We tasted one of those rums mixed with LLB - a lemon-lime soda with bitters--yes, Angostura bitters. Because, you guessed it: The Angostura company is based in Trinidad.
But back to steelpan.
Many people know Trinidad for its over-the-top Carnival celebration with crazy complex costumes and street partying. There's a months-long windup to the event.
As part of Carnival, there's a steelpan competition among about 160 bands. Called Panorama. I'm told the competition is as fierce as any sports tournament.
Bands are gearing up now. I watched as the "pannists" of the Caribbean Airlines Invaders pounded the concave interior of pans of various sizes. Some made from the whole oil drum. Others a fifth the depth.
It was a sight to see. And hear. Maybe they'll win it all in 2017. And I can say I knew them when.
Photos and video by Ellen Perlman: 1. cocoa pods in Tobago 2. scarlet ibis at sunset (will ask for zoom lens for my birthday 3. The Caribbean Airlines Invaders practicing for the big time
So this is how I found myself living luxuriously, swimming laps in a pool facing the mountains in rural Spain, alongside a new friend from Australia.
I've been studying Spanish for about five years now and love to practice any chance I get. In a somewhat confused moment, I decided to go to Spain to spend a week conversing in English only.
The Deal:
The deal was this. I would stay in a private room, with jacuzzi tub, in a four-star hotel in Barco de Avila outside Madrid. With three meals a day provided, at the aforementioned four-star hotel. All for free. Just for being willing to speak in English with Spanish people all day.
I happen to be very good at speaking English. This seemed like a very, very fair deal. No, a great deal! Off I went. Never even thought to contact friends to see if they wanted to go. They'd just get in the way.
The company:
A company called Vaughantown "hires" English speakers to spend a week at one of several locations where Spanish students and businessmen go to improve their English skills.
We create an English cocoon where the Spaniards can safely try out their faltering "Please pass the salt's" and "I work in the telecommunications industry's" on us without the stress of a real business encounter. Their companies pay for the privilege. We live off the fat of their expense accounts.
The week I went there were 17 Spaniards and 17 "Anglos," a mix of Americans (only three), Aussies, Brits and Canadians. The best part was that I got to spend a week getting to know Spanish people I would never have talked to any other way.
I've written about Hershey way more times than I need to count. Somehow I keep ending back there! Each trip has been fun...and different. Including a falconry experience.
This time, I started at the spa in The Hotel Hershey. In the parking lot, I could see the roller coasters of the nearby amusement park and Chocolate World in the distance. But those were two places I bypassed all weekend.
It's not often one gets to experience a volcano. But there I was in Ecuador, a decade or so ago, watching a plume of what looked like smoke--but had to be ash--spewing from Tungurahua, translated as throat of fire.
In Riobamba and other towns nearby, people were constantly sweeping a film of gray off steps, sidewalks, the front of churches. More ash kept settling down.
Obviously, volcanoes can be dangerous but it was far in the distance and an adrenaline rush to witness. Seems Tungurahua, located along Ecuador's Avenue of the Volcanoes has been showing a lot of activity again these days.
You can take that one of two ways, depending on your personal risk meter. Either it's hey, time for me to go see an active volcano for myself-from a safe distance, course. Or heck no, I'm staying away until things settle down-which way to the Galapagos?
Green and white awnings and a small sign are all that distinguish the Richmond home of Maggie L. Walker from neighboring duplexes that have been carefully restored to their appearance circa 1925. What distinguished Walker in her day was her skill at overcoming all the obstacles society could place before a black woman living under Jim Crow segregation laws.
But wait. Maggie who?
Maggie Lena Walker, the daughter of a former slave, was a black entrepreneur and civil rights activist who achieved business success at about the same time as the more well-known Vanderbilts, Carnegies and other Northern captains of industry were making their names. She was a respected resident of Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood during the early 20th century, when the area was experiencing its heyday.
Yes, Virginia, there is a side of Richmond known as the cradle of black capitalism, despite the fact that just a few decades earlier, during the Civil War, the city had served as the capital of the Confederacy.
If you're going to get stuck somewhere in a blizzard, make it a ski resort, is what I always say.
Actually, I'd never said that before this past weekend. But then, as serendipity would have it, I got "stuck" at a ski resort during a blizzard. Oh, poor me.
All I could do at Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia was ski--Nordic and alpine--snowboard, ice skate, use the whirlpool and head for the lodge's dining room for meals.
I wasn't able to shovel, figure out what to do if I lost power, experience cabin fever or stare at empty supermarket shelves.
Instead, I skied "first tracks" for the first time in my life. Got on a chair lift a little after 8 a.m. and before anyone else that day I skied pristine powder, along with a ski instructor and one other person.
We had a run called Timber Trail to ourselves. Wheeee.
First things first regarding driving yourself around Italy. If you want to ask a non-English-speaking Italian where the downtown is, you're going to have to pronounce "città centro" (city center) as:
chee-TAH CHEN-tro
I figured that pronunciation out, oh, about a thousand quizzical looks too late.
I thought driving in Italy on my own would be a huge step up from public transportation.I didn't quite realize the challenge.It started on day one whenI got off the highway and had to stop at an unmanned toll booth, count up Euros and toss my handful of change into a basket so the gate would open.
Then I had to figure out parking and driving rules.
For the record, parking within the blue lines - good. Driving in the bus lane - bad. (I didn't know I was in a bus lane! I swear!)
Getting to the cities from Serramazzoni, where I was staying with a friend, was relatively easy. I followed the handy signs sporting concentric circles, indicating the way to the town "centro."
While I gear up to write about my recent trip to Italy - Emilia Romagna specifically - I offer a roundup of solo travel stories by others.
From an Australian website called "Starts at 60," a solo female traveller's (spelled the British way) checklist for traveling alone. The story addresses issues such as best destinations for solo travelers, cost, safety and where to stay.
From a Malaysian newspaper, "5 things you learn when traveling solo." All of the five "things" ring true, but two you may not always think about are: your perspective is changed forever; and you can be anyone you want to be. Powerful concepts.
From a woman thrilled about her solo trip to Italy who "loved every freaking minute of it." As she put it, "I did some super nerdy/gluttonous/luxurious/stupid things that only I could judge." (Remind me to tell you about the time I forgot my passport and lost a day on the way to Europe. Imagine if I'd caused someone ELSE to lose a day due to my knuckleheadedness. Hm is that a word?)
And finally, at least for this post, a story on the "big mistakes" a woman made while traveling solo. They're not what you might think. The writer talks about taking too much stuff (no one's going to notice you're wearing the same things all the time) and not allowing enough time (when planning your connections and travel).
Like this kind of post? I get solo travel alerts all the time, so from time to time, I'll pass along some of the most interesting and fun to read. Stop me when you've had enough.
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